is Mac really above PC?

[turbochicken]

my job next year requires me to do recording in office.
company might get me a decent setup, but i'm faltering between Mac and PC.

i'm a PC user, a total software person (wish i had the money to hybrid though), and have been satisfied with PC so far.

so Mac users, what are the obvious advantages of using a Mac to do your music? more compatible with peripherals? stability? quality?

 

[sanXp]

According to a friend of mine the sound quality and stability of a mac is much better than a PC.

 

[bongman]

Mac technology came out at least 9 years ahead of PC,

Bill Gates took the idea of GUI from Mac and put it on PC.

Mac initially develop the computer for graphics, arts and music;
that's why it's always better to use Mac for music becos music software
were developed on the Mac processor in mind.

 

[lowjk]

>> that's why it's always better to use Mac for music becos music software
were developed on the Mac processor in mind.

Unless you need raw horsepower to run multiple VST/VSTi etc.
Dual core setups/Dual Xeons will outperform a Dual CPU MAC G5.
(but don't know about Quad G5).

 

[plastiquechair]

are macs better than PCs?

YES.

end of discussion.

 

[turbochicken]

certainly not.

i'd like to hear from PC users.

 

[TylerDrake]

-

are we talking JUST for recording purposes here?

If so MAC is definately a better choice- most things are much more simplistic-

For general usage, PC is more compatable with software

 

[sofyan]

Re: are macs better than PCs?

YES.

end of discussion.

certainly not.

i'd like to hear from PC users.

:lol: :lol:

 

[rottenramone]

..

why not get both?

 

[gjkung]

so far my mac has been far more stable than my PC.

non-musically, mac is also more virus-free than PC, much more.

Mac OS programming is much smoother than PC, a normal Mac processor of the same processor speed as a PC(in Hertz) will run around 1.5 times as fast. But Macs are generally more expensive. It's harder to overheat too, if you want to make sure you don't lose your work half-way cuz your computer crash.

One word to describe macs - efficient.

And Mac LCD display resolution professional standard, unmatched by most monitors available on the common market.

Same goes for screen resolution and smoothness. I work at 1280x1024 and it's still cleaner than my old 19 inch CRT at 1024x768. hardly lags unless I put photoshop CS on a 3500x200 canvas and Garageband on 12 tracks.

The old mac OS was a pain, it was not very practical if you ask me. But the new OSX is kicka$$.


And dude, there is a reason why most pro musicians use macs even though macs are so obscure in the big world. even if you can't convince yourself, just get it and you'd slowly realise.

 

[lowjk]

Mac OS programming is much smoother than PC, a normal Mac processor of the same processor speed as a PC(in Hertz) will run around 1.5 times as fast.

Since turbochicken needs to do recording, this may be a more appropriate guide in terms of processing power:

http://www.carillondirect.com/clnweb/performance.jsp?country=UK

note that an optimised single core 3.4 Ghz PC can outperform a DUAL CPU G5 2.5. A Dual Xeon simply creams it.

Now, imagine running dualcore Opterons in pairs (= Quad processors) which some studios in USA having been running and the thought simply boggles my mind.

ps - I have a dualcore AMD in my system and it runs really cool. The casing just barely feels warm despite a 550w power supply with
1) Pulsar Pro x 2
2) Pulsar 2 x 1
3) EMU 0404 x 1
4) ATI X800XT PE (for occasional gaming)

 

[soft]

what kind of recording are you going to do? i mean, how many tracks at one time? which interface are you looking at?

 

[thor666]

the main advantage of PCs over Macs is the critical mass; ie more people are using it. hence that also applies to the number of choices of software, games available in the market respectively.

my ex-bassist was using a Mac /w GarageBand to record, and I must say, recording is a snap. No problems at all.

In terms of latency, a Mac usually has less than that of a PC for the models in the market. And usually less trouble with hardware problems.

 

[fretless6]

When the OS and a large chunk of the software is developed by the same company that designs/builds/assembles the hardware, it's less likely to run into problems.

