mac vs pc

[7 MO-BEATZ]

i have heard a lot of feed back on this subject
is mac still on top

[ejwells]

As far as PTLE goes, Mac has never been on top, except in the minds of die hard Mac users. PCs with AMD processors have been outperforming Macs for many a moon, at at about a third of the cost.

[a kremer]

This will always be an ongoing debate.

My two cents:
Mac is the standard operating system for pro audio. I've yet to hear of a state of the art facility running PT on PC. From my experience with PT on both systems, Macs offers less haggles and a much greater deal of efficiency.

There are a handful of PC's, but only one Mac
Put simply, Macintosh builts better computers

[ejwells]

<Put simply, Macintosh builts better computers>

Well, they certainly build more expensive computers

I'm not anti Mac...at all. However....

The question was about performance with PTLE.
Fact: PCs with AMD processors have been outperforming Mac for a few years, THAT was my comment.
The reason most studios have Macs is that most studios have TDM systems, which are Mac only.
There are more and more PCs showing up in big studios due to HD Systems, and they're proving to be more stable than Macs there too.
I sometimes record at a major studio in Detroit, and the Mac crashes at least two times in an 8 hour shift. Always
At home my PTLE PC crashes very occaisionally, maybe once in 50 hours of use.
That doesn't make me hate Macs, it just is what it is.

I do know that you can build an AMD based PC for around $1000.00 that will outperform AND be more stable for PTLE than any dual processor G5 (nearly 3000.00). That's a natural fact.
I personally use a Sweetwater custom computer which is P4 based, and my performance is better than a good friend of mine who runs PTLE/Digi002 on his G5.
He gets 28 on the Dave C, I get 32+17.

[SculliD]

Well if you are not anti Mac I don't know who is. My G5 Ptle 002 gets 31 tracks davec and has froze up maybe 3 or 4 times in 2
years.You get what you pay for.I think it's about the OS not the hardware(Ease of use).Ultimately it's about the Music.There are
tons of Chevys and Fords.I'll take a Ferrari.Get what works best for you!

Peace,
Kevin

[ejwells]

So, as I said my PC gets 32+17 (or so)

I believe I rest my case

[gonzo99]

With out wanting to add fuel to the fire <unscrews lid of jerry can > ...

It was recently announced by Mr Jobs himself that Macintosh will be moving to Intel processors. The days of the IBM produced Gx chips are numbered. This is not to say that they are no good ... they are very good. It's just that they are no longer as far ahead as they once were. If they're ahead at all, and that's highly debatable.

Even Apple are moving to the "dark" side! Imagine if they'd decided to go with AMD

BTW - I run a P4 based system but "learned" (still plenty to learn!) PTLE on Mac. A friend of mine built an Allenstein PC (AMD based) and I wish I'd known about that before I built mine. It smokes my machine and any of the Macs that friends of mine are running ... however noone I know is using dual G5s yet ... but if they're so good, why do you need two of them? Just joking.

As to user friendliness ... I'm a Linux user, only use WinXP for PTLE and games. Both OSX and Windows are extremely user friendly. One of the things that you sacrifice for this "friendliness" is control of your system. Having some experience on all of these OS's I would have to say that between Mac and Windows <edit>these days</edit> it really comes down to what you're used to. Once again the gap between Mac and PC-land/Windows has closed ... Linux is great but it's not yet ready for everyone, and as a Linux user it hurts me to say that. My bias is definitely anti-Micro***** ... but you can't change the facts.

Final thought ... OSX is definitely a much sexier looking beast than WinXP and has some very sexy features which M$ will undoubtedly copy (again) in their next OS. Also it's a *nix based OS, so it's built on a better foundation. But the one-button mouse? Hello-o!

The AMD's outperform everything for PTLE. I wish it weren't true 'cos I can't really afford another system But it is true. Face it folks.

<mumbles> Now, who can I sell this P4 rig to?

Oh, yeah ... just my $0.02.

[maccool]

No "Mac vs. PC" platform wars allowed on the DUC.

What I don't get is why this debate just goes round and round. Any savvy Mac/ProTools user knows that they can have better performance to bring to a pissing contest simply by switching to a Windows machine. The Windows users know how much better their platform is, so why do they always feel it necessary to invoke the pissing contest?

If I had a wholly unreal requirement for a machine that could deliver a DaveC score of 32+40 ( check it out) then I wouldn't hesitate to go and get me a Windows box; I'm a Mac user, and money isn't the issue! My lowly 2x2.0 G5 can only manage 32+5. Now, that's recording to 32 tracks with 185 active plugins. And it's doing it with Media Player streaming CKUA radio via an 802.11g wireless connection, John Hiatt playing on iTunes with the Visualizer running, and me typing this into Stickies in preparation for posting via the Safari browser, which is also running with this very thread open. All meters and track redraws are running full-tilt boogie in ProTools. I for one will never get anywhere near the limit of what this G5 can do with ProTools, although I'm sure there are those for whom this is not enough. For you guys, the answer is simple; build yourself a $1000 Windows machine. If I needed that kind of performance, that's what I'd do. This G5 is 6 months old, and has run 24/7 from Day 1 without a hitch, and I like that. No, I lie, I restarted it when I installed Tiger, but I'll keep my powder dry for a while before committing to the new OS.

Yeah, I prefer the Mac OS to Windows, so I'm a happy camper. And yeah, you can get bigger DaveC scores with a very good Windows machine, but it's a sad day when a few extra bogus Aux tracks is the sole reason for chosing your operating system. IBM, Intel, AMD, it's all just so much silicon. I welcome this move by Apple to Intel CPU's; soon you'll be able to get a Mac which will run Windows side-by-side with Tiger and allow an A-B comparison, and I'm confident that the Mac OS will win converts on it's merits.

This ol' clunker is still recording away like mad while I write this, and now I'm getting an invitation to video chat with my Mum in Canada ( I forgot that I had iChat open too), so I'd better wrap this up; I suspect that a video chat will produce the dreaded "The operating system held off interrupts for too long. If this occurs frequently, try increasing the "H/W Buffer Size" in the Playback Engine panel. (-6086)", after all, this only a Mac. Funny thing is, it never tells me that I'm running out of CPU Power when I max it out with DaveC tracks, just the ol' -6086 thing. By the way, if I close all the unnecessary applications I could squeeze a few more DaveC Aux tracks in there. But who cares?

[ejwells]

I don't believe I'm in a pissing contest, nor did I start it.
I consider it to be a fact giving contest.

[SculliD]

Mr Wells,
You had no case to start with.Only YOUR opinion!
And thats just my opinion.
Peace,
Kevin
PS.It's not the gear it's your Heart and Ears.