Protecting the customers investment ...

[phobia]

Hi!

I have decided to put the old 001 to rest and invest in a new Macintosh with new audio hardware.

(I used to run 001 on a G4 400 Sawtooth, then moved to PC when it didn't cut it anymore, but I think Mac is the way again).

I read about the new Intel based Macs that will be released sometime during 2007.

So I need to carefully look at what options I have. If a by a PowerPC based Mac now, along with 002, will it still be supported by Digi Design by the end of next year?

If I buy a 002 now, will that be supported on PowerPC platform in a year from now?

I have heard Apple talk about Universal binaries but I think maybe some parts of the audio applications are written on such an abstraction level that it just is not possible to be Universal.

What can the lonely customer (me) do to protect my investment ?
Will Digi continue supporting PowerPC based Macs?

I am looking at a high-end G5, 2 CPUs Dual Core - depending on how the PT LE 7.0 release cuts these things.

Should I stay or should I go ?

How Do you fellow DUC:ers look upon things like this?

Cheers,
// Joakim W

[davetron5000]

I bought a G5 when it first came out and on 002R. The G5 wasn't supported by PT (I didn't read the compatibility docs carefully) at this time. I had problems with PT LE when it did come out for the G5 and ultimately could never get it to work. These things happen, and whether it's DIGI or Apple or both, it was MY problem. I ended up buying a dual G4, and it works great, well over a year later.

The latest and greatest will always bite you and upgrading will always cause you problems, unless you have so many already that you must upgrade. I bought the 6.7 upgrade but haven't even applied it yet, because there is really no need and I'm in the middle of a project. I probably won't get the 7.x upgrade at all, because why? My system does exactly what I need and will continue to do so.

At this point, it seems that a G5 and PT LE 6.x is a stable proven system, and possibly 7.x is on its way as well. I would just get one and get to work and try to break out of the upgrade mentality. A computer is not an investment; it always loses value and is worth nothing when you are done with it. Digi hardware will always lose value, ALWAYS. That's the way of things, and it's no knock on digi. I guess maybe someday people will scour ebay for vintage fireware soundcards, but that's unlikely. It's a tool, not an investment.

[phobia]

Hi!
Thanks for your reply

I agree on most things you say. I have also sticked with 001 for quite some time now. Actually I do not regard 001 as legacy, it does what it does just perfectly, but it is not supported on Mac OS.X Tiger and it is stuck on PT LE 6.4.

However, I am for various reasons compelled to do an upgrade. I agree on the "upgrade mentality" you talk about - it is really a non-productive trap to get caught in.

I do not agree that it is not an investment. It is something we aquire in order to perform some kind of task more efficiently. Be it a professional or hobbyist investment well we do spend our money with the expectations of getting something in return

Compare it to a tooling machine in a factory, or even computers in a one person software developer company. Hardware is invested in with a certain budget and the cost for this is expected to be returned within a given time frame.

I know that Digi cannot know exactly what Apple does, or vice versa, but I guess there must be some sort of concensus or intelligent planning on these things?

I suppose PowerPC G5s will be supported for some time at least. Just hate to be in the spot too soon where the support is withdrawn - and the DUC is all over with posts.

Still not ready to make a jump here - or buy into a short time solution using older G5s. I need
a lot more power this time though - in order to do the tasks i need to do.

Cheers,
// J