thinking about switching to Mac from PC

supafuzz · Post by **supafuzz** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:16 am

After yet another massive crash I'm pissed off..

I would like to switch to mac and am wondering what's the minimum
mac to start and if it's upgradable. It will be dedicated to protools and plugins only.

I know about pc but don't know Mac model #'s ....

thanks
harley

mingus2112 · Post by **mingus2112** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:26 am

I'm not a big fan of either (although i have a PC and WOULD have a mac if i had unlimited funds) BUT. . . .

Perhaps you should look at your situation before you jump into buying a Mac. If you were just starting out and had the means to do so, i'd probably suggest getting a Mac. But since you already have a PC and (I assume) have paid for the software, perhaps there is a better PC solution.

A lot of people will go the PC route because PCs are seemingly cheaper. The fact of the matter is that you really get what you pay for sometimes. A cheaper PC means cheaper parts. You can get a really kickin recording PC that will never fail you if you spend the money. (about the same as buying a mac)

Before you buy the mac (an i'm not saying you shouldn't), you should look at why your PC is crashing. Do you use it for other things besides the studio? Internet browsing? Anything? Is your software legit? (ie do you have any "cracked" software?) All of these things can contribute to your PC crashing. You'll have similar problems on the Mac (albeit not as bad sometimes and depending).

-James

darjama · Post by **darjama** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:35 am

Given that Apple is switching Macs over to Intel processors sometime soon (some rumours say starting next month), it's probably a bad time to buy a new Mac. The current PowerPC oriented software will probably be orphaned or neglected as developers work on making the adjustments necessary for their software to work on the new machines.

mingus2112 · Post by **mingus2112** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:38 am

i was going to add that as well, but it's so hard to imagine this going on for long. we all remember protools, etc not working with the G5. with there only being ONE VENDOR (apple) for mac hardware, software companies will need to adapt. old machines will still run in the meantime.

-James

norton · Post by **norton** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:56 am

dual processor 1.24 g4. if you max out the ram, this machiine should last you a little while.

if it's an experiment... go to the digi website, they've got a pretty good list of supported machines etc. i'm sure you can find the absolute minimum there.

BUT it seems to me that with computers, a guy/gal should buy as powerful a machine as the fincances allow. that way when the time comes around for you to NEED another new machine... you'll have just barely gotten over the sting of buying that first one.

Theron D · Post by **Theron D** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:16 am

I'm in the same ship as you brother. I have seriously considered switching from PC to a MAC, but with the pending Mac - Intel chip changerover in 2006... has got ma somewhat concerned. I want to buy an G5 with Digi002r, but I may try to hold off....ohh these times are a changin....what to do, what to do???

Theron D

Ethan Holdtrue · Post by **Ethan Holdtrue** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:32 am

Well keep in mind that the only thing that kept Apple alive for this long was the I-pod and schools. And I'm under the impression that Intel is kinda feeling the heat from AMD these days so I'm kinda wondering how this Apple/Intel deal came to be? It looks kinda like it could be the beginning of the end if they don't realllly play there cards right.

No mater how good of a mac they build, you can ALWAYS build your self a better, more powerfull PC for less.

Theron D · Post by **Theron D** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:45 am

good point and very true, I've built several PC Daws over the years for very minimal costs. I used the Nuendo/Cubase forums to base my PC components on. Still cant get away from those occasional blue screens of death. Because of funds (or lack of), maybe I will go M-powered, PC route....

Ethan Holdtrue wrote:Well keep in mind that the only thing that kept Apple alive for this long was the I-pod and schools. And I'm under the impression that Intel is kinda feeling the heat from AMD these days so I'm kinda wondering how this Apple/Intel deal came to be? It looks kinda like it could be the beginning of the end if they don't realllly play there cards right.

No mater how good of a mac they build, you can ALWAYS build your self a better, more powerfull PC for less.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 8:38 am

If you decide you're stuck with PCs, here are some things to try:

Rebuild your OS and hard drive. A serious time commitment, but it does wonders. I feel like the #1 problem with PCs is that there's too much junk loaded in- keep your OS clean.

Do you have enough memory? Do you have reliable hard drives? Are you really trying to do something more than your machine is designed to take? I think PC owners tend to be too cheap, and try to do too much with too little.

Really, at the end of the day, I think you'll end up spending close to the same amount for both Macs and PCs in the DAW environment. Macs are less maintenance, but they're not foolproof either.

wedge · Post by **wedge** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 10:01 am

Ethan Holdtrue wrote:It looks kinda like it could be the beginning of the end if they don't realllly play there cards right..

