Digi001/Mac G4 to Digi003/XP PC?

J

Johnny B

New member
SHORT BACKGROUND: I have been running a Digi 001 w/Pro Tools LE 6.4? on a 933 MHz Power Mac G4 for about 5 years. I recently decided to upgrade to a Digi 003. My intention was to blow out the Mac by re-installing OS 10.3 (writing over OS9), install the new 003 and LE 7.3, and put in all new properly licensed plug-ins. The first thing I find out is that I need OS 10.4. Fine, no big deal. Then, digging deeper, I discover that my Mac is not supported because the processor speed is below 1 GHz (933 - so close and yet so far). Digging even deeper, I discover my particular model/year Mac (2002 Quicksilver) is "not recommended."

Now I'm looking at what to do for Plan B. As much as I would love to have a brand new Mac Pro, it ain't in the card$ right now. Investigating Support on the Digidesign site, I find that running PTLE on a PC with Windows XP (Pro) seems to involve a lot fewer caveats than the various Mac incarnations. I already have a PC which has more than enough juice to do the job.

So my questions are:

1) Is my Mac G4 REALLY totally out of the question, or will it work, but it's just not ideal?

2) Does anyone have any sense of the distribution of PC/Windows XP versus Mac users of PTLE, and does either group have a noticeably better track record?
 
Regarding sound quality you will never find any difference between a pc or a mac if you are running protools. Driver issues, yes you might encounter some in the pc if you try to load the pc with more junk applications that could corrupt something. So my advice is to get a second hard drive for your pc and dedicate it for protools.

Those G4 is clearly out of the question, you might want to try one of those mac mini (budget reasons) if you are running firewire without any add on cards.
 
yeah.. I hate to say it.. (i actually have pretty much the same mac as you)

but you're mac is pretty much obsolete.. I only use mine to run some graphics programs (not even super new ones either)


if you're pc is usable i'd use it until I could afford a brand new mac!! (hehe in case you haven't noticed i'm totally a mac guy)

I"ve never really tested out a mini.. how are they? if you can get away with a mac mini then do er up man.. no reason not to (unless there are reasons)
 
Thanks for your responses. Yes, budget is a primary consideration right now. I guess I could use the PC until I can afford a Mac. Although ...

Does anyone have any idea whether most Pro Tools LE users use Mac, or Windows XP PC, or is it a fairly even split? Anyone have any info on this?
 
What about a 17 or 20 inch iMac? Any new intel Mac is far faster than the old G4. Since the 003 is a firewire interface, it will work with any Mac.
 
If your PC is an intel processor, you can get Mac OS 10.4 on there with a little bit of work (Try and google it)

It worked well for my friend, only problems he had was front row didn't work. I think he eventually fixed that problem though, and it worked just like a mac.
 
As far as OSX on a PC, don't do that if you plan to run Digi/ProTools. If what you really want is a system that works, stick strictly to Digi's list of supported hardware and OS.
 
I run Pro Tools TDM and LE on a Mac (MixPlus) and a PC (001), and I interchange sessions with another person who runs it on a Mac (001) and a PC (003). In a pinch, I vouch for the PC for LE, simply because you get more bang for your buck (more speed per $), and you can also find tons of free PC VST plugins (yes, you need the fxpansion wrapper to use them, best money you can spend)... much harder to find free VSTs for the Mac. However, both systems work well.
 
Decision

Thanks to all of you for your input. I made a decision: I'm going to install the Digi003 on my PC. This morning I ordered 4 GB of RAM for it, and I will use my two 250 GB LaCie external firewire drives for dedicated audio drives, keeping the 40 GB internal for the system drive. Someday I will get that Mac Pro, or maybe I'll just stick with Win XP if I like it; I'm certainly more familiar with it in general use.

As for the Mac, last night I blew out the hard drive, re-installing OSX and getting rid of OS 9. I re-installed PTLE 6.4 and a few free plug-ins, and tonight will install a 250 GB internal hard drive.
 
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