Mac VS. PC
- Thread starter theliverevolution
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logicdroid
New member
Honestly,
You won't know how good a product is until you start using it everyday. Only then will you understand why some peeps swear by them, and some just don't. DAW arguments for example is another hot debate.
Some Mac folks I know of bought it for the design and just coz they could afford it - but know absolute shite about the machine much less tap into it's power.
And of course unlucky folks who ended up with crappy Macs were just... crappy unlucky.
In most cases even for consumer products, most will say aiyah, paying for the brand name... What it means is paying for the trust.
R.
If there was a machine out there that's better than a Mac, I would save for it.
You won't know how good a product is until you start using it everyday. Only then will you understand why some peeps swear by them, and some just don't. DAW arguments for example is another hot debate.
Some Mac folks I know of bought it for the design and just coz they could afford it - but know absolute shite about the machine much less tap into it's power.
And of course unlucky folks who ended up with crappy Macs were just... crappy unlucky.
In most cases even for consumer products, most will say aiyah, paying for the brand name... What it means is paying for the trust.
R.
If there was a machine out there that's better than a Mac, I would save for it.
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blueprintstudios
New member
I'm sure ppl have noticed I said "never ending" drum roll. It's like asking the "which one do you think will become extinct first? the chicken or the egg?
Linux
Pros : I heard it's very stable. freeeeee.
Cons : I heard it's not easy/compatible to use. but once you get the hang of it I also heard it'll be alright. unfortunately until now i still don't have the time to FULLY experiment linux but so far so bad. or at least I don't see how it integrates easily crossplatform with my setup in windows xp. very intimidating.
Mac
Pros : very eye candy user friendly interface.stable... or at least most users including myself take that stability for granted. Has alot of famous industry level standards DAW/DVW like final cut/logic/protools.
Cons : because I was told that it's stable , I recall using cubase 4 with it and it would crash out of a sudden. and unlike windows there's no chance of "last min recovery like CTRL-ALT-DEL , end task, switch to: back up save etc." the mac OS would just ask me to turn off the system or something like that. so may be it is a "cubase fault" thing but even with in-stabilities , I'd like to rely on last resort/options to who-knows-recover what i was working on.
and extremely overpriced.. one mac could get me a few powerhouse CPUs + KVM switch to control all of them, one doing video rendering, one DAW, one torrent/watching TV/playing games/office use.
PC (Windows)
Pros : Cheaaaap.the price drops like nobody's business like you wish the standards of living in singapore would drop as fast. I don't know about you guys, my windows xp is stable because I average "reinstall" about 4 times a month. using free disk imaging software Drive Image XML. why and what about my data you might ask? I edited the registry to set Desktop/My Documents/Favorites/Application Data in a 2nd partition (e.g D
so all new data will naturally be saved away from C: . disk restoring takes WAYYYYY lesser time than a full defragment. and a virus scan. So I can safely vote "Stable with a good habit of maintenance" . and I run all my other stuff on www.portableapps.com , firefox etc so I won't need to search and back them up from deep directories like C:\docs'n'sets\all losers/administasojroast/application data or local settings application data .
as you can see on portable apps MANY free softwares are available to perform your "lifestyle" tasks. so it won't exactly lose out on the software side.
majority of the people use this, so there alot of "How To Solve your damn PC problems" website/blogs out there in google searches.. then again mac also has but not as much. (which is a good thing)
Cons : unstable for the cheaper powersupplies/mainboards/ram models parts. extremely prone to viruses/spywares . thanks to microsoft's unstable OS it gave many computer tech's jobs and yes that's how bad it can be. I'm not sure about vista, i'm saying in terms of windows xp sp3. basic "geek" level maintenance required to ensure the OS in a stable state.
I think this thread no longer belongs to the thread starter but to all the people's "lifestyles" and "experience". to allow people who are still choosing their choice of OS make a better decision to fit in the particular category.
Linux
Pros : I heard it's very stable. freeeeee.
Cons : I heard it's not easy/compatible to use. but once you get the hang of it I also heard it'll be alright. unfortunately until now i still don't have the time to FULLY experiment linux but so far so bad. or at least I don't see how it integrates easily crossplatform with my setup in windows xp. very intimidating.
Mac
Pros : very eye candy user friendly interface.stable... or at least most users including myself take that stability for granted. Has alot of famous industry level standards DAW/DVW like final cut/logic/protools.
