Mac or PC?? Pls help...

[wmk]

Personnally i wouldnt recommend to go vista atm. Experienced from the beta version, it is a very demanding OS which require 1G RAM minium and good graphic card. With microsoft os history, i will said wait after 3~6month release then you get it. Unless is preload with your pc. But no harm to get a pc spec that can run with vista in the future

For the question, personnally i will depends on how much processor power you want from your spec. Surely, $1.5k can get a very decent pc spec that outrun mac with the same price, only if you DIY it.

A G4 spec will be slower than current pc spec. But load it with OSX, you gonna have a very stable OS and good production programs. (It will crash once in a while depends on how you use it though) and somehow the it last longer. My G3imacDV is still working and loaded with OSX10.4

If you not gonna use it for gaming, maybe i will recommend save out a bit and get the intel iMac with a big HDD.

 

[Cheez]

I agree with wmk. Stay clear of Vista at the moment. The DAW softwares will not support it yet. Even if they come up with their new patches, it will take some time to iron out the bugs. And of course, it is more CPU hungry.

As for HD, you need to do some homework by looking at detailed specs of each model of HD, not just the brand. You want HD with fast seek and write time (if you're thinking of sampling, seek time is EXTREMELY important). Terms like "7200rpm" or "10000rpm "can be misleading. And do a search on reviews as some HD can be noisier than some - Maxtor for instance may be slightly louder. You don't want a loud DAW machine if you're going to do home recording.

Same thing goes for fan coolers. They can generate a lot of noise. I know it, because my old DAW had a case cooler and 2 HD coolers for each of my SCSI drives (I had 3 HD in it - 2 SCSIs and 1 IDE), other than the CPU cooler. Turn on the machine and it sounds like an aeroplane taking off.

Good that you are not thinking of getting good graphics card. That's the way to go! A simple one with sufficient buffer will be good enough. High end graphics card is not necessary for DAW unless you are doing film - not to mention that the higher end also comes with noisy fans.

 

[gutturalpiss]

unfortunately some things are quite true. DIY prone to probs, but most of the time ppl get away with it, if u get the right stuff from the right place. I recommend Bell Systems at SLS or Fuwell either SLS or Funan. SLS ones all 5th floor above. Funan Fuwell im not sure.

Ur next alternative to save on potential probs is pre-built/branded, but in that case a MAC will do more justice. With a 1k budget, the best option is DIY. But for a decent setup, i suggest u up ur budget to 1.2 to 1.3k. Helped a friend patch up a DAW with 1.3k a while back, excluding audio hardware/software (imo if ur serious u may have to spend anywhere from $200 to $2000 on audio hardware). But u can get things slowly.

As for the graphics card, it really doesnt matter. Ur getting a DAW, not a gaming rig. U are safe with onboard graphics. The dedicated gfx i recommend is to "future-proof" you. Vista is indeed serious bloatware, and u might wanna stay away frm its clutches for a while. But if u want output to 2 monitors, as far as i know u cant do that w/o dedicated gfx card.

So onboard graphics, i highly recommend any Intel original board supporting Core 2 Duo w/ the Intel GMA X3000.

But for 2 outputs, the card i mentioned is cheap, can get the 128MB version anywhere below $160. Two other recommendations would b PowerColor (ATI) X800GT 256MB DDR3 or ASUS (Nvidia) 6600GT 128MB DDR3 going for <$110. Couple this with an original Intel 965P/965G motherboard and ur set.

As for HDD, previously Hitachi had good seek times (8.5ms average). Currently with the introduction of Seagate 7200.10, seek times and noise levels are pretty good. So for now Seagate is the choice (</= 8.0 ms avg). Save money on the HDD then, get just one. FYI, 200, 250, 320GB, are just ard 20 to $30 apart, with the latter priced at <$160. The fastest is Western Digital Raptor, but thats way over budget. Stay away from Maxtor :lol:

Save up on RAM too, get 1 stick of Kingston 1GB 533MHz instead of 2. Can upgrade in the future if needed. If salesman/girl tells u to get 667MHz, ignore. Just ask for 533MHz.

Yes that is the power supply unit, not cooling. 380W should b ample. But im not sure how much power audio hardware can suck, up to the audio experts here to comment on this. Safe would b CoolerMaster RealPower 450W (and most retailers would bug u to get this so they earn abit more), but im afraid that would b an overkill and unecessary.

All this ard 1 to 1.3. Updated previous post with prices. M$ OS prepare $1 to $200 more, unless u have previous XP license or wanna take the thief way out :lol: Bargain well but not too much. Bell Systems will provide free installation/testing if u get full system from them, whereas Fuwell im not sure but they have good sales staff.

 

[sj2six]

btw eh..alot of pple recommended me not to go into windows Vista thingy..but should I build a comp with Vista ready spec now first? Coz i'm afraid sooner or later all DAWs software will be designed to run better in vista than any other windows OS.

 

[Cheez]

Most of the PC you build NOW will be Vista ready if you should choose to upgrade later.