Why are Macs "better" for recording/mixing?

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bzakes2375

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Mostly seeking opinions, I've never used a mac and do all my work now on a rather high end Windows machine. I know a guy who swears by Apple for music production (but he uses Garage Band). For me, I'm familiar with Windows, I like the affordability. DAWs and stuff I feel are comparable between the two.
 
I brought a macbook pro because they are whisper quiet. My old PC rig was LOUD! I couldn't get decent recordings while in the same room as the PC and well..... y'know, running cables outside and running backwards and forwards to the PC every take was no fun.

Apart from that, sod all difference probably apart from I use LogicX which is Mac only and I love it.

No qualms about moving to PC though if Mac continues to piss me off
 
Years ago, the Mac was better suited to both audio and video production. This was especially true in the early Windows systems. That's no longer the case. Both systems can easily handle either. It becomes as much a question as to what system you are most comfortable with. Apple puts lots of constraints on their systems in comparison to Windows, since they control both the hardware and software. As such, when designing a product, a company doesn't have to deal with the variety of configurations that you see in Windows system, at least not until Apple declares that your system is obsolete and changes direction.

One of the few spots where Apple holds an advantage hardware wise is with Thunderbolt. It is inherently better than USB, not solely due to data rates, but because it operates in the PCIe hardware system. Once PC hardware manufacturers widely adapt that protocol, there will be less difference in performance, and the program choice becomes the main reason to go with one or the other.
 
Back when protools was the only daw anyone serious would use, it was Mac only. That started the idea. But now that there are a vast range of daws that work on both systems, it only matters what you are used to.
 
I have the same software on PC and Mac - Adobe CC, Cubase as the essentials, and they are pretty seamless now - they also read each other's files with no trouble either.
 
If my Mac broke tomorrow. I would be torn on what to do next. PC would be a serious consideration.

I kinda want to give the middle finger to Apple for taking the piss a few years back. (dongles for everything, getting rid of magsafe charger, headphone jack etc.)

Edit: I feel committed though, learning a new DAW and losing Logic would hurt
 
RRuskin said:
IMHO, the only thing Macs do better is empty your wallet. They cost more and almost every upgrade they do messes with audio programs.
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I don't know what audio programs you use, but I've had a Mac (MBP 2010 - refurb) since 2011 and it still works and no update messed with it, or updates applied to the 2012 Mini, both still working, and the Mini in daily use. But I only use Logic Pro and before that GarageBand (I have some gripes with what they did to that!), and Audacity and plugins have all kept working. But, this is a topic that never goes anywhere, except to make butter, perhaps.

Much of my career was spent building and writing software for Wintel systems, so no problems with anyone else using them.
 
Just going by a friend's experience in the late 90's/early 2000's with Apple & ProTools. Mac would upgrade - Protools would have problems. Happened several times.
 
I can say the same thing about my Dell, which was built in 2010 and ran Win7. It has been upgraded to Win10, and Reaper moved over with out any issue. LIkewise my Asus X55 laptop still runs both my old Cubase LE and Reaper. The only issue is that they are slow relative to my newer systems, so I don't use them for recording. They work fine for mixdown.

I have read of some issues with the new M1 hardware, and of course, those who had PowerMacs ran into issues when Apple moved to an Intel based platform. It's no different than WIndow's move to drop 16 bit support. Progress has consequences.

Both systems are fully capable of good audio performance.
 
in theatre, where most of my work is, it’s virtually 100% Mac, simply because of QLab. People walk in with QLab files, so you need a Mac. you walk into a rehearsal room and you see macs everywhere. If you look at the UK national health service, it’s 100% pcs. Things like education have both, some even mixed in many schools.
 
I actually use Pro Tools primarily and I have both Mac and Windows setups. But my main Mac is an old Quicksilver running PT LE 5.3 beta and I have the latest and greatest on a Dell XPS that I have built up. I also have PT 8 on a Mac G8 which I rarely use. I have 4 laptops running various versions of Win7 and 10 and different versions of PT from 2018.12 to 2021.12 (I think). They all work and as has been mentioned, if you know how to set up Windows ASIO isn't a problem per se. It's just more stuff though.
Also if you are working in Pro Tools you only have to read the software known issues readme's to see that setting up Windows (10 especially) is more work. IME
 
rob aylestone said:
in theatre, where most of my work is, it’s virtually 100% Mac, simply because of QLab. People walk in with QLab files, so you need a Mac. you walk into a rehearsal room and you see macs everywhere. If you look at the UK national health service, it’s 100% pcs. Things like education have both, some even mixed in many schools.
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In the university events department where I work, we have a couple of Macbooks to use when we need QLab, but all the classroom PCs used for hybrid learning via Zoom are Windows, as are the main events center PC and the video editing PC. Macbooks seem to be more popular than Windows laptops among students.
 
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