Even if PCs run faster, I would still work on a Mac. Work flow is much more efficient and less likely to have hiccups. But be prepared to pay a premium, macs and cheap are mutually exclusive. :mrgreen:

 

[mikemann]

Comparison, comparison...... how do you compare in a fair manner??

Mac more stable than PC? Why is that so?

Practically all or most Mac products are under direct license to Apple for manufacture. So Apple have a direct say on how to shape, design the product and compatibility control & standard.

For PC products, it's more less an open source product, where any manufactuer themselves control how the design and process of product.

So for one mac product model, you likely could see hundreds of individual different models on a PC platform. For one mac product sold, you have thousands of PC products sold. For one technological advancement in mac, there are likely tens of technological advancement choices on the PC platform.

So product for product, PC would have sold thousands and thousands for every mac product.

So how can you make a fair judgement based on the question. To be or not to be, that's the question.

Given a choice, I stick to turnkey equipments. Especially analog ones.

 

[Mobius]

Sorry to hijack, but is there mac versions of recording software like Sonar or Cubase? Wat are the recording softwares available for macs? other than garageband.

 

[Cheez]

Here we go again - Mac vs PC war!!!

According to a friend of mine the sound quality and stability of a mac is much better than a PC.

Sound quality depends on the soundcard not the processor. Stability - yes in some situations. But if the PC is dedicated to music, then it is very stable. Problem is many PC users are also gamers. So too many junk installed. People into pro music and uses Mac use them as a dedicated DAW. Therefore more stable. Many pros also use PC as dedicated DAW (particularly for softwares that only run on PCs) - also very stable.

non-musically, mac is also more virus-free than PC, much more.

That's because people don't use PC as a dedicated DAW and accesses the internet as well.

My final suggestion - for any DAW, do not install any other programs other than your music softwares. Do not connect to internet (in fact, remove internet connection and uninstall internet explorer). Then PC and Mac will perform about the same.

Why spend the extra on a Mac when you can spend that on other hardware/software pertinent to your music project?

 

[lowjk]

Sorry to hijack, but is there mac versions of recording software like Sonar or Cubase? Wat are the recording softwares available for macs? other than garageband.

Top Of line - Logic (by Apple). Be prepared to pay top of line price.

Cubase (by Steinberg) - definitely. If not, how to compare PC & MAC performance using Cubase.

Sonar - not at the moment. BUT the good news is that Cakewalk is going to release Dimension D, their high end ROMpler for PC & MAC so there is a chance that they are eyeing the MAC market as well.

 

[lowjk]

According to a friend of mine the sound quality and stability of a mac is much better than a PC.

Sorry, but your friend's credibility just went down the drain when he/she claims that the sound quality of the MAC is better.

Sound quality depends on your soundcard NOT the processor.

Even Pentium 3 will sound better with a high end soundcard eg EMU 1820m, Lynx or RME than a MAC with a low end soundcard eg M-audio 24/96.

Oops, sorry, didn't realized that cheez had already addressed this point.

 

[Lifehouse]

When the OS and a large chunk of the software is developed by the same company that designs/builds/assembles the hardware, it's less likely to run into problems.

Even if PCs run faster, I would still work on a Mac. Work flow is much more efficient and less likely to have hiccups. But be prepared to pay a premium, macs and cheap are mutually exclusive. :mrgreen:

Fretless basically defined the points on why Mac is better is some sense. I have used PC since '92 and still do, and I do play games, in fact all the latest ones. Mac is better. The ease of using it is better than PCs, not to mention generally virus free. If money is not an issue, its better to go Mac. Everything is just intuitive. But it might not be good to do a PC VS Mac topic now since the next W!ndows is just around the corner. Yea. Vista which runs on quite alot of UNIX foundations if I am more wrong. Should be more stable and 64bit capability will be improved.

However, using Mac is much less pain in the ass. That's why it is my preferable platform. But gamers would want to avoid them.