Cons : because I was told that it's stable , I recall using cubase 4 with it and it would crash out of a sudden. and unlike windows there's no chance of "last min recovery like CTRL-ALT-DEL , end task, switch to: back up save etc." the mac OS would just ask me to turn off the system or something like that. so may be it is a "cubase fault" thing but even with in-stabilities , I'd like to rely on last resort/options to who-knows-recover what i was working on.
and extremely overpriced.. one mac could get me a few powerhouse CPUs + KVM switch to control all of them, one doing video rendering, one DAW, one torrent/watching TV/playing games/office use.
PC (Windows)
Pros : Cheaaaap.the price drops like nobody's business like you wish the standards of living in singapore would drop as fast. I don't know about you guys, my windows xp is stable because I average "reinstall" about 4 times a month. using free disk imaging software Drive Image XML. why and what about my data you might ask? I edited the registry to set Desktop/My Documents/Favorites/Application Data in a 2nd partition (e.g D
so all new data will naturally be saved away from C: . disk restoring takes WAYYYYY lesser time than a full defragment. and a virus scan. So I can safely vote "Stable with a good habit of maintenance" . and I run all my other stuff on www.portableapps.com , firefox etc so I won't need to search and back them up from deep directories like C:\docs'n'sets\all losers/administasojroast/application data or local settings application data . as you can see on portable apps MANY free softwares are available to perform your "lifestyle" tasks. so it won't exactly lose out on the software side.
majority of the people use this, so there alot of "How To Solve your damn PC problems" website/blogs out there in google searches.. then again mac also has but not as much. (which is a good thing)
Cons : unstable for the cheaper powersupplies/mainboards/ram models parts. extremely prone to viruses/spywares . thanks to microsoft's unstable OS it gave many computer tech's jobs and yes that's how bad it can be. I'm not sure about vista, i'm saying in terms of windows xp sp3. basic "geek" level maintenance required to ensure the OS in a stable state.
I think this thread no longer belongs to the thread starter but to all the people's "lifestyles" and "experience". to allow people who are still choosing their choice of OS make a better decision to fit in the particular category.
Let's put it this way... If money were no object, I would be fine with all three. There are pros and cons to everything. I'll just list one or two things I like or dislike about the OS as a DAW. The rest you can find out for yourself with google.
- Mac looks good and makes it real fun to work with. When a Mac lags, you wait for the MAC.
- Windows is real familiar and easy to understand (cuz we work with Windows so much). Window's cons are legendary and need no explaining.
- Linux is free and extremely versatile (MAC is based on Unix which is the same thing which Linux is based on. Linux is usually harder to configure.
1) If you want a simple out of the box solution that you can purchase, ready for the road, get a MAC with e.g. protools. This is going to be insanely expensive though.
2) If you want to use an existing PC, get cubase for Windows. This is also commonly used but as with most who use Windows, there are other installed programs and poor choice of hardware configuration that will minimise the "apparent power" of the product. Something like having 8GB of RAM but only a pentium 3 1Ghz.
3) If you want to spend NOTHING at all and get something worth your bandwidth, get a Linux solution (there are a number of distributions with different solutions - think Fender Strats, all are the same yet all are different). There are simple click-click solutions out there with Linux but there are also others which are highly configurable and thus very 'leceh' to setup.
I posted this reply, hoping to avoid all the long opinions and biased "fact" reporting content. But I hope that this long-winded reply is general and unbiased enough for you to start doing the homework before making an informed decision.
With some searching and some work, you can find solid solutions for every OS out there, and yes, even windows. Remember, pros and cons to everything.
At the end of the day, as what logicdroid has said, we can give you all the pros and cons, how things are better than the others, but if for some reason, you hate it, then that's it.
If I buy you a buggati veyron for free, and you end up hating it simply because you have to play half clutch everytime you drive in singapore, you simply change the car. No point blaming the roads. With all that in mind, to be frank, get something that suits you, something that you like.
p.s. For security and stability, forget what everyone has said. To be honest, for most intents and purposes, it's all the same. Even windows. Especially with regards to stability.
- Mac looks good and makes it real fun to work with. When a Mac lags, you wait for the MAC.
- Windows is real familiar and easy to understand (cuz we work with Windows so much). Window's cons are legendary and need no explaining.
- Linux is free and extremely versatile (MAC is based on Unix which is the same thing which Linux is based on. Linux is usually harder to configure.
1) If you want a simple out of the box solution that you can purchase, ready for the road, get a MAC with e.g. protools. This is going to be insanely expensive though.
