Mac, PC or Linux?

[DerpyGrooves]

I'm thinking about getting a mac. Seems pretty chill.

[Conduit]

Macs are great for music production, everything just works with little to no effort on your part. PC pretty much wins for everything else though.

[DerpyGrooves]

Macs are great for music production, everything just works with little to no effort on your part. PC pretty much wins for everything else though.

yeah no for a beastly gaming rig PC sounds quite choice

but yeah idk I'm looking at the macbook pro and it seems insanely convenient from a music/video production standpoint

[the4thImpulse]

but yeah idk I'm looking at the macbook pro and it seems insanely convenient from a music/video production standpoint

They are convenient for it, no doubt about it, but what software do you use or wish to use. I think its more important to figure out that first and then get the operating system that will handle it. Also price may be a huge deciding factor, PCs are often as capable as Macs for just over half the price, if you are on a tight budget get better PC than a worse Mac (or buy used).

[Conduit]

I use a '08 MacBook Pro, and it works great, although I sometimes max out the CPU. The newer models have improved a ton since then, so if you have the money I bet they would be great for both studio and live work. They're also super portable compared to desktops or similarly equipped pc laptops.

[itroitnyah]

Macs are mostly good because any program made for them is almost guaranteed to work pretty much flawlessly. Here, let's compose a list of advantages for Windows, Mac and Linux:

________________________________________________
Windows
You can customize pretty much every aspect of your computer itself

Gaming (The only games that are available for mac seem to be the really popular ones, like WoW. No incredible graphics cards on a mac though, and you can't get one for a mac)

Runs pretty much any program. It seems that the only programs that are OS-specific are the ones that come from the OS installation, and some of the video-picture-music programs developed by Apple.

Mac
Any program made for it will run pretty much flawlessly

Linux
Customizable as fuck if you know what you're doing

________________________________________________
Feel free to add to the list.

[Acsii]

Not trying to start a flame war... but my mac pro has a gtx 680...

[Acsii]

huh imo macs have gotten a lot better since the old days and I can do pretty much everything I could do on my PC better on my mac...

[Fimbulin]

I've survived the ups and downs of Windows since NT and 95. I have almost no experience with a Mac or with Linux, but I'm happy with Windows. Some of the VSTs I use for music production only work with Windows computers, so I doubt I'll ever switch.

As far as how capable they are, that's limited more by your hardware than software. Macs can run near anything as far as being productive, but Windows can too. It all comes down to preference (software) or your pocketbook (hardware).

[HMage]

Macs are better for horsesocks.
Windows is better for saxophone.
Linux is better for oil change.

—

There's no native Fruity Loops on OSX.
There's no native Logic Pro on Windows.
There's no native VST on Linux.

[cyrricky]

Having used a total of 7 Windows-based machines (three of which still work), 2 linux-based machines (one of which still works), and 4 Macs (they all work), I can safely say that my hierarchy goes Mac > Linux > Windows. Windows computers just make me so mad, they're really dumb.
Macs are great 'cause they just work. I can't even list the number of times I've had to wrestle with Windows to do anything from run a game, to dealing with its (really shitty) handling of MIDI. The only time I've punched a computer out of frustration is from a Windows machine.
Linux is great if you know what you're doing. Not for music though.

In short, Mac just works, Linux is pretty okay, Windows actually make me mad. I'm saving up for a Macbook Pro 15-inch to last me a few years. I don't think I'll be buying Windows computers after that.

[Acsii]

Cyrricky why not save up for the new mac pro... unless you want a laptop...

[ExoBassTix]

huh imo macs have gotten a lot better since the old days and I can do pretty much everything I could do on my PC better on my mac...

Lion started as a disappointment though.

I've been a MacFan ever since I turned 5 and got a pink Macintosh computer. I've had it for 3 years, after which I got a nice secondhand iMac. It really is heaven. Sadly its hard drive has been corrupted for, what, 3 years now? Something like that.

And even though I only use Windows now, simply because everything I do is easier on Windows (this is partially because I'm a pirate), I'll always prefer Mac over Windows. It's so great to work with, it handles everything so nicely, it's way more elegant, and it doesn't make annoying mistakes that don't make sense.

