Thinking About Switching To Mac...

[Orange Worker]

Hi,

I'm using a P4 2.53 GHz 1 Gig Ram w/ Win XP Home. The computer is completely stable, but I'm starting to run out of CPU power in my sessions. I'm thinking of getting a dual 1.25 GHz G4 to work with my 001, cause I'm not ready to move up to HD yet. Could someone here who uses a dual mac please give me a brief description on performance with PT? Also, how does it run programs like Kontakt and Reason and what kind of plugin count are you experiencing? Thanks.

~Henry

[tele_player]

If you're looking for more power, you won't find it with ANY Mac. The fast, cheap Athlon 64 systems are way more powerful than the fastest dual G5.

I like Macs, but if it's power for plugins and softsynths you're after, the PC wins.

[Orange Worker]

Tele,

Are you using one, and are they stable like Intel? Thanks.

[mersisblue]

If you're looking for more power, you won't find it with ANY Mac. The fast, cheap Athlon 64 systems are way more powerful than the fastest dual G5.

I like Macs, but if it's power for plugins and softsynths you're after, the PC wins.

not in PT anyway

[Orange Worker]

What kind of plugin count/softsynths are you getting mersisblue, just curious, and are you using PT or logic? I'm not looking for a mac vs. pc war, just looking to upgrade to a computer that's going to allow me to get my work done with no problem, I don't care which platform.

[tele_player]

Tele,

Are you using one, and are they stable like Intel? Thanks.

I have a 1.5Ghz PowerBook G4, but my main ProTools computer is Windows XP, Athlon XP 1700+ running at 2.0Ghz.

I run ProTools on the Mac sometimes, and it's been fine. I'd use it for a location tracking. But for the heavy work, the PC does the job.

[JFreak]

just do it, you won't regret it. the performance will not be on par with your pc as protools only effectively uses one cpu - the benefit of dual is snappier overall responsiveness, but the second cpu will not magically double your plugin count. i think digi should address this, as the software could very well utilize the second cpu better.

you will however find that a mac is a lot more stable than a pc. it will not come in your way, ever, once you set it up as you like it. mac osx uses your hardware in a lot more sophisticated way than windows, so you can just not worry about hardware/os issues when you do your audio work.

i switched two years ago and have not ever regretted it. but i didn't switch because of raw performance...

[Infa]

If you're looking for more power, you won't find it with ANY Mac. The fast, cheap Athlon 64 systems are way more powerful than the fastest dual G5.

I like Macs, but if it's power for plugins and softsynths you're after, the PC wins.

(LOL) haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !! No dis-respect or offense to be taken here o.k.?? But I highly disagree.

Any program at ANY of them conventions things always use Mac to test how fast their program works. (Photoshop/Movie /film programs/Etc..) And to show that off to the public... Are you really trying to say that your Athlon 64 system is faster than a Dual 2.5 Mac ?? With the newer fastest busses ever made ?? And the new X PCI Slots???, and can hold 8gigs of ram !!!!!!!!!! 8 gigs dude !!! (that broke barriors)

How much ram can you stuff in your Athlon??

Plus it is a tech known fact that Mac uses mhz in a processor more effiently than PC. In other words, if you take a 1ghz Pent. 4 processor PC up against a 1ghz Mac -- The Mac out performs in rendering in every program by a landslide (well o.k.,,, a small landslide,,, but it still is faster)

Mhz per Mhz , a Mac outperforms PC's ,, even the Athlon 64 system...

I can say this because what is shown at the conventions, what several Pros in the fields say ,, AND, I ran an equivelently processored Mac and Pc side by side. My friend and I both ran idenitical programs -- Mac was usually always ahead in rendering ( once we were rendering anyway,, I always had to wait for the PC because it took 3 clicks on it for what I could do in one, but that is a "lay out" issue not a speed issue , so fairly enough I would get the program open before he could, but then I would wait).. But once we did a "rendering" move, we would click the button at the same time,, and the Mac was usually ahead, APPOSED to a couple programs for which they were even - dead even - The Pc though NEVER was ahead on ANY of them...
But surprisingly enough -- It was PRO TOOLS where they were both EVEN -- A.O even steven -- Pc's and Macs run Pro Tools evenly ---- Macs just shine once your OUT of Pro Tools....

But not to get off topic,, so Orange Worker ,,, get whatever computer platform you are more used to... A fast PC, OR a decent Mac will actually be overkill for your system... I currently run HD 3 Accel on a Mac G4 933 Quicksilver, and have NEVER had a problem EVER.. I got full track count, and I can run about 60 - 90 plug ins (depending on which ones)....

And I also ran my older systems on this computer as well - A digi 001 system , and a Mix Cube system -- All flawless with the same results -- GOLD !!!!

[JFreak]

one could assume that in this forum focus is on protools performance

the thing is, G4 outperforms G5 clock-per-clock, and protools software has been optimized for G4 better than for G5, and even G4 optimizations are not good enough. currently protools cannot fully utilize the horsepower a G5 beast could offer, the thing that must change with v7 because big-money studios will have to convert their G4 workstations to G5 models within two years at the lastest, probably within a year. people have said that [email protected] performs equally than [email protected], which is a clear indication of the state of code optimization, or the lack of. so what i'm trying to say is that digidesign has had a lot more time to optimize windows and pentium code than it has had with panther and G5, so currently there is no competition.

(the G4 powermac tops at dual 1.42GHz, which should be equal to about 3-3.5GHz pc if the second cpu gets decent loads. with protools however the second cpu isn't used much, so that would compare to 2GHz pc. with protools one fast cpu is better than two slower ones, which is a shame. if protools fully utilized the second cpu, there would be no comparison - dual 2.5GHz G5 powermac would compare to single 5-6GHz pc which doesn't exist...)

once digi gets protools optimized for G5 and duals, then mac systems will begin to outperform pc:s - the G5 duals already kick ass on other multimedia apps, they should also do so in protools. maybe v7 changes everything? who knows.

so pc currently wins raw horsepower-per-buck race, but mac still wins on plugin catalog. which is more important to you? i'd rather have fewer right tools than loads of wrong ones...

[Infa]

Yeah,, that THAT does make sence ....