Mac vs. PC

[Mad_EP]

Usually I stay well away from these threads/arguments/wankfests... but I am just a bit too tempted because I don't even know why they even exist anymore. The ferocity and vitrol people spew in these bouts would have you believe that the "other side" gave your sister a cleveland steamer or something.

I have no problem with product loyalty - if something has served you well over the years, why would one switch for the sake of switching? Fair enough. But that isn't what we have here - the PC side like to lump all Mac users as over-privileged, bandwagon-jumping, trustfund hipsters who are using a diamond-encrusted cardboard box to write their latest screenplay while sipping a triple-shot, half-caff, soy latte at Starbucks. And the Mac users aren't much better - lumping all PC users as jealous, flea-ridden scavengers who hate the world, but think that the aluminum-foil cap they wear will save them from the alien mindcontrol waves that convince people to buy from Apple.

Basically - if you fall into either of those two camps... you are an idiot. And even worse - if you ask either of those camps for advice, you are the alter boy to their dodgy priest. At the end of the day - neither will help you be a better producer. The reason being, no matter how terrible and shit your set up is - it is guaranteed someone has made WAY better music than you using even worse gear. So just get yourself set up and focus on your skills.

[nowaysj]

So just get yourself set up and focus on your skills.

An implicit recommendation for the PC.

[wayoftheworld]

The ferocity and vitrol people spew in these bouts would have you believe that the "other side" gave your sister a cleveland steamer or something.

yeah, it's always "you're a shitty hipster if you use mac" or "mac is so evil for being monopolic" or "fuck you if you dont use mac" and rarely ever a good debate about the +/-'s of each for audio production. that's what we're here for, not brand name wars

i think a self-built pc desktop dedicated to music production only is a good and fairly inexpensive route to take if you're new to this. as others stated, best to keep it off the internet as much as possible to keep it lean. if you do use it for net surfing you're gonnna need some virus software, and nothing kills the vibe more than having the monitors cranked without a limiter and hearing that "virus database updates" message ha

why do so many performers and artists swear by apple for live stuff? is it just because they want to be cool apple kids are are they just more stable and less to worry about? (i'm genuinely curious)

although i've not much experience with OSX i wouldn't at all feel comfortable using my personal use pc laptop for playing out live. just my opinion tho, i guess it works for some

[tripaddict]

this thread is entertainment

leave me out im a penguin

[corpu5]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0433835798

i am selling this mac. kiss me. with your paypal monies.

[corpu5]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0433835798

i am selling this mac. kiss me. with your paypal monies.

This is legit btw, i really need the money for rent and also the summer after uni where i hopefully bum around brighton with my 4.50 an hour elevator job at concorde2. Oh and if you do wanna take the mac dive, i would rather you come round my yard in brighton so you can take a look at it.

peeeeaccccceeee

[djake]

pretty pointless saying one is better than the other....they both get the job done.

i choose pc cause thats what ive always used. but if i go to uni i gotta get a mac and use macs cause thats all they have and ill need access to logic.

[corpu5]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0433835798

i am selling this mac. kiss me. with your paypal monies.

This is legit btw, i really need the money for rent and also the summer after uni where i hopefully bum around brighton with my 4.50 an hour elevator job at concorde2. Oh and if you do wanna take the mac dive, i would rather you come round my yard in brighton so you can take a look at it.

peeeeaccccceeee

OH BOOM IVE SOLD THE FUCKER! now i can move from asda value tuna to a name brand, here's to the good life!

[setspeed]

why do so many performers and artists swear by apple for live stuff? is it just because they want to be cool apple kids are are they just more stable and less to worry about? (i'm genuinely curious)

i ducked out of this thread earlier, but since this is a genuine question i'll jump back in!

personally i think it's 2 things. firstly, everyone else uses Macs - of all the people I work with, write with, collaborate with, visit the studios of, I would say about 19 out of 20 use Macs. So it's a lot easier to swap files around and stuff (project files will all be compatible, and then stuff like when you're on the same network as another Mac, it will have a shared folder that you can easily drop files into, etc) - and that generates a fair deal of momentum.

Secondly, they ARE easier to learn and use. Any producer or engineer who learned their craft in the 90s (or before) will have come up on hardware, desks, tape and so on, not computers. I know plenty of producers who could EQ a cigarette out of your mouth from 100 feet but can barely turn a computer on, let alone set up a dual boot partition - all these people went to Macs by default. Which feeds into point one...

third, i'm sure plenty of people will dispute this but in my experience they crash less. i reboot this thing on average once every two months and that's usually for software updates.

there, that's me trying to be as non-partisan as i can

[jameshk]

I use both, just to be annoying.

[Depone]

What people havent really touched on is that they are actually the same beast. On my mac i have a PC partition and run Windows 7 natively without coding bullshit. just straight up works with the hardware out of the box. So my recommendation is to get a mac and have best of both worlds. After all a lot of the components come from the same companies (intel etc..)

