PC vs. Mac (hahaha)

PC or Mac

  • PC

    Votes: 14 56.0%
  • Mac

    Votes: 11 44.0%

  • Total voters
    25
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2infamouz

New member
I don't want to start a pc vs mac argument, its played out and we all know PC is better (Just kidding chill out mac guy). My question is why did Mac's become so popular in music production, and if you use a Mac why did you decide to go with it instead of building a more powerful PC for half the price? I realize not everyone knows how to build a PC DAW themselves, but I still don't understand why Mac's are so prevalent in this field. Any ideas???

Also added a poll to see if this observation is inaccurate. Maybe less people use Macs than it appears, we'll see.
 
Let me take a couple of guesses.

First off, in the early days I doubt anybody wanting to use a computer for music production would have been very happy using MS/DOS text commands. Apple stole an early lead with their point and click operating system. Even when Microsoft released their early versions of Windows, it wasn't very good at multitasking etc.

Second, Protools (which became the de facto standard) only ran on Apple machines until sometime in the early 2000s.
 
Not to mention, most MAC users, IME (in my experience), are of the wake and bake variety. No offense to stoner's, but if you took a minute to know what is going on, you might realize that they are basically the same friggen computer now. And also, your bicycle is not a motor vehicle, get off the road, or buy a car. Oh yeah, you can't afford a car, cuz you wasted an extra $2G on a PC with the Apple logo.

That being said, I did enjoy surfing on a friends Macbook the other day. Internet pages uploaded flawlessly. Felt really familiar....
 
Mac/PC winds me up for a few reasons.

I constantly see people around here say "There's no difference", "buy what you prefer" etc etc.

and then

Thread after thread after thread about how it's essential to optimise your MS PC for audio use??
Every time someone has a computer issue it's 'disable all networks, uninstall virus software, yada yada'
If you want to use the internet you're going to need two computers???

Both of these things cannot be true.
 
Mac/PC winds me up for a few reasons.

I constantly see people around here say "There's no difference", "buy what you prefer" etc etc.

and then

Thread after thread after thread about how it's essential to optimise your MS PC for audio use??
Every time someone has a computer issue it's 'disable all networks, uninstall virus software, yada yada'
If you want to use the internet you're going to need two computers???

Both of these things cannot be true.

I run antivirus and internet alongside Reaper all the time. While you can optimise for audio, it's not always necessary, depending on your specs and how demanding your projects, vsts, other stuff you're running.

The difference with Windows is they aren't a hardware manufacturer, their software has to work on every piece of hardware. Macs are built and tested with a few specific hardware items. What you trade for stability in OS X is flexibility. Therefore it can take a bit more knowledge and tweaking to run a Windows DAW successfully, but it can be done at a much lower price.

You just have to choose what you need and pay accordingly.
 
Ok, I see your point now. When people say buy what you prefer, that should probably be taken to mean buy what you're able to use at the spec you can afford (or something like that :p).
 
Well, yes we can.

I'm one of the first to recommend turning off wifi and antivirus--but one of the last to follow my own advice. Unless I'm working on a huge project and need every bit of processor power and RAM, I just don't bother. I certainly don't need a second computer for the internet or whatever--indeed my DAW wants me to do online registration and most of my clients are half way round the world waiting for me to send trial mixes to them. The only thing I'll say is that I'm careful about clogging up my PC with junk. I think that may be one of the bigger differences. It's not that there's anything inherently inferior about Windows--but there IS a lot more badly written 3rd party software out there for the MS OS.

As an aside, I have a friend who swears by Mac and its superiority. However, one day his machine just started crashing at random. He spent literally months trying to figure out why--and, in the end, it turned out to be the wireless internet adaptor he'd been provided when he changed ISP. As I say--duff 3rd party software can hurt either system. There's just less written for Mac.

Conversely, do a Google and you can find lots of pages about optimising your Mac for audio, recommending a lot of the same things we talk about for Windows.
 
As I say--duff 3rd party software can hurt either system. There's just less written for Mac.

That's true enough.
To be honest, I tend to think that neither platform should need to be optimised for audio use nowadays.

If you're having trouble and shutting down networking etc helps, there's more to the problem.
I don't want to tempt fate but I have never treated an 'audio computer' any different from any other computer and things are going well.
 
the big mac vs pc discussions are amazing.

its all down to preference of systems. if you learnt recording using logic then only logic will do so only a mac will do. if like me you know how to maintain a pc then it does not matter at all its down to your preference i use cubase as i find its work flow fast and easy to use.

the big difference between them is apple will only use certain hardware so they know that they will never get driver issues. pc just use what they can get there hands on hence why people dont like using them they could be buggy from hardware issues.

apple playing the hardware card also allows them to run there system exactly how they want to with out issue hense why they get more power from there cpu.

i have a £700 pc with good specs so i saved myself £700 from the same spec mac and i love it a can not fault it but if i had to use a mac it wouldnt be the end of the world. its just down to what you are used to using.
 
For me it's a question of math. If I want to purchase A, B, C, and D with X amount of money then paying too much for A means that I'm not going to be able to swing C, and D. I'm dropping approx. $5K worth of gear on my daughter's studio. If 1/5th of that went to flush out Apple's bottom line then there would be some serious holes elsewhere.

