Computer advice

elgato · Post by **elgato** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:25 am

Can some kind individuals please advise me on computers? Mine is looking to go kaputt after many years of service, and so I'm thinking its time to bite the bullet.

So

Mac vs PC - mac's are preferable, but seem MUCH more expensive, as in twice as much? Is it really worth it?

General pointers to good brands / components / sites would obviously be of great assistance.

But the main thing I would like to ask is what kind of processing power / RAM / spec am i gonna need to be able rewire Reason (probably 4.0 by then) through Cubase and run multiple vsts with comfort?

Thanks for any help

chunkie · Post by **chunkie** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:41 am

i had a dell laptop 900 mhz running logic 5 and vsts out the arse - constant crashes
moved to ibook 1ghz, 1gb ram, running reason rewired into live 5 with battery and albino, plus vst effects - no problems

just bought a mac desktop, 2ghz core duo, 2gb ram, Live 5, reason 3 - battery and albino plus vst fx, running all with no probs

Macs aren't that expensive mate - just got the mac mini 2ghz core duo (£499 delivered) and spent another £100 to double the ram up to the limit of 2gb.

you can get a k/board and monitor for 30quid and a monitor for 100

so £630 for a mac that kick absolute fuck out of an equivalent spec/price pc!

(note - the old macs you used to be able to open up and upgrade etc yourself, cant do this on the mini bcos of its size, so i thought better to get it done at the factory than do it in the future and pay for the ram plus the labour charge)

feasible_weasel · Post by **feasible_weasel** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:50 am

this is a good unbiased read

http://www.tweakheadz.com/Mac_vs_Pc_DAWS.htm

chunkie · Post by **chunkie** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:56 am

article conclusion

"OK, you have me at knifepoint in a Chicago alley, having dragged me out of the bar, I'll tell you "If you can afford a Mac with an Intel processor, do it"

Agreed

pdomino · Post by **pdomino** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:59 am

Unbiased or not, depends how much cash you have to spend sir.

elgato · Post by **elgato** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:02 am

thanks for the advice so far

why are mac minis so much cheaper?

feasible_weasel · Post by **feasible_weasel** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:06 am

elgato wrote:thanks for the advice so far

why are mac minis so much cheaper?

because to be frank they are like buying a really cheap dell....
piss poor graphics power etc....so if ur playing games/video editing lool dont even bother....

elgato · Post by **elgato** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:07 am

not doing either

but it also seems to have pretty limited connectivity...

chunkie · Post by **chunkie** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:14 am

whoa weasel!

the mac mini graphics card is worse than the other desktops and even the newer macbook pro (64mb vs imac 128mb)

the intel 2ghz core duo engine is the same as the others
its also got built in wireless and blutetooth
obviously no screen/kbd as compared to imac or laptops
the 2ghz model also has 120gb hard drive and dvd writer

the biggest down side for me is that the disk spins at laptop rate - ie 5400rpm not the 7200rpm of the iMac

plus remember its the only mac aimed squarely at converting pc users in the general sub-£600 consumer market

chunkie · Post by **chunkie** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:18 am

elgato wrote:not doing either

but it also seems to have pretty limited connectivity...

one firewire plus 4 usb ports at rear

plus get a firewire keyboard and you're likely to get two ports on that (firewire can chain much better than usb, in respect of latency etc)

also, again to compare to the imac which is the next mac up - the mac mini has comparative connectivity
imac has 2 firewires and 3usb, plus 2 usb on the kbd

feasible_weasel · Post by **feasible_weasel** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:32 am

i have a £500 dell

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:19 pm

If you're going to go the PC route, its not a good idea imo to get any kind of package deal, like Dell/HP/etc... You'll get much more bang for your buck, and a much more stable system if you either get someone to buy the parts and custom make a PC from scratch, or do some research and build one your self... thats my 2 cents anyways, i spent $1000AU which is probably like 600 pounds or something. Core Duo 2, 2ghz ram, 320gig hd, decent graphics(256 i think), and a audiophile 2496 sound card. I run multiple instances of massive/absynth and stuff with no problem, nice and stable no problems... but package computers like dell and stuff, had bad experiences with each one and they are probably what gives PC's a bad rep

two oh one · Post by **two oh one** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:14 pm

Just to play Devil's Zealot here...

A Mac is a Mac AND a PC. A PC is just a PC.

