PC switching to Mac

[mesaone]

Originally Posted by barakka

If you want a laptop then Mac, no question.

I'm not a Mac fan myself, speaking as an owner of both PC and Mac computers that uses both platforms for audio and video stuff. But one thing I must admit is that Macbook Pro are definitely nice. In fact, a MBP with bootcamp is a better PC laptop than most PC laptops.

[kbdboy00]

an apple a day keeps the doctor away

[bangbangbang]

I finally switched to Mac platform and
I say the user experience is a bliss !

now I have 3 macbooks,
1 power mac G5 and 1 iMac.

pro tools - 7, 10 and 11.
digidesign hardware - 002r, 002, 003r, mbox2 mini, mbox2.

synths: yamaha motif es7, korg triton pro, korg krome73, roland junoDi.
software: NI komplete 9

[JHTorch]

Originally Posted by bangbangbang

I'm considering to switch from PC platform to Mac,

this has been a consideration for many years;

but honestly what is the difference in using

Mac which is a more preferred choice ?

After years and years of using a PC for music production, I switched to a Mac last month and I am very, very happy. First off, in addition to PT, I have Cubase 8. Cubase 8 on the PC seems filled with issues. On the Mac, smooth sailing -- solid, very responsive.

That aside, for me Thunderbolt is a game changer for music production and with one exception, (a custom system form Sweetwater), Thunderbolt is still non-existent on the PC side. Likewise, in PT and Digital Performer, you can have multiple audio interfaces connected and used at the same time. Not available for the PC. Plus, you can install Windows on a separate partition on a Mac.

Macs are not without issues but for more productivity doing audio, Macs seem to be better. Plus, Macs hold their re-sale value a lot better than PCs, though it does seem that Apple "forces" you to upgrade your machine every couple of years if you want to stay current with your latest software.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by JHTorch

After years and years of using a PC for music production, I switched to a Mac last month and I am very, very happy. First off, in addition to PT, I have Cubase 8. Cubase 8 on the PC seems filled with issues. On the Mac, smooth sailing -- solid, very responsive.

That aside, for me Thunderbolt is a game changer for music production and with one exception, (a custom system form Sweetwater), Thunderbolt is still non-existent on the PC side. Likewise, in PT and Digital Performer, you can have multiple audio interfaces connected and used at the same time. Not available for the PC. Plus, you can install Windows on a separate partition on a Mac.

Macs are not without issues but for more productivity doing audio, Macs seem to be better. Plus, Macs hold their re-sale value a lot better than PCs, though it does seem that Apple "forces" you to upgrade your machine every couple of years if you want to stay current with your latest software.

There are plenty of other Windows machines with Thunderbolt, including ours at Pro Tools PC. PC's are in less need of it though as they still have PCIE and internal storage space which is the only thing TB is (expensively) making up for.

You can also install Mac OS on many PC's

[longname]

I'm a long time windows user. I love both window and mac. For me having a Mac machine and install windows on it would be the best idea. I usually switch between Win and OSX because my work requires both. Both of the OSs are great. You can do a lot of crazy stuff on windows, but OSX is more simple and stable.

I don't like spending money on Macbook Pro or Macbook Air. Either of them is very hard to upgrade, and performance is just not as good as I expect. If you don't do anything related to pro video editing or heavy stuff, it should be fine.

I've been using Mac Pro for 5 years. I've never regretted of buying it. The machine still runs smoothly. The new black trash can that was released last 2 years, is a good one, but the graphic is still unstable (bought and returned in the first week). Waiting for another year. Hopefully Apple will be releasing a newer model at that time. It's a bit expensive, but it's worth the money.

[JHTorch]

Originally Posted by guitardom

There are plenty of other Windows machines with Thunderbolt, including ours at Pro Tools PC. PC's are in less need of it though as they still have PCIE and internal storage space which is the only thing TB is (expensively) making up for.

