mac or win? to be or not to be?
I know the title is terrible and i dont want to start a war here...
i thought about switching to mac for a while now. now win7 came out.. i got it.. and now iam thinking about switching to mac again.
i just got one question...
my pc is pretty powerful i think, i made benchmark tests with "geekbench" and compared my results with those on their webpage...
my results were better than any results of mac systems (beside the mac pro, 16000+ scores are insane!)
so is there anybody who could tell me something about the performance of the new imacs / macbooks (patching in max / running ableton live / vsts / and so on)
compared to a windows machine with better specs?
thanks
iam i student and spending 1200+ euro on a mac just to "try" the difference.. thats not possible.
well, in my experience there's no big speed difference between a mac and a pc with similar hw (cpu, ram, disk...)
the difference is...
I worked on win for years, and (especially under xp) everything worked fine if I kept my machine very clean - no internet, no networking, no antivirus, no "unsafe" sw, all the services and the peripherals off except for the essential ones... and it worked like a charm!
then I switched to mac, and now I can surf the net all day long, I can install whatever weird program I want, there's very little os tweaking to do... and it works like a charm!
so, you have the ball! just a suggestion: if you decide for win, install xp pro sp2, disable everything you don't need for audio, tweak anything you can for maximum performance (you find lots of tips online) and stick on that as long as you can... afaik, most programs still work under xp...
aa
ps: don't trust benchmarks too much...
I still use pcs 99% of the time and for some really heavy duty entertainment industry projects. AA is right about needing to keep it very "clean". I have had MAJOR problems with windows 7 and jitter/quicktime. All my rental machines are still running xp pro except for one machine running vista 64. I am very happy with them all but they have very specific chipsets and video cards that I have learned through years of research to stick to. Some combinations are terrible and there has been alot of discussion on the forums about ideal pc hardware for jitter. PC's require a bit more rolling up your sleeves but if you know what your doing you can build a machine as fast as anything out there for about a third of the price of a mac from the store with the same kick. I would put my I7 based six head system up against any mac and I built it for less than 3 grand but I have also built custom pcs for shows and installations for 10 years. Two roads, one easier but way more expensive but also less frustration at times I will admit.
very true points from both andrea and piwolf.
i used to use pc's some years ago [a course in micro-installation and maintenance]. i dont have anything wrong with them as you can build a really excellent pc for a pittance of what a mac would cost, that is the beauty of pc's, they can be cheap if you look in the right places.
the main things, which have been stated before, is that it is best to keep your main work pc off of the internet. i think even in a sound on sound article some months ago it had about buying a fantastic work pc. even they said 'dont put it on the internet, unless it is ok for your machine, or you at least know what you are getting yourself into'.
quite strange words, but true none-the-less. i mean, if you have excellent anti-virus software or a vast knowledge of pc's and what happens to it, then it would be fine.
i converted to mac some years ago and have been really happy with the outcome. my first one was an e-mac. the one that has everything inside one screen. but at that time, it was a huge screen and was so heavy. i bought that for £200, and actually sold it some weeks ago to a friend who wanted it just to do small recordings at his when he is not round mine. it still works like a charm. obviously it is not the best and brightest, but is still working.
true mac are really great computers, and i am typing on a uni-body mbp for this post. it works like a charm and has not failed me, all programs work and the whole experience is a dawdle. but the gripe that does always enter the mind is the cost. it is damn expensive. but in the end though, the amount of composition work i have done has paid off what i actually paid for it in the first place, so in the end it can balance out if you have a bit of money coming in.
i am not going to say that mac are best, or pc's are the best. it all depends on what you want, rather than what the others are using. i know many-a-people who still use pc's and are really happy with them. i have met people who are mac-heads and are really happy. but it can all count on to the things you want to do.
people say that if you want a designer style of computing, then go for mac. but that is not true as you can build a pc that can do what a mac can do and visa-versa.
the only thing that you should keep in mind, is dont buy a pc that says it is a gaming or designer pc. mainly because, from my experience at least. these will not cut the mustard when pushed a little further. as andrea said before, dont buy the benchmark ones.
the best option for a pc, is to get a friend who is knowledgeable in that field and ask them to build one. give them a price range and they would be able to sort one out, and maybe offer a cup of tea and biscuits :).
best advice for a mac, is what you would want to do with it. whether being graphics, or audio edits or everything. because the lower end macs wont be able to do a lot of tasks as much as a higher end mac would do.
aye, the age old question will always go through weird paths...
thanks for the "mature" replies.
if you start something like this on youtube, youll end up reading a bunch of f-words...
you probably wont care^^ but iam going to get an old minimac for a couple of weeks to play around with...
performance of this little box might be unsatisfying, but i think its good enough to have a closer look..
Under Windows, I always set up a specific "hardware profile" for a particular type of computing session. A hardware profile, at bootup, can restrict your session to selected interfaces, but perhaps even more important for A/V content authoring is that you can limit to a bare minimum the services that start up. So the "hardware profile" is a kind of overall configurator. This article isn't pretty, but it's one of the few that makes mention of the association of service apps to the profile: http://www.2000trainers.com/windows-xp/configuring-hardware-profiles-on-windows-xp/
Yes, under OSX, I just load and go and have never paid much attention to the application mix or configuration. The factor that most influences me in choosing whether my next Max session will be under Mac or Windows is whether I need an external that has not yet been built for one or the other platform (happily, that gulf has been shrinking nicely over recent months).