And with this new piece of fun:

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac

You don't even need to install Windows on the Mac in order to install and run Windows applications in OSX.

auan · Post by **auan** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 4:57 am

tempest wrote:If you're going to go the PC route, its not a good idea imo to get any kind of package deal, like Dell/HP/etc... You'll get much more bang for your buck, and a much more stable system if you either get someone to buy the parts and custom make a PC from scratch, or do some research and build one your self... thats my 2 cents anyways, i spent $1000AU which is probably like 600 pounds or something. Core Duo 2, 2ghz ram, 320gig hd, decent graphics(256 i think), and a audiophile 2496 sound card. I run multiple instances of massive/absynth and stuff with no problem, nice and stable no problems... but package computers like dell and stuff, had bad experiences with each one and they are probably what gives PC's a bad rep

Bespoke PCs are far, far easier to upgrade than package PCs as well. HP and Dell are notorious for making it really difficult for customers to upgrade without going through HP or Dell. And since they don't supply Audiophiles or 0404s or UADs...

Making your own usually turns out to actually be cheaper as well. You might have an old monitor kicking around, no need to buy a new one. Save on that ninja graphics card Dell wants you to have. No need for network cards, printer options, modems, antivirus packages (assuming it's a studio-only machine), just give me a box, fill it with memory and CPU power, I'll get an interface off turnkey and we're laughing. Under £400? Probably.

FSTZ · Post by **FSTZ** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:07 am

two oh one wrote:Just to play Devil's Zealot here...

A Mac is a Mac AND a PC. A PC is just a PC.

And with this new piece of fun:

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac

You don't even need to install Windows on the Mac in order to install and run Windows applications in OSX.

duhh...

every hacker knows that

oh wait...

wrong forum

feasible_weasel · Post by **feasible_weasel** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 7:15 am

tempest wrote:If you're going to go the PC route, its not a good idea imo to get any kind of package deal, like Dell/HP/etc... You'll get much more bang for your buck, and a much more stable system if you either get someone to buy the parts and custom make a PC from scratch, or do some research and build one your self... thats my 2 cents anyways, i spent $1000AU which is probably like 600 pounds or something. Core Duo 2, 2ghz ram, 320gig hd, decent graphics(256 i think), and a audiophile 2496 sound card. I run multiple instances of massive/absynth and stuff with no problem, nice and stable no problems... but package computers like dell and stuff, had bad experiences with each one and they are probably what gives PC's a bad rep

agreed...my £500 dell is shite

crappy graphics card,slow laptop drive and dvd drive.....
its only because i could pay it off in installments that i got it

but i do have concerns that quality does cost a price, and macs were good as they were expensive with high quality bits inside. as they are getting cheaper, obviously the parts are suffering..ive heard of imacs overheating already and ipod exploding etc.
one of the reasons cheap pc's got wrong is because they are cheap parts..
u get what you pay for these day to be honest.....

forensix (mcr) · Post by **forensix (mcr)** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:13 am

Auan wrote:Making your own usually turns out to actually be cheaper as well. You might have an old monitor kicking around, no need to buy a new one. Save on that ninja graphics card Dell wants you to have. No need for network cards, printer options, modems, antivirus packages (assuming it's a studio-only machine), just give me a box, fill it with memory and CPU power, I'll get an interface off turnkey and we're laughing. Under £400? Probably.

let's see my pc

Case + Motherboard + AMD64X2 3800+ 2Gb DDR ram = £230

Emu0404 = £49

Monitor + Keyboard + Mouse = £0

Shitty Graphics Card = £50

Windows XP = £40

Total = £369

(I am saving up for a macbook(pro maybe) for playing out live cos laptops generally suck at being reliable when you need them to be

daft cunt · Post by **daft cunt** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:26 am

forensix (mcr) wrote:Monitor + Keyboard + Mouse = £0

You have a trick for free monitors or did you just take an old 15" off your workplace's bins?

forensix (mcr) · Post by **forensix (mcr)** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:44 am

i had one already

paradigm_x · Post by **paradigm_x** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:19 pm

if youre mega skint you can get fee monitors, keyboards etc from freecycle - google

theres a guy on the sc forum who built my pc, basically cost of bits +£100, i dont know much about it so i got him to do it, got a wicked pc. tell him youre budget and hell spec it too.

again for mega tight budgets the freeware asio4all will turn any soundcard, even built in mobo ones, into low latency asio devices. sound quality wont get better but you get a better reposnse, more vsts etc.

never used a mac but im sure theyre all about the same these days. stupidly poweful and you should be able to write a bad tune on either.

cheers

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