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Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:31 pm
by defekt
I have a PC and a mac, both here right next to me. The PC constantly pisses me off with bugs, hardware faults and other shit. I've had this mac for 3 years and never had anything wrong with it other than my browser "unexpectedly quitting" every so often. My advice would be to always get a mac, and don't fork out too much on it either, because there's not much you can upgrade on them hardware wise. Also about the mouse, there's loads of different mice you can use with a mac, so you're not just stuck with the stock apple one which is awkward to use, just do a google search and I'm sure you'll find plenty. Bare in mind you won't be able to do gaming on a mac, I mean... you can, but it's not a great system to run games on. I also feel safer producing music on a mac, because I know it's not gonna crash on me, whereas my PC has done a few times when I'm making a tune :/
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:35 pm
by samkablaam
macs are good
the mice have 3 or 4 buttons now dont worry about it. it just looks like theres only 1.
but be careful with imacs, they're just laptops disguised as desktops. macbook pros are just as good as imacs if not better due to the portability.
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:37 pm
by 86.
samkablaam wrote:
but be careful with imacs, they're just laptops disguised as desktops. macbook pros are just as good as imacs if not better due to the portability.
really. interesting
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:59 pm
by Mad_EP
to be honest... unless i was going whole hog for a mac pro desktop (and filling it with 90 billion ram), i think the best kept secret for desktops is going with a mac mini.
they have intel core 2 duo.. and you can over-RAM them (these machines officially only support 2GB via 2 x 1GB sticks. however, add a 2GB stick to get 3GB losing dual-channel performance (a ~5% hit). or.... you can stick in 2 x 2GB sticks but the system will only recognize 3.3GB of that although you will regain dual-channel).
those mac mini's can come with 2Ghz processing (on intel core 2 duo) and have 120-320 GB hard drives (depending on model).
plus you can get whatever monitor/keyboard/mouse combo you want...
...just an idea.
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:07 pm
by jjbutler88
I owned an imac, but recently sold it to buy a macbook pro. This probably makes me sound like a total fanboy, so I should justify this. I am a computer security professional by trade, and wouldn't run windows again (even though I can with bootcamp). Mac wipes the floor with windows for day to day use.
As far as music production, logic makes a strong enough case for macs on its own. I got some pretty outraged looks when I decided to switch to ableton suite for mac, as a lot of my music tech friends swear by logic. But ableton was my choice for a DAW, and I love it, even more so on a mac, as I'm not worried about crashes or viruses wiping my hard drive.
Basically, rant over, get a mac and you wont look back. I recommend the new iMacs (wait till snow leopard in a few days

), decent memory and hard drive size, really nice keyboard, huge screen (I had the 24", logic projects barely filled it for me

), generally nice user experience. Win.
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:15 pm
by 86.
strong cases being made here
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:22 am
by collige
Apple mice actually have 4 buttons:Left click, right click, side button (expose), scroll wheel click (dashboard).
Also, clean your Apple mouse on the monthly! If you don't, it'll gunk up and stop working well.
As far as the OS goes, it's super stable, will run fast as shit in once 10.6 comes out on Friday, and you don't have to waste time defragging,updating virus software, etc.
For production, you get Audio Unit plugins, Logic, and Digital Performer (people always seem to forget this).
On the downside, iMacs can't be upgraded except for RAM, so you might as ell buy a Macbook Pro anyway.
Finally, never buy RAM from Apple, they will rape your wallet.
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:09 am
by jedison
Mac is no better or worse, but more money. I mean I'd just get a PC for cheap and spend a few hours learning how to use it and then make it faster and then use your saved money on other shit. And also Apple is a big rip off, a lot of their parts like Ram are overpriced and shitty where you can get better shit for cheaper that will work in a mac or PC and then you don't have to worry about feeling afraid of voiding some warranty.
Seriously they're both good, but I'd only want a Mac if I used Logic or want the crazy expensive Pro ones (but then you could always just mod a server motheboard to do the same shit).
My $0.02. If you do buy a Mac though don't become one of those douchebags who can't stop bragging about it.
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:24 am
by tripaddict
i advise but 'im a pc' or an ubuntu ....
lol the only mac i have is a mac classic .... if anyone has the os disks id love a copy mine are corrupt

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:52 am
by .klimaxx
google "hackintosh". basically you can install a copy of OSX from your favourite torrent tracker, on to your intel based computer. so id advise you get a great setup, loads of ram etc, then hackintosh it to the max

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:46 am
by DOOMTROOPER/T40
collige wrote:
Finally, never buy RAM from Apple, they will rape your wallet.

When I was looking at customizing my macbook pro, Apple charge almost £900 for an extra 4GB of RAM! Ridiculous. Could by an iMac for that with 4GB RAM installed.
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:51 am
by lowpass
I'm looking to get a mac pro in the next month or so,
my choice is
-dual core 8gb ram
-quad core 8gb ram
difference between the 2 is £300 I want to know is it worth it? I would be using it for multitrack recording eventually not just for production.
I would want to be running (production) around 30 tracks, at least 4/5 synths at the same time and plenty of plugins, would the dual be able to cope?
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:54 am
by DOOMTROOPER/T40
Lowpass wrote:I'm looking to get a mac pro in the next month or so,
my choice is
-dual core 8gb ram
-quad core 8gb ram
difference between the 2 is £300 I want to know is it worth it? I would be using it for multitrack recording eventually not just for production.
I would want to be running (production) around 30 tracks, at least 4/5 synths at the same time and plenty of plugins, would the dual be able to cope?
From my experience with Logic, I've had loads of tracks and plenty of Vsts/plugins running at the same time and it hasn't been a problem on the dual core processor
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:58 am
by lowpass
Nice I was looking to get logic, is there anyway to get logic pro 9 without having to buy the whole feckin studio?
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:13 am
by .klimaxx
just to let you know, i'm currently using my dell inspiron 1720 that cost me about £400 last year, has dual-core 3GB ram, 160GB HD and a 17" screen. i've got logic studio, live 8 and reason 4 all running perfectly, all my drivers are in place etc.
in answer to your worry about drivers, you just have to carefully select the right ones for your system when installing, and then get any other drivers off the internet. a great place to find drivers is
www.insanelymac.com
so basically, it's a macbook with better tech specs, bigger screen, and a hella lot cheaper.
just think of all the shit you can buy with circa £500..
if you really want to keep windows (fuck knows why) you can follow this great tutorial on how to dual boot vista and mac.
http://www.ihackintosh.com/2009/01/how- ... el-amd-pc/
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:20 am
by lowpass
Oh yeah say someone is selling on ebay a legit version of logic studio 8 (2nd hand), they say they will uninstall it before sending it, it includes original serial blah blah
will this work?
is it legal?
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 11:12 am
by .klimaxx
probably not legal, some guy trying to make money out of pirated apps.
logic 9 is better anyway