And the issue isn't whether or not IBM PC compats need to be 'optimized'... I've never optimized shit. It's simply that the IBM PC compat universe is wide open so people fiddle. Apple is a closed garden that doesn't empower you to 'optimize'.
 
I have pretty much everything Apple have come out with, but i only use PCs and ipads for music...for the price the performance is just not there, my PC rig kills my imac, my laptop kills my macbooks, hell even my sony mp3 players less hassle than itunes

I replaced my macbookpro with a sony viao...its was way cheaper and way more powerful...and when i kill it, or it becomes obsolete, itll hurt a lot less replacing it

Not saying theyre not rock solid most of the time, but if you dont mind some setting up, and/or troubleshooting, then theres way more bang for your buck in PCs

One more thing, how long has mountain lion been out yet some manufacturers still havent updated their drivers, i couldnt get my Air to recognise my usb hub or midisport...Win7 is solid and if its supported as long as XP then im happy..apple change OS way too often I reckon
 
There is a reason that things are cheaper for PCs. Sure you could build a PC with the same specs as any MacPro, as in same processor speed, amount of ram, etc... and the Mac will out perform the PC every time. The reason Macs cost more is because they use top of the line, non consumer grade hardware. Sure you can build a PC with the same grade hardware, and it will cost you the same as a Mac.
 
Not really that useful or relevant, but the build quality on apple products is ridiculous.

I totally get that it doesn't merit the price difference, but personally I'd pay the extra money for that nice noise the MBP makes when you shut the lid. :p
 
Not really that useful or relevant, but the build quality on apple products is ridiculous.

I totally get that it doesn't merit the price difference, but personally I'd pay the extra money for that nice noise the MBP makes when you shut the lid. :p
How is build quality not useful or relevant?? This whole thread is ridiculous, the PC peeps can keep their Fiero with the Lambo body kit, I'll keep the Lamborghini...

Also, about the price difference see my above post...
 
Also, about the price difference see my above post...

But what you said there was incorrect. You can build a PC with the same components (better, even) for way cheaper than Macs are sold for, as I did with my Hackintosh that would have cost more than double for the same spec from Apple. Of course it's cheaper when you buy the parts and put in the labour yourself.
 
And by the way, I have driven a Fiero and a Ferrari. No Lambo tho. It costs about 5 grand a year, just to keep the value of a Ferrari. I would surely take the Fiero back and forth to work, cuz I would be less likely to crash it.

Most cant afford the luxury of a mac, nor have the desire to. Arrogance that you can, is well, just kind of rude on this forum IMO. To say it is overall better, is just more arrogance of a happy user. Enjoy your expensive limitations. :)

I must add, that I am just feeding fire for fun. I could really care less. And I am not discounting your opinion either fetus. I like you. :D
 
... And also, your bicycle is not a motor vehicle, get off the road, or buy a car. Oh yeah, you can't afford a car, cuz you wasted an extra $2G on a PC with the Apple logo.....

I stopped reading the thread right there. :laughings: So off topic, yet so to the point.:thumbs up:
 
And by the way, I have driven a Fiero and a Ferrari. No Lambo tho. It costs about 5 grand a year, just to keep the value of a Ferrari. I would surely take the Fiero back and forth to work, cuz I would be less likely to crash it.

Most cant afford the luxury of a mac, nor have the desire to. Arrogance that you can, is well, just kind of rude on this forum IMO. To say it is overall better, is just more arrogance of a happy user. Enjoy your expensive limitations. :)

I must add, that I am just feeding fire for fun. I could really care less. And I am not discounting your opinion either fetus. I like you. :D

HAHAHA!!! Thanks I got that, but it is important to add, as sarcasm and dry humor get lost in typing translation... Never had the joys of a Ferrari, which was actually the comparison I was going to use, but have driven a Lambo... Very unstable under about 50-80 mph.

Back to the discussion though, to compare building a computer yourself to a professionally built computer sold retail, whether it is price wise, build quality, or any other comparison isn't comparing apples to apples (hahahaha!!!!) If you were to compare a PRODUCTION PC, with SERVER GRADE not CONSUMER GRADE components to a PRODUCTION Mac, you would have two similar machines at nearly the same price point, in two very different cases. Now, if you want to compare what you can build on your own, whether it be Mac or PC, again, same machine, same price point. Arguing that would be retarded as those are facts. The point where everything goes to shit is when each of the computers boots up to either windows or OSX, thus the birth of the hackintosh... It really depends on which operating system you want to run at the end of the day. I can't tell you how many times I've heard a demo of a dope ass VST and googled it ready for download only to find out it is PC only. That being said, I will still never go back to PC, not even as a second machine. Nor will I pollute my Mac by making it a dual boot system, as they have now developed cross over virus'.

I would however, build a hackintosh as a dual boot if I ever find a VST or program that I must have and is PC only...

Anyway, let the argument continue, I will come back to this later... have to get back to the desk reconfiguration... (stupid distracting forum!!!)
 
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