You can also install Mac OS on many PC's

Well I stand corrected on the availability of Thunderbolt on the PC. But my point about Thunderbolt was not about storage per se, but rather as an I/O for audio (and video). In my studio I have a Lynx Aurora 8 and the Firewire card for the Tascam DM-3200 (as well as an Eleven Rack). The Lynx is fitted with a USB card for passing audio into the PC but my studio partner uses a PC so until he upgrades to a Thunderbolt PC (or joins the "dark side" going Mac), we'll use the USB for the Aurora. But more and more, you're going to see audio interfaces and digital mixers with Thunderbolt. (I use a Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adaptor for the Tascam).

Nevertheless, I have to say that I am now more comfortable using the Mac for music production. I'm no PC basher and I'm keeping my PC rig but if someone starting out putting together a studio and wanted a recommendation for a computer, I'd tell them Mac.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by JHTorch

Well I stand corrected on the availability of Thunderbolt on the PC. But my point about Thunderbolt was not about storage per se, but rather as an I/O for audio (and video). In my studio I have a Lynx Aurora 8 and the Firewire card for the Tascam DM-3200 (as well as an Eleven Rack). The Lynx is fitted with a USB card for passing audio into the PC but my studio partner uses a PC so until he upgrades to a Thunderbolt PC (or joins the "dark side" going Mac), we'll use the USB for the Aurora. But more and more, you're going to see audio interfaces and digital mixers with Thunderbolt. (I use a Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adaptor for the Tascam).

Nevertheless, I have to say that I am now more comfortable using the Mac for music production. I'm no PC basher and I'm keeping my PC rig but if someone starting out putting together a studio and wanted a recommendation for a computer, I'd tell them Mac.

Of course we will see more TB interfaces but we have no idea what the future holds for it or if it will suffer the fate of firewire. There is the lingering of AVB sitting in the background that is being implemented in some high dollar facilities and on consoles that could negate or limit the need for TB in the near future as AVB is FAR FAR cheaper to implement. Other devs will continue with PCIE and then TB users can get a TB enclosure or offer both. It is a weird time for sure.

What do you plan on changing if he gets TB?? I used an Aurora for years via firewire. Great converter. Never found any I liked better till I went the HD I/O's.

[longname]

Originally Posted by CrimsonBetrayal

I used to be a PC guy, I'm now a Mac guy. I find Mac's "just work". I don't need to worry about drivers, or what hardware I'm running, etc.

This all coming from a guy who has been a PC guy since the early days when Columbia Data Products made their "Portable" computer. 32 kilos of floppy drives and monitor.

Seriously though, it's a preference these days. But I do like being able to run both OS X and Windows apps at the same time, kind of a freedom of flexibility. :)

I don't agree that on Mac you don't need to worry about drivers. I've been using Mac for more than 10 years, and every single hardware that I connected I had to find driver for it to be able to work correctly.

I don't like running windows parallel with OSX. It's very buggy and laggy even my machine is at the top performance. I can't even doing anything related to video editing. So it makes no sense to me to install windows paralleling. I rather not install windows if parallel is the only option. BootCamp for me is still the best.

[longname]

Originally Posted by CrimsonBetrayal

Sorry, I meant computer hardware drivers, not device drivers. Should have specified.

I run Windows Parallels on my MBP for some audio work, and even play games through it, never had an issue myself. I have A MBP 2012 with i7 2.3G and 16GB of ram. For video editing I do it all through OS X, and when I do things that I know are system intensive. Pro Tools/Video editing, I turn off my VMs and Parallels.

Overall though I have not had a single issue with my MBP, which is not the same thing I can say about every PC/Windows Laptop I have ever owned. I even owned some very high end PC's and Laptops, which gave me no end of grief. Only my BYO PC's were ever even remotely reliable. But I would not say they were as good as my MBP.

I was the most anti-apple person out of everyone I knew. When I bought my MBP I got serious ribbing from my family and mates, but I would say, I'd never go back to PC. This is coming from someone who has been programming and using computers for almost 3 decades.

The only thing that I don't like about MBP or MBA is the performance. Maybe for you it's fine. But when you get deeply to Video Editing/ Pro Audio world then you would realize that you need to get a new computer like Mac Pro. Your MBP will take you a decade to render your high end videos. And I'm not sure if your graphic card can handle it either.