Without getting into the whole 'are macs or pcs better' argument I will just give you a brief rundown of my experience with both (and add that anyone who is *seriously* into computers will never own a mac)
Ok, so laptops. I have owned two Dell laptops now and they have both been brilliant. I personally love Dell because they are so stable and have a nice air of quality about them that samsung/hp etc seem to lack. But yeah, windows based computers have always been more reliable for me. Apple fanboys like to go on and on about how a mac 'just works'. Well that's the biggest load of rubbish i've ever heard in my life. I've never had any problems with viruses or anything on any computer i've owned. On my current setup I can run ableton + reason + firefox + have itunes open and sometimes various little things running in the background like virus scan, steam etc and never have any problems. My laptop has crashed maybe a couple of times in the whole time i've owned it and that was because I was *really* pushing my luck with more windows than I could count up (I think I had everything I just mentioned minimized, itunes playing music and then tried to play battlefield bad company 2, to it's credit it *did* run for a while before crashing XD)
Then macs, the 'family' computer downstairs is a mid-range, fairly new mac and it seems to be at least once a week that there is some kind of problem with it, things become corrupt or it wont run things fast enough or it won't recognise something blah blah blah. It really does my head in and has put me off ever owning a mac myself. Admittedly logic is meant to be an amazing program but I don't think it's worth paying the extra money for a lower spec'd mac which isn't even going to run as smoothly as the fanboys tell you it will and really cubase is just as good.
I say spend the extra money on getting a better built, higher spec'd laptop that will run faster and smoother than the mac you would get with the same money.
/rant
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:41 pm
by dubmatters
paravrais wrote: (and add that anyone who is *seriously* into computers will never own a mac)
You've had a bad experience which is fair enough but that is a very sweeping statement and is complete and utter bollocks. How about thousands of professionals who edit film and produce music? They use Mac Pro's, are these people not 'seriously' into computers?
Maybe they don't wank each other off about the latest super dooper video card or water cooled cpu, but they certainly need very high performance and reliability probably much more so than your average PC 'geek'.
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:52 pm
by hasezwei
i think we should all
and stop worrying about mac vs pc, okay?
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:55 pm
by nowaysj
Op is worrying about it for very real reason$. But no one needs to start tripping.
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 7:18 pm
by paravrais
dubmatters wrote:
paravrais wrote: (and add that anyone who is *seriously* into computers will never own a mac)
You've had a bad experience which is fair enough but that is a very sweeping statement and is complete and utter bollocks. How about thousands of professionals who edit film and produce music? They use Mac Pro's, are these people not 'seriously' into computers?
Maybe they don't wank each other off about the latest super dooper video card or water cooled cpu, but they certainly need very high performance and reliability probably much more so than your average PC 'geek'.
Calm down, someone who just uses programs such as video/music editing software is not properly into computers no. Just because someone uses a computer for their day job does not make them a computer expert, is a wee man working in an office on microsoft excel a computer expert? No.
If you know nothing about the world of computers then don't comment on it, nuff said.
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 7:32 pm
by dubmatters
paravrais wrote:
dubmatters wrote:
paravrais wrote: (and add that anyone who is *seriously* into computers will never own a mac)
You've had a bad experience which is fair enough but that is a very sweeping statement and is complete and utter bollocks. How about thousands of professionals who edit film and produce music? They use Mac Pro's, are these people not 'seriously' into computers?
Maybe they don't wank each other off about the latest super dooper video card or water cooled cpu, but they certainly need very high performance and reliability probably much more so than your average PC 'geek'.
Calm down, someone who just uses programs such as video/music editing software is not properly into computers no. Just because someone uses a computer for their day job does not make them a computer expert, is a wee man working in an office on microsoft excel a computer expert? No.
If you know nothing about the world of computers then don't comment on it, nuff said.
Ok can you please clarify what you meant by "seriously into computers"
user? programmer? engineer? consultant? geek?