2) If you want to use an existing PC, get cubase for Windows. This is also commonly used but as with most who use Windows, there are other installed programs and poor choice of hardware configuration that will minimise the "apparent power" of the product. Something like having 8GB of RAM but only a pentium 3 1Ghz.
3) If you want to spend NOTHING at all and get something worth your bandwidth, get a Linux solution (there are a number of distributions with different solutions - think Fender Strats, all are the same yet all are different). There are simple click-click solutions out there with Linux but there are also others which are highly configurable and thus very 'leceh' to setup.
I posted this reply, hoping to avoid all the long opinions and biased "fact" reporting content. But I hope that this long-winded reply is general and unbiased enough for you to start doing the homework before making an informed decision.
With some searching and some work, you can find solid solutions for every OS out there, and yes, even windows. Remember, pros and cons to everything.
At the end of the day, as what logicdroid has said, we can give you all the pros and cons, how things are better than the others, but if for some reason, you hate it, then that's it.
If I buy you a buggati veyron for free, and you end up hating it simply because you have to play half clutch everytime you drive in singapore, you simply change the car. No point blaming the roads. With all that in mind, to be frank, get something that suits you, something that you like.
p.s. For security and stability, forget what everyone has said. To be honest, for most intents and purposes, it's all the same. Even windows. Especially with regards to stability.
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logicdroid
New member
I think this thread no longer belongs to the thread starter but to all the people's "lifestyles" and "experience". to allow people who are still choosing their choice of OS make a better decision to fit in the particular category.[/QUOTE said:
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Cheez
Moderator
EX14, ODT format is no problem. Problem is when other people (not our staff) sharing their documents with us in .doc formats and we open them in Open Office. That's the problem.
Logicdroid, many times budget determine everything. In an organisation/company (like mine - charity-based poverty alleviation/medical NGO in a 3rd world country), using Linux on all our computers save us tens of thousands of dollars on software, which can be used to save lives.
Logicdroid, many times budget determine everything. In an organisation/company (like mine - charity-based poverty alleviation/medical NGO in a 3rd world country), using Linux on all our computers save us tens of thousands of dollars on software, which can be used to save lives.
theliverevolution
New member
Oh brother. I'm AFK for a few days and I'm bombed with so many replies that I admit, I'm finally finding some answers.
I will probably consider buying a Mac Mini or building a PC, and perhaps if I can save up a bit more, maybe consider the Macbook. And wait for Windows 7 to come out to see whether it is worth shelling some cash for it. If not, there's always XP
That, will be after I've considered the cost of maintaining the darn machine needed.
Thanks for all the replies, HOPEfully this would stop the warring between both camps :X
I will probably consider buying a Mac Mini or building a PC, and perhaps if I can save up a bit more, maybe consider the Macbook. And wait for Windows 7 to come out to see whether it is worth shelling some cash for it. If not, there's always XP
That, will be after I've considered the cost of maintaining the darn machine needed.
Thanks for all the replies, HOPEfully this would stop the warring between both camps :X
if you want an honest unbiased opinion (because i think BOTH are great) then do pm me. i've worked with both so i know the good and bad of each. i'm too lazy to post it here though. just pm me and tell me what you're looking for most importantly: user-friendly, good interface, popular, cheap, more support from external software and VST libraries. anything. i'll help you compare, but don't expect me to tell you what to get.
At least with Macbook, you can do some demo already. Use optical out to hook on hi-fi with optical in. I met a lady do quite a lot of Garageband. Her voice on Macbook mic is OMG. Arrangement is simple but dun feel cheap. I feel ashame of my work while I use high stuff like Logic Pro.
l0u5y
New member
l0u5y : to update you , I just came back from simlim yesterday, and calculated an equivalent/slightly faster to my studio DAW is under $550 now...
I very much wanna participate in this discussion AGAIN but just sick of it. money is my best friend now and my best friend highly recommends PC + a REALLY good habit of maintenance.
This mac vs pc discussion has been going on since like the 90s. and theres still no definite answer.
Lets assume we are only talking about mac vs pc in audio stuff. Not leisure internet surfing or gaming etc. And more of the desktops and mac desktops than laptops and macbooks.
This is all true. It all depends on a lot of factors. If u are a professional, and having clients coming in all the time, you won't have the time to maintain your pc. Thats why most studio owners use macs. Which is why schools dealing with video and audio stuff also uses macs. If they wan to maintain the pcs, they will have to hire lots of technicians, becoz lets face it, students won't take care of the pcs for you. It will be much cheaper to get macs than hire extra manpower.
