mr_debauch wrote:Snowball wrote:I'm hoping that it won't have to come to that for me and that a half decent audio interface will suffice. **** Apple. 
yeah really.. I would hate to have to buy an apple to install windows on it... and put tape over the glowing logo on the back.
However, I think it's not the right thing comparing a low end laptop by acer which doesn't use a high performing chipset to an apple computer that does. It's like trying to get a 3 second 0-60 with a cube van.
While seeing your point I can confirm Windows runs like a beast on any Mac hardware and with a proper non virtualized Bootcamp install it's a joy to have both at your fingertips. One beatmaker I know called it "a Yugo engine in a Beemer" but that is simply not true in the least. (Actually Windows slightly edges OS X in all the dual format stuff I have likeLive etc. but neglible differences)
Core audio is written for low latency whereas Direct X and WDM drivers are not. If your (even low grade) PC can run ASIO4All you can get decent 128 sample buffers. But anyone I recommended it to reported the Ren/Studio as not outputting through ASIO4All.
I'm going to still try with the Ren demo out of curiosity. Over the years I've used ASIO4All with almost every DAW outside PT and all my standalone plugin versions, so it's worked for literally 100's of things. The Akai MPC software may be the exception though.
But to what Snowball's concern is, yeah an interface for between $150-$300 will sort you out and you won't need to "resort/upgrade/call it what you will" to a Mac.
On both OS's using ASIO or Core audio respectively the latency numbers are quite close and then your CPU clock speed is the next factor that allows improvement. (Smaller buffers = more frequent CPU/USB polling routines. Faster CPU can check/refresh the buffers faster).
Even if your PC has Firewire you are probably still best with a USB 2.0 (or 3.0 if more units release and you have the port). PC's for about 5 years now use mostly JMICRON Firewire controllers. They may as well be made of cardboard. No firewire device on earth has ever been recognized by my HP laptop from 2010. On a desktop you can buy a Texas Instruments Firewire controller (still used in Macs and custom PC DAW builds), but on a PC laptop Firewire has become almost impossible to use.
(If it's available though, konc3pt is right to the degree that Firewire bypasses the CPU for data throughput. USB has to have the CPU manage the I/O data flow. But drivers have improved and most close the gap to firewire using the majority of the 54MBps connection USB can in theory utilize.)
Sorry for the novel, I'm just a low latency whore for years so I've has a lot of interfaces over the years.
