PC vs. Mac (hahaha)

PC or Mac

  • PC

    Votes: 14 56.0%
  • Mac

    Votes: 11 44.0%

  • Total voters
    25
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Neither. Both are rubbish for recording music on. If you want to record, record to tape, like God intended......;)


VVVVVVVVVVVV
 
The thing I was going to claim to debunk was that the cost of the Macs vs the cost of PCs would be the same, regardless of what components you used.

Here, let me show you what you'd get for cost if you built a PC with the EXACT SAME processor, the same RAM, (as close to) the same graphics card (the 5770 is ancient, they only have 6770 on newegg anymore), etc etc. I'll even provide you with links to help you follow along with me.

Okay, so. Let's visit Apple.com.

Apple - Mac Pro - View all the technical specifications.

There's the tech specs for the Mac Pro. The processor is "Two 2.4GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5645 processors" for the dual CPU model. Newegg offers two of the E5646 for this cost...

Intel Xeon E5645 Westmere-EP 2.4GHz 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 12MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 80W Six-Core Server Processor BX80614E5645 - Newegg.com

$575 for one, two will set us back $1050. Now let's look at the memory. It claims it's using "1333MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM." Okay, let's get the most expensive 12GB (standard for the Mac Pro) server grade RAM we can on Newegg.

Kingston Server Memory DR x8 Intel Model KVR13R9D8K3/12I - Newegg.com

$112 for that. We're at $1162. Now on to the graphics card. The 5770 is too old to find anything other than refurbished, so let's upgrade to the 6770 1GB model of the ATI Radeon.

VisionTek 900447 Radeon HD 6770 Video Card - Newegg.com

$120, total $1282. Now let's look at hard drives. I know they use Samsung for their SSDs, because my friend runs an IT business and he's had to repair and replace one recently. We'll do the 512GB plus a 1TB 7200.

SAMSUNG MZ-7PD512BW - Newegg.com
Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX Internal Hard Drive - Newegg.com

$520 for the SSD, $100 for the HDD, that's $620, so $1902 so far. Now on to the optical drive. Theirs doesn't even support anything but DVDs, I'll go one up and get a Blu-Ray reader so we can watch HD videos if we'd like.

ASUS Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black Blu-ray Drive - Newegg.com

$60, at $1962 so far. The rest is just getting a case, a motherboard, a mouse, keyboard, and monitor. Let's do all that right now.

EVGA Classified SR-2 270-WS-W555-A2 LGA 1366 Intel 5520 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HPTX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com
Rosewill BLACKHAWK-ULTRA Gaming Super Tower Computer Case, support up to HPTX, come with Eight Fans,Top HDD docking - Retail - Newegg.com
Logitech G700 Black Mouse - Newegg.com
Logitech K400 (920-003070) Black Keyboard - Newegg.com

After all that, the total cost is $2857. There's also a 27" ASUS monitor for $700 that saves $300 on the apple one, but since you can use either on a Mac, I didn't specify. Another $200 if you want Windows 7 Pro and you're at $3057.

Spec'ing the Mac Pro the same with gets you $50 under $5000, and it has less option for improvement later, more PCIe slots, and even a Blu-ray drive. SAME exact parts taken right from Apple's site, almost $2000 cheaper.

These are the facts. You're wrong.


How am I wrong? You essentially did a really long recap of my post from the top of the page:
Well actually first I posted this:



I'll break it down for anyone who may not understand:

Optimized Setup: PRODUCTION DESKTOP PC with SERVER GRADE components vs. PRODUCTION MacPro with SERVER(standard) GRADE components = Price - Negligible, Performance - Negligible
Standard Setup: PRODUCTION DESKTOP PC with CONSUMER(standard) GRADE components vs. PRODUCTION MacPro with STANDARD(server) GRADE components = Price - PC, Performance - Mac
Self Built Setup: HOMEBUILT DESKTOP PC vs. HOMEBUILT MacPro(hack) with same/similar components = Price - Same, Performance - Same.

This is what I have been saying the whole time. These are facts not opinions. I'm sorry if the truth makes you unhappy.

In earlier posts I have stated many times that it is pointless to compare prices between a PRODUCTION computer and a HOMEBUILT computer. Only a retard would think it wouldn't save money to build a computer themself. If you would have installed OSX on your build you would have built a Mac for the SAME EXACT PRICE, further proving my point.

I find it amusing when someone who clearly hasn't taken the time to read the entire thread, or at least all the posts by the person they are trying to say is wrong, put together a lengthy time consuming post supporting exactly what the person they are saying is wrong has been saying all along.

Thanks for the support!!! :facepalm:
 
No way! The Watson is much too fiddly.

For music production where you can just plug and play, you have to go with a Kray supercomputer.