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 7:44 pm
by nowaysj
Stereo, you just lost your thread. RIP
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 8:31 pm
by paravrais
nowaysj wrote:Stereo, you just lost your thread. RIP
I apolagise for getting dragged into it, I should know better really, won't be saying another word on the matter. This thread was built on very shaky foundations though XD you can hardly blame it for swaying that way.
To the OP, if your rolling in money then by all means by a mac cos it will be sweet for producing with logic but if your short of cash or want a computer thats going to be potentialy more versatile in the future get a PC laptop.
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 8:44 pm
by stereotactic
Jesus H Christ, I only went out for a bit, now look at the state of it in here
Interesting comments though... I probably should have known it could potentially spiral into a PC vs Mac debate, but regardless, all input gratefully received!
W/ that said, I get little pips in my audio. It's not strictly from system latency, I've run the checker and it is quite low. I've been told that the cd/dvd is the culprit, but it's never been a serious issue, so I've never gone after it.
nowaysj, I had the same thing. Dell's fucking HATE audio. Traktor was an utter bastard to get working, and even now I can't use the Audio8 because it cracks and pops like rice krispies at a rave... I know you said it wasn't too serious, but trust me on this... disable your Wi-Fi. After I did that (and the CD/DVD drive too for good measure) it's been smooth as you like. Admittedly, it is a mere husk of what it was, but fuck it, it does what I need it to!
Incidentally, I wasn't sure whether to go for a iMac or Macbook, totally undecided at the mo, but keep the opinions coming!
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 8:45 pm
by Basic A
If I had the money, Id pre order the next make of the Touchbook ...
Its amazing, its a traditional netwbook with a multitouch display panel... and the display panel is detachable from the keyboard/mouse/drives on the base... so you can rip the screen off and convert to minimal version for going live =/ ... its take so much of my workflow complications away, using FL as my effects processor when I mix =/... right now I have to depend on my nanokontrol for all my effects control, and imo, the multitouch would not only have the obvious benefits with latency, but the fl mixer is layed out so muchmore effeciently then I could ever dream of mapping my controller...
That...
And for general production, can you imaigne how tits that would end up being? Fuck midi mixers with touchpad access to the software one on your daw...
Have to wait for the next release though, right now the specs are a little shy and in the next release thier updating the motherboards to include xpansion abilities...
Oh... and it ships with a custom written nix distro to suit your needs...
So fuck with that.
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 9:20 pm
by nowaysj
stereotactic wrote:Jesus H Christ, I only went out for a bit, now look at the state of it in here
Interesting comments though... I probably should have known it could potentially spiral into a PC vs Mac debate, but regardless, all input gratefully received!
W/ that said, I get little pips in my audio. It's not strictly from system latency, I've run the checker and it is quite low. I've been told that the cd/dvd is the culprit, but it's never been a serious issue, so I've never gone after it.
nowaysj, I had the same thing. Dell's fucking HATE audio. Traktor was an utter bastard to get working, and even now I can't use the Audio8 because it cracks and pops like rice krispies at a rave... I know you said it wasn't too serious, but trust me on this... disable your Wi-Fi. After I did that (and the CD/DVD drive too for good measure) it's been smooth as you like. Admittedly, it is a mere husk of what it was, but fuck it, it does what I need it to!
Incidentally, I wasn't sure whether to go for a iMac or Macbook, totally undecided at the mo, but keep the opinions coming!
If you want to produce on it, get the macbook PRO.
I don't know man, I tried out traktor without their audio device and I had no problems whatsoever, other than traktor locking up 2 times for no reason. The audio though, was totally fine. I get little pips when monitoring in a daw. Could be some configuration issue with the audio 8. I run traktor with asio drivers, cd/dvd enableded and wifi actively running, and no audio trouble whatsoever. Think my latency was like 9ms. Not the lowest, but fuck bro, my ear's not that good, and how long does it take a 1200 to spin up to speed? A shit tun longer than 9ms.