I dun really noe much about linux working on audio related stuff. i dun even noe if the most common audio editing softwares work on linux. so i cant talk bout linux.
Lets put aside all exceptions. We all noe that pcs has lots of viruses and all that keys and registries errors etc that slows your computer down. Mac has fewer viruses, etc. U dun really have to scan your mac for all these errors etc. Hence, it goes to the point that mac is more stable. which is a very strong selling point of macs.
Pro audio editing appications.
Mac: Logic, Digital Performer
PC: Sonar
Cross-platform: Cubase(Nuendo), Protools
Just naming a few.
If u use logic, theres no way u can run it on a mac (unless u toking bout a hackintosh but lets not go into that)
Not an important point but hardware support. Apogee stuff can only work with macs.
And back to an important point, Price. Most of us have to face reality. Not everyone can pay for that hefty price of a mac, at least for me i can't, or to put in better words, i dun wan to. as i said i rather spend that money on a microphone or a preamp etc.
Im not gonna cover the difference between an imac and a mac pro.
We always have to upgrade our system every few years to keep up with the software. If we are following ron's price since he has the latest update on sls price of $550, the next time we upgrade is another $550.
But think about mac. Probably for a same specs with the $550 pc, it will cost like $2k if im not wrong. But correct me if im exaggerating as i nvr refer to the prices for some time now. Then the next upgrade again will be another 2k. This is a lot of money. IMO, i personally will not buy a mac unless im a professional. and if im a pro, i would go for a mac pro and not an imac.
I won't go into other stuff like the outlook and stuff. All those will be ur personal preference.
550?
I doubt it. A solid dual core (not even quad core) + Gigabyte UD3P is about 500+. This was about 1 or 2 months ago.
Even if the prices have dropped insanely, you still need a HDD, RAM, Graphics card ($60 cheap one) and let's not forget the audio interface.
It's not possible.
I doubt it. A solid dual core (not even quad core) + Gigabyte UD3P is about 500+. This was about 1 or 2 months ago.
Even if the prices have dropped insanely, you still need a HDD, RAM, Graphics card ($60 cheap one) and let's not forget the audio interface.
It's not possible.
theliverevolution
New member
I'm going to Simlim to compare and contrast prices, will probably ask around there for basic prices XD
blueprintstudios
New member
firethorn : I hope you didn't mean as if i'm pulling a fast one faking prices lol.
Asus P5QPL-AM mainboard (onboard VGA/Audio) + Core2Duo 2.93ghz
$280
-
Seagate 500gb $80*
cheap casing $90 *
kingston 4GB ram $100 *
*plus minus between these 3. some ppl only need 2gb ram. or even cheaper casing.
to be realistically accurate and not to mislead anyone here, I excluded Windows XP original which costs $220. so you're right it would be $550+$220. but XP has been around so long, anyone would have their original copy lying around to install on the new machine (and throw away / give away the old CPU) . I haven't included new mouse/keyboard/monitor because again I'm taking for granted that someone has an old computer. which the parts are still usable.
and yes this is excluding audio interface. which lets say a Zoom H4n would cost $420 @ Soft online store.
and highly affordable large diaphragm mic like Audio Technica AT2020 $170 around there for vocals
and $140 for bits of this and that like cables etc.
total of $550+$220 (for those without their copy of winxp) + $420 + $170 + $140 = $1500
so not necessarily $420+$170+$140 is required if all the user wants to record is vocals + acoustic guitar, then something like a Zoom H2 ($250) will do.? and there's still plenty of 2nd hand line6 toneport ux2s/other cheap audio interfaces for sale at soft's classifieds.
this is the true "Pros" of PC. but again, do not forget the true "Cons" of PC/Windows, easily virus ridden, this is where my DIYRecording FAQ (http://tinyurl.com/diyrecording) specifically state : your DAW is NOT MEANT TO BE ONLINE! BEWARE OF PPL PLUGGING IN THEIR USB DRIVES INTO YOUR DAW ALSO!