Nah... Watson goes the whole nine yards: composing, performing, recording, mastering, and marketing. All you have to do is cash the checks!
 
Nah... Watson goes the whole nine yards: composing, performing, recording, mastering, and marketing. All you have to do is cash the checks!

Yeah, but look at the sexy Kray design! How can anyone get creative on the rather agricultural IBM design?

250px-Cray2.jpeg
 
I would use which ever one is running the Large Hadron Collider.... I'm sure they have multiple back up systems to avoid accidentally creating a black hole and ending the universe....
 
+1 on that! Once they find out it's a big piece of junk, they can give us complete access to play around in there :D

It serves a useful function. #1: Giving Professor Brian Cox something else to do. Proving things can only get better...
 
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You either spend time or money...

It basically comes down to whether you can spare your time more than your money. I had a Cubase PC DAW that I built from scratch back 2002, it ran great, the only problem I ever had was that the power supply blew (it was a little underrated for all the hardware I put in it). I switched over to Mac because in the end, it took a lot of time (research included) to get that PC DAW build correctly (key word there, most off-the-shelf PC will suck for music or video production) and I just wanted to have software/hardware that worked. If tweaking a PC is your thing, you'll probably get a lot out of building your own. Personally, after years of building and fixing computers, it's a treat for me to just focus on the music aspect of it and not have to hunt down drivers, or worse, get audio artifacts that you only hear after your session is over.

As for price, a properly built PC DAW is not that much cheaper and you also need to same external gear, so you're basically only saving a few hundred dollars when all is said and done.

If you really want to challenge your technical abilities and have a truly cheaper solution, check out Ubuntu Studio (search the term, it won't let me link...). It is all free and will run on older hardware. You have to check your I/O devices for compatibility, but hey, if you are coming from Windows you're used to that anyway! ;)
 
I may go with a Mac Pro (for 4K video manipulation) eventually, but right now the $1,300 that B&H wants for the cheapest four-core 2.7GHz/8GB/1TB iMac buys a careful shopper...
  • A two-core 3.4GHz/4GB/1TB PC compat w/Win 8 ($350 in this example, but I got it for $275 on sale) that my fifteen y.o. daughter can (and did) set up (link)
  • A 20" HP display (link)
  • A Rode NT2-A large condenser w/stand and cables (link)
  • A Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interface *
  • A copy of Ableton Live Lite 8 *
  • A copy of Ableton Live Lite 8 DigiPack **
  • A Akai APC40 Ableton control surface (link)
  • A pair of M-Audio BX5 D2 Active 70W 5" 2-Way Studio Monitors w/Isolation Pads, and cables *
Or... in so many words... a complete friggin' studio. I can put up with a little bit of hassle for that kind of trade-off.

* Bundled with the Rode NT2-A
** Available from Ableton
 
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If you really want to challenge your technical abilities and have a truly cheaper solution, check out Ubuntu Studio (search the term, it won't let me link...). It is all free and will run on older hardware. You have to check your I/O devices for compatibility, but hey, if you are coming from Windows you're used to that anyway! ;)

I wouldn't be too quick to compare Ubuntu to Windows in terms of hassle. In direct comparison, it's usually a lot less hassle to set up a Windows computer than any Linux distro for the smooth running of multimedia. Linux, it should be said, never purported to be easy to configure for the average user. Whatever you think you suffer with Windows, just times it by X10 and that's Linux. Really, if you're serious about being creative, I just wouldn't touch it. The best advice I was given was "Leave it to the geeks".
 
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My life among the Mac users

It began early on. I used my father's PC, mostly getting him out of jams, and suffering nursery school dialog boxes, my Vic -20 was a better machine. Then a friend got me a Mac 6100. It was a bit more daunting, it did not tell you where to put stuff, that was up to you. The Mac froze, did illogical things.
My friend said, "maybe Macs aren't for you," and "you have to use Mac logic." A problem is always illogical, therefore the solution is, too. You can do the same thing twice and get different results, in defiance of Einstein's definition of insanity, because the Mac is getting things more in order each time.
What you do not have to do is call a tech or bring it to a place which will quickly erase the savings you thought you had when you bought a PC and not a Mac.
Bill Gates was smart, and sold the 'speed' concept which Americans fall for, when buying a car. But the actual speeds of the Mac were faster based on useability. Gates' machines had to have a faster clock because his OS didn't run on time.
Both brands have had their problems, the real question is, would you buy a car made like a PC or a Mac? If that were the choice I would get a horse, have that extra drink, and sleep on the horse while it takes me home.
 
PC vs. Mac

When serious music (recording) software first hit the market back in the day, there was very little written for Windows. Most everybody who was serious about recording used a Mac. Today that's all changed..So either is good. I use a PC at home, but when I was teaching music in the public schools I used an Apple laptop. To me their wasn't that much difference.
 
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