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 9:29 pm
by paravrais
Maybe my dell only handles audio so well because I inherited some money and spunked it all on their highest end laptop :s either way it's always been fine for me. Think once I come into some more money my next purchases will be a new laptop and desktop though, just cos this dell gets FUCKING HOT! which worries me :s
imac or Macbook? If you just wanna produce then get the imac, if your dj'ing with the wee bugger as well then get the macbook. Shimples
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 11:20 pm
by dubmatters
dubmatters in another thread wrote:Silly question really. You will never get a really objective answer.
I've been both a PC and Mac user for years. I use the Mac as my main computer now since I can boot into win 7 and linux via virtual machine or bootcamp. And have used a PC at uni/work.
They both have their place with equal pros and cons and its all about personal preference, needs and budget.
To completely write off either system/workflow is completely retarded.
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 1:06 am
by collige
nowaysj wrote:I wonder what they did to bring the cost down on the new mcp's? You know they didn't cut their margin any. I know they've been trying to work cheaper components into their desktops/laptops for a while now.
Actually I think it's more of a qustion of when they get upgraded. Apple tends to seriously upgrade the specs on their computers every 6-9 months without changing the price. The latest macbook pro update gave them really good graphics cards and Core i5/i7 processors which most windows laptops except the high end ones don't have.
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 1:33 am
by hasezwei
collige wrote:
Actually I think it's more of a qustion of when they get upgraded. Apple tends to seriously upgrade the specs on their computers every 6-9 months without changing the price. The latest macbook pro update gave them really good graphics cards and Core i5/i7 processors which most windows laptops except the high end ones don't have.
those i5/i7 processors... whats the deal with them? if i get an i5 this winter, will there be a new technological gadget in 3 years rendering it useless again? just asking this because i hate how nothing works anymore on my G4 once i upgrade to newer versions,it's a pain in the ass. i just want a computer i can keep using until it's dead
and sorry for being noobish, i stopped caring about gaming and hardware back when dual-cores were introduced
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 1:49 am
by collige
hasezwei wrote:
collige wrote:
Actually I think it's more of a qustion of when they get upgraded. Apple tends to seriously upgrade the specs on their computers every 6-9 months without changing the price. The latest macbook pro update gave them really good graphics cards and Core i5/i7 processors which most windows laptops except the high end ones don't have.
those i5/i7 processors... whats the deal with them? if i get an i5 this winter, will there be a new technological gadget in 3 years rendering it useless again? just asking this because i hate how nothing works anymore on my G4 once i upgrade to newer versions,it's a pain in the ass. i just want a computer i can keep using until it's dead
and sorry for being noobish, i stopped caring about gaming and hardware back when dual-cores were introduced
Basically the core i3/5/7 are latest line of intel processors designed to replace the core/core 2 that they've been using since Apple switched to Intel processors. I would say that it's the equivalent to the difference between G4 and G5. You should be set with one until it dies until Apple mysteriously changes their OS to require something other than Intel. Just remember to check macrumors before you buy to make sure whatever model you're planning to get isn't due for an upgrade soon.
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 2:26 am
by hasezwei
ah, macrumors! almost forgot that site! well i think the intel-dickmove was a one timer and they'll stick to it for a while.
now all i need is the money thanks!
Re: Yes or No?
Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:04 am
by Phigure
hasezwei wrote:well i think the intel-dickmove was a one timer and they'll stick to it for a while.
pretty much
it was just a switch from the powerpc (RISC) architecture to the x86/x64
They're just called Intel macs because Apple basically just struck a deal with the biggest x86/x64 manufacturer to use their brand exclusively. AMDs and Intels both use the same architecture, so you can run OS X just fine on an AMD processor.
Now that Macs are on the x86/x64 architecture, they're pretty much going to stay there forever, until some new architecture is adopted in favor of it, which is definitely not going to happen within this decade, and most likely not in the one after that either.
It wasn't really a dickmove, it was just a switch that had to happen eventually. RISC architecture, especially PowerPC though, wasn't really progressing at the same rate as x86/x64. It also opened up the possibility of running Windows on Apple hardware
Apple is planning a refresh of their desktops sometime relatively soon though, so I would hold off on buying one.
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