Dont see it as mac VS pc but Mac And pc or Pc And Mac...

[abZ]

why do so many performers and artists swear by apple for live stuff? is it just because they want to be cool apple kids are are they just more stable and less to worry about? (i'm genuinely curious)

i ducked out of this thread earlier, but since this is a genuine question i'll jump back in!

personally i think it's 2 things. firstly, everyone else uses Macs - of all the people I work with, write with, collaborate with, visit the studios of, I would say about 19 out of 20 use Macs. So it's a lot easier to swap files around and stuff (project files will all be compatible, and then stuff like when you're on the same network as another Mac, it will have a shared folder that you can easily drop files into, etc) - and that generates a fair deal of momentum.

Secondly, they ARE easier to learn and use. Any producer or engineer who learned their craft in the 90s (or before) will have come up on hardware, desks, tape and so on, not computers. I know plenty of producers who could EQ a cigarette out of your mouth from 100 feet but can barely turn a computer on, let alone set up a dual boot partition - all these people went to Macs by default. Which feeds into point one...

third, i'm sure plenty of people will dispute this but in my experience they crash less. i reboot this thing on average once every two months and that's usually for software updates.

there, that's me trying to be as non-partisan as i can

I always hear that, "they crash less" I am seriously not sure that has been true since like Windows 98 lol. My pc's never crash. If someone has crashing problems they are probably half spastic and don't have a clue how to use computers. My phone with winmo does crash tho indecently and indecently I am looking at getting an iPhone. Not a macophobe at all but I do think the discussion kind of ends with the price / bangforbuck factor. I mean my laptop was 350 bucks brand new! Show me a mac equivalent of that? And obviously what software you want to use is a big factor as well. Hackentosh is all well and good but I think if I was going to use Logic as my main weapon I would be saving up for the Wac.

[cloak and dagger]

why do so many performers and artists swear by apple for live stuff? is it just because they want to be cool apple kids are are they just more stable and less to worry about? (i'm genuinely curious)

I think OVERALL, Macs are more stable than PCs. This isn't to say there aren't PCs that are just as stable (if not more) than Macs. But PCs can have an infinite number of hardware configurations, and combined with all of the software that also has to be compatible with those configurations, there's a lot of room to go wrong. If you buy a Mac, it's being built by Apple, the only company that puts these things together (officially)...so there's a lot less uncertainty regarding compatibility. In other words, Apple run a tight ship and keep it locked down, so there's a lot less room for compatibility issues.

That being said, you can easily get a stable PC...but it takes a lot more work. You need to research PC brands. You need to read reviews to make sure you're not getting a "budget" model or that the model you want isn't a fluke by an otherwise good company. You need to tweak the hell out of Windows and set everything up.

I'm a diehard PC user, but I think Macs are great. I just don't think they're worth the price. I think a lot of the people who use them for live performers are either a) Mac users, or b) feel it's worth the money to get something they know will work out of the box with minimal effort, instead of putting in the work required to get a high-quality PC.

[abZ]

why do so many performers and artists swear by apple for live stuff? is it just because they want to be cool apple kids are are they just more stable and less to worry about? (i'm genuinely curious)

I think OVERALL, Macs are more stable than PCs. This isn't to say there aren't PCs that are just as stable (if not more) than Macs. But PCs can have an infinite number of hardware configurations, and combined with all of the software that also has to be compatible with those configurations, there's a lot of room to go wrong. If you buy a Mac, it's being built by Apple, the only company that puts these things together (officially)...so there's a lot less uncertainty regarding compatibility. In other words, Apple run a tight ship and keep it locked down, so there's a lot less room for compatibility issues.

That being said, you can easily get a stable PC...but it takes a lot more work. You need to research PC brands. You need to read reviews to make sure you're not getting a "budget" model or that the model you want isn't a fluke by an otherwise good company. You need to tweak the hell out of Windows and set everything up.

I'm a diehard PC user, but I think Macs are great. I just don't think they're worth the price. I think a lot of the people who use them for live performers are either a) Mac users, or b) feel it's worth the money to get something they know will work out of the box with minimal effort, instead of putting in the work required to get a high-quality PC.

Completely fair and objective post imo.

[setspeed]

why do so many performers and artists swear by apple for live stuff? is it just because they want to be cool apple kids are are they just more stable and less to worry about? (i'm genuinely curious)

i ducked out of this thread earlier, but since this is a genuine question i'll jump back in!

personally i think it's 2 things. firstly, everyone else uses Macs - of all the people I work with, write with, collaborate with, visit the studios of, I would say about 19 out of 20 use Macs. So it's a lot easier to swap files around and stuff (project files will all be compatible, and then stuff like when you're on the same network as another Mac, it will have a shared folder that you can easily drop files into, etc) - and that generates a fair deal of momentum.

