Switching From Pc To Mac?

[Zul Zydee]

Hackintosh!

[A1gavin]

It's all down to personal preference, Me I'm a Mac.... I use Macbook pro i5 which replaced my old G4 powerbook (that I sold on ebay at 3 years old for more than a decent grade brand new laptop) and an 8 core intel desktop and I use them for everything, every day use and my music.

I used to use PC but had always been lazy and never backed up and the inevitable happened and lost everything due to a virus.

That is what prompted me to make the transition to Mac and I have never looked back.... needless to say I now back up but never had to use other than retrieve files deleted in error.

I still smile every time I can switch on my Mac DT and DM-4800 and load a 24 track recording in logic in under 90 seconds!

As for cost... yes it is more expensive but as a student you can get discount direct from Apple... up to 18% i believe on hardware in the UK and far more on software, the more you spend the greater the discount.

Hope this helps.

Also meant to say that apple-care for students is also a fraction of the retail cost.

Edited December 29, 2011 by A1gavin

[Prometheus]

I still smile every time I can switch on my Mac DT and DM-4800 and load a 24 track recording in logic in under 90 seconds!

I've never actually ran a stop watch on it, but I'm pretty sure Cubase can do that on my PC in seconds as well.

I used to use PC but had always been lazy and never backed up and the inevitable happened and lost everything due to a virus.

Whoever repaired the PC for you should have been able to recover the data with absolutely no difficulty whatsoever in that situation. In fact, if you partition your hard disk, this problem can be prevented from ever occurring.

MAC operating systems are less susceptible to virus problems than windows, which is not to say that windows in the only choice to run on a PC. As someone said at the top of this page, Hackintosh.

I can't envisage a situation where I would ever connect my multitrack recorder to the internet or plug any storage medium into it without scanning it first on my general use machine. Consequently, I am not worried about infection by a virus.

[A1gavin]

Prometheus, My post was not meant to sway anyone to Mac or PC, it was only to give some constructive feedback on my experience and offer some money saving tips if indeed the choice was to opt for a Mac, (we could all do with saving some cash right).

I'm sure the originator of this post will do all the research and weigh up all pro's and cons before spending any cash and settle for what they believe suits their needs best, just as I am sure we both did and are both very happy with our choices regardless of how they differ.

Cheers A1

[Prometheus]

Prometheus, My post was not meant to sway anyone to Mac or PC, it was only to give some constructive feedback on my experience and offer some money saving tips if indeed the choice was to opt for a Mac, (we could all do with saving some cash right).

I'm sure the originator of this post will do all the research and weigh up all pro's and cons before spending any cash and settle for what they believe suits their needs best, just as I am sure we both did and are both very happy with our choices regardless of how they differ.

Cheers A1

I certainly wasn't meaning to come across as acusing you of cheerleeding for MAC's.

I don't think most sound engineers are particularly computer savvy, it just happens that I've spent a few years repairing PC's for work and picked up a few tradesman's tricks. Whoever repaired your machine and didn't bother to recover your data either didn't realise that you wanted data recovered or else he or she took a very lazy approach. There are a couple of pieces of sound advice to be given on this for MAC or PC users.

1) Always make backups. I have two hard drives in my multitrack recorder so that when I'm working on a mix I can have two copies of the mix folder stored indepently of each other. This means that a double hard disk failure would be required to lose any data. Given that all my PC's are run on surge protectors, the chances of the two hard disks being destroyed simulateneously are infinitecimal barring a calamity that would make the mixes I'm currently working on the least of my worries. Even so, I keep copies of all my finished work on CD or DVD.

This also increases performance as you can record to and mix from one hard disk and have your operating system on the other one.

2) If you're using one hard disk, partition it so that the operating system and your data are stored on different partitions that the computer will treat as seperate drives. That way, if your operating system becomes corrupt for whatever reason, you can restore the computer with OS installation disks after formating the partition with the OS on it and not lose any of your work.

3) Hard disks are easy to remove from one computer and connect to another one. If you lose the capability to boot from a hard disk because of a Virus, take the hard disk out of the infected computer, set it as a slave and you can daisy chain it to the hard disk on another computer. That way you can retrieve your work without data loss.

4) With an NT based windows system, anything from 2000 to Windows 7, if you haven't partitoned your drive and lose the capability to boot from it and you are not confident in opening the case and unplugging hard disks, Windows gives the option to install a new OS alongside the existing one. This will allow you to retreive your data. Once that is safely backed up, you can then format the drive and reinstall windows on a freshly formatted hard disk.

5) Always run your PC's through a surge protected 4 gang (or surge protected block with however many sockets you need).

[bllana20]

As far as I know, MacBook Pro has the best platform for audio/video editing. However, that all depends on the user if he prefers Mac or PC for his music production equipment.