Buying my first Mac

[pisces7378]

It is finally that time. I have decided to go ahead and make the plunge and buy myself a Mac. I just have a few questions before I go for it. On the www.apple.com apple store I see that they have "Fast, Faster, Fastest, and Ultimate" machines. I am more interested in spending money on RAM than mHz. I am planning on using some dedicated DSP cards (UAD-1, or PowerCard) to share the burdon on plug in processor consumption. So I am looking at the "faster" with the dual 1 gHz G4 processors instead of spending the $500 (330 Pounds [I think])extra for the dual 1.25 gHz.

I would rather sink that $500 into bumping up tha RAM to as much as the thing can hold.

Now this brings me to my question(s).

Is it better to go ahead and get the bad ass machine from Apple directly or should I buy the basic machine from Apple and then go to a computer store and buy the RAM? Because Apple seems to have some pretty high prices on adding memory and Hard Drives. It seems to me like I could get a better deal in a computer store and stick it all in myself.

Also, as far as a hard drive goes... should I bother getting dual 120GB high performance drives from Apple or should I just get one 80 GB high performance drive from Apple and use external Glyph storage? Up until now I have only used a PC with one 40GB 5400rpm drive for running the applications and an 80GB 7200rpm seagate. I have no idea about high performance external drives, other than it seems that a lot of pros use them instead of internal Mac hard drives. (Why is that by the way?)

So if you think I should use external Glyph drives then do I need to get SCSI cards inside the Mac? Appple will stick SCSI cards in the machines for around $49 (33 pounds).

I want the whole Mac to be around $3,000 without monitor.

What do you guys think?


Thanks

P.S. If you don't like Mac... great. but please do not waste time posting a "Why do you want a stupid Mac?!?!?" post. Thanks

 

[sonusman]

P.S. If you don't like Mac... great. but please do not waste time posting a "Why do you want a stupid Mac?!?!?" post. Thanks

In a big ol' PC world around here, you are going to be hard pressed for quality Mac help. Hehehehehe....quality Mac help...that is a good one....LOL.....

My buddy just had a dual Athlon Machine with 1GB of RAM built for him for half what your Mac is going to cost. If you dont' like PC's and think they are more unstable than Mac's, great, but please don't waste time posting how your Mac doesn't perform ANY better than a comparable PC will, even though you spent twice the price.

Oh, and Mac's DO crash!!! Depending on how well they are set up, just as much if not more than PC's do. I just again had a lot of my time wasted at a mixing session with a stupid ol' Mac crashing all over the place, something my PC doesn't do in multi tracking. This mixing session, the Mac only needed to deal with a freakin' stereo mix!

Ed

 

[Polaris20]

Re: Re: Buying my first Mac

In a big ol' PC world around here, you are going to be hard pressed for quality Mac help. Hehehehehe....quality Mac help...that is a good one....LOL.....

My buddy just had a dual Athlon Machine with 1GB of RAM built for him for half what your Mac is going to cost. If you dont' like PC's and think they are more unstable than Mac's, great, but please don't waste time posting how your Mac doesn't perform ANY better than a comparable PC will, even though you spent twice the price.

Oh, and Mac's DO crash!!! Depending on how well they are set up, just as much if not more than PC's do. I just again had a lot of my time wasted at a mixing session with a stupid ol' Mac crashing all over the place, something my PC doesn't do in multi tracking. This mixing session, the Mac only needed to deal with a freakin' stereo mix!

Ed

I can't believe you went and posted that, after the guy specifically said he has made the decision to go Mac (which is fine). What a total ass.

Anyway, to answer the actual question and to actually be on topic, unlike the post above, i would say get the Mac stripped of RAM, and upgrade through Crucial.

They give you the exact specs that you need for your specific machine.

As far as the HD's go, I would get the smallest drive they offer, and then upgrade to western digitals. If you want external, the extra price spent on Glyph buys you nothing but support. Otherwise they are overpriced drastically. I would go with OWC, which you can find here.

Keep in mind that FW drives are nothing but IDE's in casings, and the overall transfer rate will be slower than internal IDE.

But according to the guys at the Digi board, you can usually expect about 32 tracks @ 24/48 with a FW drive, including plug-ins.

 

[wyastarr]

OS 10.2

I agree that the other dude's an ass.

I also agree: buy the most basic one from the apple store they'll part with. Then go somewhere else for the memory, drives et al.

One thing you should think about. I believe all the new macs come with os 10.2 and you cannot load 9.x onto them (someone, correct me if I'm wrong). This might prove problematic because, a) there ain't a lot of audio software that's functioning appropriately for os 10.x, and b) most stuff won't work in the "classic" environment that's provided with 10.x. You need to be able to boot the thing in 9.x to run non-os10 audio software well.

Just something to watch out for and consider.

 

[Polaris20]

Re: OS 10.2

I agree that the other dude's an ass.

I also agree: buy the most basic one from the apple store they'll part with. Then go somewhere else for the memory, drives et al.

One thing you should think about. I believe all the new macs come with os 10.2 and you cannot load 9.x onto them (someone, correct me if I'm wrong). This might prove problematic because, a) there ain't a lot of audio software that's functioning appropriately for os 10.x, and b) most stuff won't work in the "classic" environment that's provided with 10.x. You need to be able to boot the thing in 9.x to run non-os10 audio software well.

