The age Old Debate....

Mac or PC?

why?

im about to cop one or the other and i need as much input as possible..

thanks.

pc, because if you have to ask this, you probably dont have the budget to get a g4 and a real protools setup. if you arent going to go all out with the protools hardware interface and a g4 and all that, then either one will do.

I have both and I'll tell you that I've been turned off by both. The mac and waiting for audio to be done on osx drove me to go back to hardware solution for sequencing. It's only now that drivers have been completed and software is beginning to surface; I'm impatient and they really took too long. They were more concentrated on the video people (that's honestly my opinion and many others in pro audio) It was hard because os 9 was very stable but apple's ceo put it in a casket and crammed x down everyones throat; you can still boot to os9 but support has all but disappeared. X is a god send and the code for audio was so drastic in change that the companies didn't go along with developing at the pace apple was forcing them to. Then when some companies jumped on at osx 10.1 apple went and changed it yet again with osx 10.2 jaguar. That's when I said f--k it! It's a great web design tool and is my main video editor for my boxing legend archive (i have bouts from the last 15 years) and this mpc 4000 video/dvd that I'm making an attempt at. They lost my faith as an audio professional.

The pc on the other hand never changed. No forced upgrades with new OS; continued support between os's with most manufacturers. And yes you can run a full blow pro tools 24 mix system on a pc. Go to www.digidesign.com; I kid you not. The user experience on a pc takes a great deal of patience and really good know how when it comes to resources and driver conflicts. This is what detracts from doing audio on this platform; if you do however have the patience; you can manage a flawless multi track/midi/sampling computer workstation.

If you are patient and have a bottomless cash pocket go with the mac; I just didn't have the patience to wait and I refuse to stick with a platform that will force me to change my OS and abandon support if i don't. I can tell you that web design and video editing/authoring is sweet as hell on a mac. Apple acquired emagic and that can only mean good things as far as audio on the mac (too little too late for me) Pro-tools has gone x and so has steinberg; Motu is almost here (again this is two years too late - that's how long i've been waiting)
I'm getting a pIV motherboard for the pc and it will remain scsi based and audio only; no internet/video/mp3 shyte. It ran great for me since 1998 on a pII 400 and I kept it audio only. PIV with Scsi (15000 rpm) will turn it back into a multitrack beast. I am looking into Mackie's 24/96 HD solution. I've seen them in many a studio and they run rock solid.

Do some research my man. I enjoy both platforms for different reasons.

no doubt.. i've been researching it and i just wanted to get some advice from cats that have either..

i pretty much decided to go the mac route, but figured i'd get some more advice before making a purchase.

thanks a lot for the info..

holla...

holla..

OSX - Get a MAC, dont pussyfoot around with PCs, youll end up wasting more money in the long run on upgrades and all that crap that goes along with PCs. OSX is big pimpin baby, creates that pimp vibe in the studio, no doubt baby.

I admit i still use my old raggedy PC for surfing the net and other things my mac isnt worthy of.

Running Reason and ProTools 6 on OSX is amazing. Butter.

=)

KoolSha178 wrote:OSX - Get a MAC, dont pussyfoot around with PCs, youll end up wasting more money in the long run on upgrades and all that crap that goes along with PCs. OSX is big pimpin baby, creates that pimp vibe in the studio, no doubt baby.

I admit i still use my old raggedy PC for surfing the net and other things my mac isnt worthy of.

Running Reason and ProTools 6 on OSX is amazing. Butter.

=)

im assuming that was a fairly sarcastic remark.. i thought i was gonna get a good response from you, as you one of the most knowledgable cats on here..

its all gravy.. i've never owned a computer so forgive my ignorance. been mad low budget until now and i just happened to come up on a little scrill and thought ya'll would be able to help me out...

Puke don't get me wrong; I didn't know if you did any research and I don't just mean on the net. I based my decision on readily available software and Hardware; not what's promised 2 years down the line.
Apple f--cked up with audio. OSX isn't the platform of choice right now if your just getting into audio. If you already own a mac it's OS9 that's the choice.

I'm a G4 owner and cash is not an issue with me as far as the mac platform. They didn't deliver the goods on time and as a cubase user I am heartily disappointed. Midex 8 drivers for osx are still in the beta stage. That's ridiculous. Their so called promise about midi and osx as simple as plugging in your unit without drivers is a farce. Multi track hardware is still being ironed out on osx.
Before you make the plunge call digidesign etc.... whoever you plan on using for hardware/software multitrack audio and sequencing and ask which platform Mac or PC would be best suited for you. YOU ARE GOING TO BE SHOCKED!!!! I have made these phone calls; i've done the research and I'm stuck with a G4 with a fantastic OS that is still getting it's feet wet with audio. And how about this; They've announced another major upgrade (Panther) for this year and you will have to pay full price for it; Still no rock solid audio promised yet.
Be careful!

I just got off the phone with a sales associate that i used to work with. He has an NFR of Logic 6 for OSX and says it's dope; he swears by it. I'm just showing you that I'm not biased and any info is useful info; it's a hard decison to make.
Logic was never my choice and now with the mpc 4000; software sequencing just isn't important to me as is used to be; It's multi-tracking i'm concerned with and any platform is more than capable of handling that task; computer or dedicated hardware. I like the mackie 24/96 dedicated unit that can be daisy chained. They have good plug-ins too.

When the budget allows I'll do a pro tools mix system most likely on the g4 titanium; if I was newly in the game for a computer and had to make a decision; I'd go the pc route and mackies hardware route.

dammix-greatly appreciated.. will take what you said into consideration. i'll holla at digidesign, etc. and see what they tell me.

good lookin' out..

i may to need to holla at you in the future as you seem to be open to sharing info with a cat just getting into computer platforms..

got an mpc, but have never ventured into incorporating a good multitrack system as well as production programs into the set up.

peace..

I hate Macs. I think that they are dumbed-downed PC's. I've said here before that the only reason to get a Mac to run ProTools is for the availability of the cracked plugins...