I can always get a MacBook Pro with Paralells or BootCamp :3

[itroitnyah]

In my middle school, one of the computer labs was using hackintoshes dool boot. Twas glorious. You just booted up the computer (which was a Mac of some sort), and then chose the OS you wanted to load. Speaking of which, some Mac's are pretty neato considering that the computer parts are built into the monitors or something, so there isn't a big tower or anything.

[Acsii]

That's not hackintosh... that's just dual boot... Hackintosh is Mac OS X hacked to work on a non Apple computer.

[itroitnyah]

Oh, well, whatever. Then it was a

[cyrricky]

Cyrricky why not save up for the new mac pro... unless you want a laptop...

I prefer laptops for their portability. I travel a lot and it's too much work to lug a desktop, monitor, etc. up onto a stage.

[Acsii]

Cyrricky why not save up for the new mac pro... unless you want a laptop...

I prefer laptops for their portability. I travel a lot and it's too much work to lug a desktop, monitor, etc. up onto a stage.

Fair enough then.
I work mainly in studio and when i do live stuff I just transfer to my MBP or it's for bands so I'm in the control booth

[JayB]

I grew up with Windows (3.11, 98, XP) and made music with it. Then I got a MacBook when I started studying at SAE Institute in 2007 so I got introduced to Mac. Mac was all new and I didn't have any prejudices. Now that I got to know it quite well I have to say that I like the general work flow better than Windows. Especially window management in combination with the Magic Mouse is just amazing. Like, I have two screens for Logic. One for the arrangement window and one for the mixer. I swipe with two fingers across the mouse and I have my browser on one screen and Skype on the other. Another swipe in the opposite direction and I'm back into two-screen Logic. I tried to find a good way to do this on Windows, but I couldn't find one. The overall performance is slightly better than on Windows, but the difference is rather small. Less background activity (anti virus,...) pays out a bit.

But Mac has some disadvantages to Windows, especially when it comes to... say... "basic" operations. Finder (the file browser) loves to hide files that shouldn't be hidden. And you can't access them too easily. Also you have no uninstallation routine. Simply dragging an application to the bin won't delete any config or other temporary files, so you either have an uninstallation tool or you know where files are. And well, I don't need to talk about gaming, do I? I just love Direct3D and EAX sound. That's why I have dual boot.

Oh BTW: you're lucky if you have an Apple store in your area (I do). If you have a problem (I had) with your Mac, you just bring it there and usually you get help immediately, even if it's hardware based. On my old MacBook I got the keyboard changed. Took them a couple of hours and I had it back. Service you seldom have with windows PCs or laptops.

[Acsii]

To uninstall open the terminal and type
sudo uninstall <files location and name>
Or
cd <files location>
sudo uninstall <file name>

[JSynth]

Macs are great in my mind. Sometimes, you can't get a certain program because it only comes for windows (FL Studio for example), but most of the time, they will program for both Mac and Windows.

Now I don't know of any major DAW's or VST's that come for Linux (other than LMMS). But you might be able to get some programs working with Wine. I would ask Cirbama about producing with Linux. My Linux usage mostly consists of surfing the web and playing minesweeper.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

I use a PC with Windows 7 and it works just fine for me .-.

It's only ever shown any signs of strain with this project that has 97 tracks. Which leaves me plenty of leeway considering most of my projects of late don't regularly exceed 50 tracks. I may try a Mac with something like Ableton running on it some day though.

[JayB]

To uninstall open the terminal and type
sudo uninstall <files location and name>
Or
cd <files location>
sudo uninstall <file name>

Good to know. O.o Why isn't there a user-friendly way?

[Acsii]

You can download a program to do it... Not sure why there's no easy way to do it .-.

[simonli2575]

I've never used a Mac or Linux computer before, so I'll say what I know.

Thoughts:
PC computers are customizable, you can simply open up the computer case and change or install new hardware, whereas Mac computers are not, if a component is broken, your Mac is fucked.
Mac computers are extremely overpriced.

Facts:
My friend used to have a PC, until he was forced by his dad to change to a Mac computer because it was too loud. He hates the fact that he has to use Parallel to use the Windows OS and that his Mac only has so much RAM (Merely 8GB).
I once said to him that I thought Mac had better software for things such as video editing, etc. He replied that everything Mac could do, Windows did better.
(By the way, he got an A for ICT this year)