Mac thinking

[mattytoldhatty]

Hi

After years of sticking to PC and Protools setups I can just no longer bear the frustration of the hit and miss random nature associated with pressing play or record. I'm thinking of a new eight core Mac. Is PT optimised to run on eight or would a quad core give the same or similar results. I'm looking at 4gig min memory because I don't use many virtual instruments.

Do Mac users get the play / pause freeze so widely reported on the PC part of the forum? I've got an 003 factory with PT 8 and MPTK1 and the other pack that came with the 003, plus some assorted plugs, will I be able to authorise them on the different platform. Has anybody out there made this migration and had a good experience?
Macs are costly and it represents a meaningful investment to me to scrap the PC and then fork out UK prices for a Mac, so I can't really afford to make a mistake.
Hope this question is not too banal but I'll be grateful for help on this.

[Obsidian Dragon]

I switched from a Windows Desktop PC to the Macbook Pro about a year ago and have not looked back. I'm not saying that there are no problems but there are much fewer due to the consistency of the hardware and OS coming from one company. You still need to follow the steps in the General Troubleshoot thread to optimize your system fro Protools.

[lordtom]

Make the move and you will never look back. Turn it on and it works. Simple.

[BradLyons]

I know what you mean--I've been a LOOOONG time Windows guy, refusing to go with a Mac. But then nearly 2-years ago I got so sick of my laptop for business use that I broke down and bought a MacBook. Ahhhhh Brad has never been the same and it was only a matter of time that I did buy the 8-core MacPro. I have the previous model. Now, will it make a difference to PTHD? Well, not really---but yes, sort of sure it may or may not :) The real benefit is for native processing---TDM obviously handles it's own thing. Oh wait, we're in the LE forum here.......AHHHHH YES, it will help. The more processing you have, the better. BUT if you only do the 4-core, it's still a sick machine!

[sykobilly65]

i ran a windoze machine for a few years (P4 3.2--1 gig of RAM) it couldn't hardly handle 2 instances of Eleven. SO.....last August i bought an iMac C2D 2.4 w/ 2 gigs of RAM, Glyph GT050 & Profire 2626. i've had up to 6 instances of Eleven with 20 tracks of audio & 1 of Ozone 3 all at the same time. i forget how many busses i had goin or eggzactly how many plugins there were. now i don't know how that would compare to a dual core windoze machine. but there is no way the old P4 i had would run what i just mentioned without spittin it's gutz out in my floor. good luck with your decision.

[Che_Guitarra]

I've only got an iMac (2.33 C2D, 4G RAM) for DAW purposes - it's punches well above it's weight. I can run as many audio tracks as PT will let me, and I've got aux/busses, plugins and VI's piled on beyond what an iMac should handle. Running PT 8 i've had no problems at all, once initally sorting out a few headaches. Although I do get prompts letting me know i'm nearing the limit of the iMac's capability - but I can turn these dialogs off if I want to.


I think PT 8 (compared to 7.x) makes all the difference too, stability is unquestionable in my usage, and no plugins bugging out.


Before that I was a PC man - you know the drill... you're stoked if your system works for a month in a row without a failure, glitch, hiccup, whatever....


Oh the memories!

[daeron80]

You'll love it. I use both and each has its own pros and cons, but if I were forced for some reason to go exclusively with one platform, it would be Mac, no question. The main drawback is in the third party software area - if you live for free VSTs and being able to make your own plug-ins with free software, then Windows is the clear winner. For all else, Mac, hands down.

[Obsidian Dragon]

Windows PC's are good for a few things...specifically running programs that don't run on a Mac and OSX. Honestly, I try to do everything on a Mac now. I still however need Windows to run these Windows only programs:

Microsoft Project
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Microsoft Outlook
Sony Sound Forge
Cakewalk Sonor
Lotus Notes
Various VPN clients

There is Bootcamp but I can't remember the last time I actually booted up my Mac in windows. I just run Windows on a non-Mac PC.

[mattytoldhatty]

All you guys...

a big big thanks for your response. I think I'll jump over post toast. I saw another post about switching and it appears that there's no problems with licenses. See you on the other side

[tamasdragon]

Waiting fo ya! If you need help, just ask. But if you're compatible, everything will be smooth.
TD