Asus P5QPL-AM mainboard (onboard VGA/Audio) + Core2Duo 2.93ghz
$280
-
Seagate 500gb $80*
cheap casing $90 *
kingston 4GB ram $100 *
*plus minus between these 3. some ppl only need 2gb ram. or even cheaper casing.
to be realistically accurate and not to mislead anyone here, I excluded Windows XP original which costs $220. so you're right it would be $550+$220. but XP has been around so long, anyone would have their original copy lying around to install on the new machine (and throw away / give away the old CPU) . I haven't included new mouse/keyboard/monitor because again I'm taking for granted that someone has an old computer. which the parts are still usable.
and yes this is excluding audio interface. which lets say a Zoom H4n would cost $420 @ Soft online store.
and highly affordable large diaphragm mic like Audio Technica AT2020 $170 around there for vocals
and $140 for bits of this and that like cables etc.
total of $550+$220 (for those without their copy of winxp) + $420 + $170 + $140 = $1500
so not necessarily $420+$170+$140 is required if all the user wants to record is vocals + acoustic guitar, then something like a Zoom H2 ($250) will do.? and there's still plenty of 2nd hand line6 toneport ux2s/other cheap audio interfaces for sale at soft's classifieds.
this is the true "Pros" of PC. but again, do not forget the true "Cons" of PC/Windows, easily virus ridden, this is where my DIYRecording FAQ (http://tinyurl.com/diyrecording) specifically state : your DAW is NOT MEANT TO BE ONLINE! BEWARE OF PPL PLUGGING IN THEIR USB DRIVES INTO YOUR DAW ALSO!
blueprintstudios
New member
I'd like to also mention that i'm not out to say "mac sucks, pc kicks ass" . this thread is just one of the many that clearly shows why people choose the system they choose.
most of my "pros" relies on Cost Efficiency, but Stability is patched up via good habit of maintenance
most of mac users's "pros" is reliant on Stability, but the costs are patched up via *USUALLY* their day job income or their income from their jobs DONE ON THE MAC!
no hard feelings all yeah? this is just productive forum discussion material.
Quote Of The Day : CONgress is the opposite of PROgress..
most of my "pros" relies on Cost Efficiency, but Stability is patched up via good habit of maintenance
most of mac users's "pros" is reliant on Stability, but the costs are patched up via *USUALLY* their day job income or their income from their jobs DONE ON THE MAC!
no hard feelings all yeah? this is just productive forum discussion material.
Quote Of The Day : CONgress is the opposite of PROgress..
C'mon you need to earn money from it. Seriously, it is not that bad. You need to pay for anti-virus, That It. Look at the studio using PC, they are online all the time. It is recommend to offline while you are working on DAW. It will cause unnecessary overhead. Do I need to recommend any anti-virus software? Finish you project throw to external HDD.
blueprintstudios
New member
as I was saying ,
antivirus :
http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/clamwin_portable
http://nunobrito.eu/ninja/
antivirus softwares that actively MONITOR files will slow down the startup of the OS or take up memory resources. norton/avg/panda/nod32 , been there done that. I find myself "right click exit"-ing on the systray all the time.
as a once victim of a virus that infected ALL of my DAW's .exes rendering them useless + turning all exe's into viruses. it's not my practise to allow any "outsider data" plugged into my studio PC except from my own laptops, videocamera , my thumbdrive (constantly checked for viruses on my laptop) , and phone.
external hdds is just as vulnerable to such worms.
that's why I have a personal internet laptop : Asus EEE 4G , I use my free starhub IntelC2d 1.66ghz 2.5gb ram laptop to record, and my average offline desktop - 2.4ghz intel c2d 4gb ram and 4.5tb hdds combined to mix/final archive/master. so the final "plugging in/data transfer into studio DAW PC" is always clean.
antivirus :
http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/clamwin_portable
http://nunobrito.eu/ninja/
antivirus softwares that actively MONITOR files will slow down the startup of the OS or take up memory resources. norton/avg/panda/nod32 , been there done that. I find myself "right click exit"-ing on the systray all the time.
as a once victim of a virus that infected ALL of my DAW's .exes rendering them useless + turning all exe's into viruses. it's not my practise to allow any "outsider data" plugged into my studio PC except from my own laptops, videocamera , my thumbdrive (constantly checked for viruses on my laptop) , and phone.
external hdds is just as vulnerable to such worms.
that's why I have a personal internet laptop : Asus EEE 4G , I use my free starhub IntelC2d 1.66ghz 2.5gb ram laptop to record, and my average offline desktop - 2.4ghz intel c2d 4gb ram and 4.5tb hdds combined to mix/final archive/master. so the final "plugging in/data transfer into studio DAW PC" is always clean.
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