Secondly, they ARE easier to learn and use. Any producer or engineer who learned their craft in the 90s (or before) will have come up on hardware, desks, tape and so on, not computers. I know plenty of producers who could EQ a cigarette out of your mouth from 100 feet but can barely turn a computer on, let alone set up a dual boot partition - all these people went to Macs by default. Which feeds into point one...

third, i'm sure plenty of people will dispute this but in my experience they crash less. i reboot this thing on average once every two months and that's usually for software updates.

there, that's me trying to be as non-partisan as i can

I always hear that, "they crash less" I am seriously not sure that has been true since like Windows 98 lol.

well, i did qualify it!

my macbook crashes a lot less than my girlfriend's old Vaio, less than my old unbranded thing that my dad got from college, less than baobinga's old Dell laptop, all of which were on XP. that's all I have to go on - but it's convinced me anyway. maybe i was just always unlucky

[abZ]

why do so many performers and artists swear by apple for live stuff? is it just because they want to be cool apple kids are are they just more stable and less to worry about? (i'm genuinely curious)

i ducked out of this thread earlier, but since this is a genuine question i'll jump back in!

personally i think it's 2 things. firstly, everyone else uses Macs - of all the people I work with, write with, collaborate with, visit the studios of, I would say about 19 out of 20 use Macs. So it's a lot easier to swap files around and stuff (project files will all be compatible, and then stuff like when you're on the same network as another Mac, it will have a shared folder that you can easily drop files into, etc) - and that generates a fair deal of momentum.

Secondly, they ARE easier to learn and use. Any producer or engineer who learned their craft in the 90s (or before) will have come up on hardware, desks, tape and so on, not computers. I know plenty of producers who could EQ a cigarette out of your mouth from 100 feet but can barely turn a computer on, let alone set up a dual boot partition - all these people went to Macs by default. Which feeds into point one...

third, i'm sure plenty of people will dispute this but in my experience they crash less. i reboot this thing on average once every two months and that's usually for software updates.

there, that's me trying to be as non-partisan as i can

I always hear that, "they crash less" I am seriously not sure that has been true since like Windows 98 lol.

well, i did qualify it!

my macbook crashes a lot less than my girlfriend's old Vaio, less than my old unbranded thing that my dad got from college, less than baobinga's old Dell laptop, all of which were on XP. that's all I have to go on - but it's convinced me anyway. maybe i was just always unlucky

Seriously tho your PC just blue screens or what?

[setspeed]

yeah it would blue-screen, or just freeze, or logic would crash, or the sound would magically stop and you'd have to reboot the computer to get it working again, or you'd turn it on and windows would have somehow lost the drivers for the midi keyboard, or it would go on a go-slow for a while (that was a particular favourite)... couple of times a week, easy. I remember one session where we had to spend 6 or 8 hours bouncing down audio on the Dell because for some reason it became incapable of playing back more than a couple of channels of audio at once. but it was fine again a day or 2 later. never a dull moment

[abZ]

yeah it would blue-screen, or just freeze, or logic would crash, or the sound would magically stop and you'd have to reboot the computer to get it working again, or you'd turn it on and windows would have somehow lost the drivers for the midi keyboard, or it would go on a go-slow for a while (that was a particular favourite)... couple of times a week, easy. I remember one session where we had to spend 6 or 8 hours bouncing down audio on the Dell because for some reason it became incapable of playing back more than a couple of channels of audio at once. but it was fine again a day or 2 later. never a dull moment

That is crazy I have never had anything like that happen. I would be buying a Mac too if it did.

[Basic A]

yeah it would blue-screen, or just freeze, or logic would crash, or the sound would magically stop and you'd have to reboot the computer to get it working again, or you'd turn it on and windows would have somehow lost the drivers for the midi keyboard, or it would go on a go-slow for a while (that was a particular favourite)... couple of times a week, easy. I remember one session where we had to spend 6 or 8 hours bouncing down audio on the Dell because for some reason it became incapable of playing back more than a couple of channels of audio at once. but it was fine again a day or 2 later. never a dull moment

How were you running logic on windows?

[Depone]

yeah it would blue-screen, or just freeze, or logic would crash, or the sound would magically stop and you'd have to reboot the computer to get it working again, or you'd turn it on and windows would have somehow lost the drivers for the midi keyboard, or it would go on a go-slow for a while (that was a particular favourite)... couple of times a week, easy. I remember one session where we had to spend 6 or 8 hours bouncing down audio on the Dell because for some reason it became incapable of playing back more than a couple of channels of audio at once. but it was fine again a day or 2 later. never a dull moment

How were you running logic on windows?

the Emagic 5.5 version for PC before apple bought the App