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I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction when purchasing a desktop PC best suited for audio production.
My budgets roughly $1200.

After reading over a few similar posts, I'm still uncertain of the essentials ill need.

So if anyone could offer me some guidance it would be much appreciated.

Best processor you can afford. 8 gigs of RAM. You should easily be able to get something decent for 1,200. You don't need a fancy video card. 2 HDs is nice. One for data storage, one for programs/OS.

Consider building one yourself. I did that about four years ago w/o much prior experience with computer hardware and I've had zero problems with the system. It really was a breeze. I built a top of the line machine (at the time) for like 900USD

Something like a Focusrite Scarlett will make a good first audio interface. Maybe you'll even have some left over for a pair of decent headphones.

Buy a Mac

ieatfunk wrote:Buy a Mac

waste of money imo.

fragments wrote:Consider building one yourself

this

I built one for 800 euros (excl. screen and audio interface). 8 gigs of ram, i7-2600 3.4 hz processor, a solid state drive for OS/apps and a hard drive for samples and plugs. That was a year ago, can probably get something much nicer now for that money.

Browse user reviews of the parts to check how good they are and compare quality in price brackets. Sometimes some pretty cheap parts will be much better than the more expensive counterparts. And think about what you NEED. Do you really need a bluray drive or is a DVD one good enough? etc

Na, standard Macbook pro is the shit IMO. It's probably faster and sounds better than most PCs, and mine's coming onto 4 years old.

Sounds better?

Coolschmid wrote:Sounds better?

Yea...let me get another beer before he explains that one...

Coolschmid wrote:Sounds better?

Has a better soundcard

fragments wrote:

Coolschmid wrote:Sounds better?

Yea...let me get another beer before he explains that one...

Your comments are void for being a build-a-PC elitist

It doesn't sound better, at the very most, you can say mac gets less latency problems with the core audio driver, but windows has that covered with ASIO now. I would say get a mac if you really want to get a laptop, because it's simple more efficient and performant (and the OS is just amazing) but if you're looking for a desktop, it's just not worth the money imo. Again, build your own PC. There's tutorials all over the internet.

Man I remember when I first started I had a 6 year old dell laptop latitude and it had 785 MB of Ram and probably a really bad processor. I was making tracks with Abelton Suite and using massive fm8 ect... and it never lagged on me. Of course I upgraded for about 500$ I got a Hp laptop with 4Gb ram and 2.75 GHZ AMD A6. It never lags on me. I updated it to 8GB of ram just to say I did but I probably didn't have to. The only time I can get it to lag or freeze up for a second is if I have like 15 or 16 instances of massive or Cyclop ect.... and each of those has like a wow filter and ohmicide attached to it and they all have to be playing at the same time which you would most likely never have that many vst's playing all at the same time In a track. And of course on top of all those vst's I had drum racks and not to mention the effects that came with the DAW. I was just curious what it would take for my CPUto lag and so I put as many effects and insrtuments on as I could at the same time and it was around 15 or 16 it started to. You can go spend $1200 on a PC or mac if you want to but you really don't need to. It also never lags in virtual DJ or Traktor with whatever controller or equipment I have hooked to it. May want save some of that money for the expensive software that comes along with production.

Soundcloud

ieatfunk wrote:Na, standard Macbook pro is the shit IMO. It's probably faster and sounds better than most PCs, and mine's coming onto 4 years old.

Probably... not

Nah, i like Macbooks but they're overpriced and over hyped. For half the price you can build a more powerfull pc-system and in time you still have room to upgrade your system.

My advice:
Laptop: macbook pro (if you got the money)
Desk: PC - get the best cpu and ram within your budget and make sure you use a decent mobo. Add in a ssd for os/apps and another hdd for storage.

I'd go with the MacBook Pro you won't regret it. Windows for audio production is pretty meh...

Manufacturedsoul wrote:I'd go with the MacBook Pro you won't regret it. Windows for audio production is pretty meh...

This. People that have produced with Mac and PC always seem to go for Mac. People that build their own PCs and never touch Macs always say "build your own PC for half the cost"

MAJOR drawback is the Macbook Pro's gpu.. Mostly because it doesn't have one.

For reliability, audio work etc.. it's awesome.

AxeD wrote:MAJOR drawback is the Macbook Pro's gpu.. Mostly because it doesn't have one.

For reliability, audio work etc.. it's awesome.

True. I have a PC to game on but not for making music

Manufacturedsoul wrote:I'd go with the MacBook Pro you won't regret it. Windows for audio production is pretty meh...

Let's all agree to disagree.

Build a hackintosh and have the best of both worlds?

Dustwyrm wrote:

fragments wrote:

Coolschmid wrote:Sounds better?

Yea...let me get another beer before he explains that one...

Let me go cook a bacon sarnie whilst you two research sound cards