Just something to watch out for and consider.

I had heard that too, but my buddy's Tibook he just bought had 10.2 and 9.2. i don't know, maybe his was an odd transition piece.

 

[pisces7378]

Yup... definitely an ass.

Anyway, thanks for your real answers guys. The Macs all come with OS 9 and OS X (10) installed and you can boot into whichever you want.

As for software, I am usign Logic Audio Platinum (which is now unfortunately owned by Apple) and it is, understandably, probably the most Mac'ed software around (maybe DP3 is too???).

As far as hard drives are concerned... I was considering getting this:
http://www.glyphtech.com/FRAMESET-AUDIO.html

It is the "MAS Stor" from Glyph. The only reason I am looking into it, is because you can pull the drive bays out, and it is made to be used with MOTU interfaces, and I am using MOTU 2408 mkIV's (the newer version of the one shown in the picture in the above link). These drives are spinning at 15,000 rpms. I mean DAMN!!! But I am sure they are noisy as hell. But that is ok because they will be outside of the studio in a machine room.
Also these Glyph drives can be fitted with a CD burner that can produce REDBOOK CD-Rs that can be easily mastered and reproduced. I am not sure if the Mac's internal CD-RW can do that. I am 99% sure that they can, but judging by the on coming of hundereds of new "Professional CD Burners" like the "Burn It" etc... there must be some reason why no professionals are just using the CD-RW that came in their Mac.

The only problem I am having with the Glyph drives is that I cannot find a pricing website. The website from Glyph has product information but not a single price. There doesn't seem to be any online dealers that I can find that are dealing this "MAS Stor".

Any idea on where I could find that?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[sonusman]

I am the ass that spends half on a computer than a Mac and get's the same performance.... alone with a much better, and less expensive set of options for software/hardware.

It's tough being the the lone voice of reason.... But someone has to say these things so that newbies can complain about us that have been doing this shit for years and how we talk down to people and all that happy horseshit.

Peace out bro's. Pet your new Mac nicely and it may freeze up less.

Ed

 

[Polaris20]

I am the ass that spends half on a computer than a Mac and get's the same performance.... alone with a much better, and less expensive set of options for software/hardware.

It's tough being the the lone voice of reason.... But someone has to say these things so that newbies can complain about us that have been doing this shit for years and how we talk down to people and all that happy horseshit.

Peace out bro's. Pet your new Mac nicely and it may freeze up less.

Ed

Half as much as a Mac, yet you can't seem to install an OS (XP Pro). No secret that Macs aren't cheap, why don't you try posting something new?

Lone voice of reason? I would like to see what "reason" you are referring to, because I have yet to see it.

I too have been doing this for years, (although that's getting to be a cliched thing to say apparently) and I get tired of jackasses on both sides argue to death how much better the Mac or Wintel is.

Give it up. It's not something that can be proven, given that what is most important to people is so highly subjective.

Oh yeah, if you need help installing XP Pro, go ahead and shoot me an e-mail, I might be able to help you out

p.s. are all of your 3500+ posts this troll-like?

 

[Polaris20]

Yup... definitely an ass.

Anyway, thanks for your real answers guys. The Macs all come with OS 9 and OS X (10) installed and you can boot into whichever you want.

As for software, I am usign Logic Audio Platinum (which is now unfortunately owned by Apple) and it is, understandably, probably the most Mac'ed software around (maybe DP3 is too???).

As far as hard drives are concerned... I was considering getting this:
http://www.glyphtech.com/FRAMESET-AUDIO.html

It is the "MAS Stor" from Glyph. The only reason I am looking into it, is because you can pull the drive bays out, and it is made to be used with MOTU interfaces, and I am using MOTU 2408 mkIV's (the newer version of the one shown in the picture in the above link). These drives are spinning at 15,000 rpms. I mean DAMN!!! But I am sure they are noisy as hell. But that is ok because they will be outside of the studio in a machine room.
Also these Glyph drives can be fitted with a CD burner that can produce REDBOOK CD-Rs that can be easily mastered and reproduced. I am not sure if the Mac's internal CD-RW can do that. I am 99% sure that they can, but judging by the on coming of hundereds of new "Professional CD Burners" like the "Burn It" etc... there must be some reason why no professionals are just using the CD-RW that came in their Mac.

The only problem I am having with the Glyph drives is that I cannot find a pricing website. The website from Glyph has product information but not a single price. There doesn't seem to be any online dealers that I can find that are dealing this "MAS Stor".

Any idea on where I could find that?

Thanks,

Mike

try www.sweetwater.com for Glyph stuff, I believe they carry all of it.

I think the redbook thing with CDR's is more to do with the software than the hardware, because I have the new CD Architect Beta 5, which does Red Book CD's.

But I could be wrong, because I'm no Red Book guru.

 

[pisces7378]

Thanks Polaris. I took a look at Sweetwater... G&% D@%& those things are expensive.

I will definitely have to see about what I will do for storage. I can't see spending $2,400 for 2 18 GB Hard Drives... no matter how cool they look or how fast they spin.

As for Sonusman... Really dude, with all those "years of experience" and post count higher than most men's sperm count, you would think you would have learned how annoying posts like your are. But what do I know??? i am "just a newbie".

 

[RWhite]

BUT YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARK SIDE.......

















Sorry, just had to say that.

Seriously, enjoy your Mac.