People have been saying this about Apple for twenty years... It's always the beginning of the end...

They're only a very successful company, awash in cash reserves, with innovative technologies that consistently drive the industry forward, and they're linking up with Intel, another wildly successful, innovative company... Sounds like the beginning of the end, allright...

supafuzz · Post by **supafuzz** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:01 am

Yeah
I think I'm going to stay with my pc right now
and take that machine off the grid so to speak and dedicate it to my digi 02r
only. That should keep things going smoothly

I had way too much going on with one comp and that's why it went kablam

Also I don't want to spend too much on computers as they have a tendency
of becoming obsolete really quickly
H

Ethan Holdtrue · Post by **Ethan Holdtrue** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 12:04 pm

wedge wrote:
Ethan Holdtrue wrote:It looks kinda like it could be the beginning of the end if they don't realllly play there cards right..
People have been saying this about Apple for twenty years... It's always the beginning of the end... They're only a very successful company, awash in cash reserves, with innovative technologies that consistently drive the industry forward, and they're linking up with Intel, another wildly successful, innovative company... Sounds like the beginning of the end, allright...

The only reason Apple is alive today is because it has moved AWAY from personal computers and into the field of accessories. The I-pod is the only thing that carried Apple at the turn of the centuary... and still today. If Apple didn't have the I-pod, or if a competitor gains the market, they will be in some deeeep poop.

Intel is wonderfull... which is why everyone uses AMD now. Riiiight.... Because Intel is wonderfull is that why you find so many Intel chips in low end computers such as Gateway or Dell?

wedge · Post by **wedge** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:06 pm

You're missing the point. Apple is a great company that's been pioneering and popularizing technological innovation for a long, long time, and everytime they turn a corner, people predict demise, because they lost the Market Share Wars. Who cares?!? 5%... whatever... They still make a great comp and operating system, and enough people use them to make them profitable and keep the platform alive.

The iPod has been wildly successful, but so has iTunes, Final Cut, Quicktime, etc. To emphatically state that the success of the iPod is the ONLY REASON that the Mac has survived reaks of rhetorical oversimplification. What about the gigantic success of the original iMac? If I'm not mistaken, iMacs are still selling quite well.

Apple has survived every single doomsday prediction, and unlike in the past when they were *actually* on the ropes and pulled rabbits out of their asses, at this point, Apple's a very financially viable and successful company that has a lot going for it. Just check their stock quote.

Honestly. A good friend of mine has been an Apple basher/Microsoft apologist for as long as I can remember, and for the longest time his biggest supporting factoid was Apples poor stock showing, even when it was healthy and rising. In other words, he believed what he wanted to believe, and didn't check his facts.

BTW, the iPod and iTunes collectively have something in the neighborhood of 70% of the mp3 player/music store market share, which is a commanding lead the likes of Microsoft on the desktop.

Apple's going to be around for a long time, doing lots of cool stuff, (and commiting their fair share of stupid mistakes), and so is the Mac, be it OS 10 on Intel, or whatever...

Aisjump · Post by **Aisjump** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:28 pm

[quote="supafuzz"]Yeah

Also I don't want to spend too much on computers as they have a tendency
of becoming obsolete really quickly
H[/quote]

obsolete is a rather strange word. I dont forsee support for Power PC macs suddenly being dropped as soon as the intel macs come out. as a matter of fact, when the intel macs come out, they will actually be using an emulator to run code written for PPC macs. I wouldnt be supprised if it was the end of 2006 before they took the power pc out of every model.

Ive had my G5 for almost 2 years, and I plan on getting at least 3-4 more out of it.
I dont feel like my machine is getting obsolete, especially when I'm getting my use out of it.

even if it went obsolete in 3 years, at least it would work for those three years, rather than your windows machine. My G5 has NEVER caused me grief.

-steve

Catoogie · Post by **Catoogie** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 5:27 am

Damn! See, I am about to order my Mac in the next or so and now this throws another monkey wrench into the situation. I was going to go with a refurbished Mac but now I'm wondering if I should hold off. My guy feeling says I should just go for it now because I never like buying the first new product a company puts out, I always like to wait until soem of the bugs are dealt with........and who knows how long that'll be. Hell, they haven't even released the new ones yet so as far as I know I wouldn't be looking to get into one of the Intel Macs for a year or more.

What do you guys think?

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thinking about switching to Mac from PC

thinking about switching to Mac from PC

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