end of the "Mac vs PC" 2005 poll

[Geert van den Berg]

What's the most important thing that made you decide on your platform of choice?

• CPU Power PC
• CPU Power Mac
• Windows
• Mac OS
• software of choice PC only
• software of choice Mac only

"the MC moderators"

[C.Lambrechts]

My honest answer today would be the Mac OS. I mean that.

I mean .... I'm one of those die hard mac addicts that will joke around all day pulling eyebrows whenever someone mentions a PC or windows XP.

Honesty also forces me to say that there is less reason (if any) to choose a PC over a Mac to do music on. I know great running PC systems and lousy running Mac systems and vice versa.

But I also know that I'm happy when I install a mac, or open it up, or sit behind one, or surf the internet on my 17 inch powerbook. And I curse windows when my wife calls me to say her laptop lost wireless connection AGAIN


I know .... but I LIKE it so much better .... sigh.

[copperx]

I love Macs but my studio is still in PC world ... why? SawStudio + Voxengo.
Oh, and because I can have a PC laptop with loads of plugin instances (read: PC kills Mac speeds in portables).

[manning1]

this wont win me any friends i'm sure but i voted for option one.
amd all the way for me.

[Harley-OIART]

If I were bulding a cost effective High Horsepower machine... AMD

After Spending 10+ years as an Advanced Windows User... Mac OSX is why I bought a Mac for my Professional Needs. I find Mac OS a small fraction of a percent more hastle free.

I am looking forward to the day when you can build a custom Computer and install Mac OS or Windows to suit your own personal tastes.

[echorec]

I like them both. I use Mac because I like the OS (and there are no Logic 7 on PC) but the main reason is that all of the other studios around here use Macs so it is super easy to move around between studios within a project.

[zemlin]

I'm a long-time PC guy and I'm cheap. I have nothing against Macs, just Mac zealots. I know Windows quite well and am very comfortable poking around the registry or messing with services and such.

That comfort level is what keeps me from considering a Mac. I don't want to spend the time to learn a new platform. I was admin on a small HP-UX network way back and used Unix-based workstations for years and I'm intrigued by OSX, but I have enough to keep me busy without taking on a new OS.

Not only that, but I have 5 desktop PCs in my house. I can do a MAJOR upgrade on the top dog (my DAW) for a few hundred $$ and all the computers downstream benefit from the leftover parts.

If I was having problems I'd look at Apple, but my PC is reliable and works well. I have no reason to jump ship.

I have a MOTU 24i and am amused by all the Mac zealots on Unicornation who tell ANYONE with a PC and a problem that if they had a MAC they would just be making music and money. Then I read all the messages from MAC owners crying about all the problems they have getting their systems to work. My Mom's been a MAC user since the first 128K & single floppy model. She's have good ones and bad ones.

I really don't think one platform is "better" than the other. Different tools, different people, different priorities, different issues.

[Jules]

Being a non computer person I chose Mac as I have the best chance of getting tech support with it in my circle of friends..

[theblue1]

I took the closest answer -- but it ("Windows OS") does not tell the whole story by any means.

There are a whole lot of reasons I have a generic PC running Windows.


Now, there really was a time when I assumed that I'd get a Mac -- back in the 80s. But I had to get a PC first for database work and when I had a chance to compare my modestly priced PC with my neighbor's brand new Mac that cost 2 1/2 times as much I changed my mind.

I snuck into computer music through the back door. I had an early soundcard and it had a MIDI port and I had, in 1991 or so aquired a decent MIDI wavetable synth. After I got my first ADAT I synchronized it via MTC to my PC; after a while I got a second and a BRC. In '96 I made the transition to recording directly to hard drive using the ADATs as converters.

In the late 90s, not unsatisfied -- but just curious -- I looked into other options besides what I was using (Cakewalk on a PC). I was discouraged to find that the Mac OS was actually far behind Windows 9x at the time -- no dedicated MIDI or multichannel audio layer in the OS, no plug in standard, MIDI latencies as much as 10 ms or more (as opposed to Windows MIDI latency below 3 ms at the time).


Since then, I have watched carefully as the Mac OS has pretty much caught up (I'm talking built in OS audio/MIDI capabilities here -- not UI elegance, which is, after all subjective).

But in that time I have solidified my notion that I would not want to buy my computer from the same company as my OS (or my apps for that matter!) and that I would not want to buy any machine with proprietary hardware. Period.

There are those whose antipathy to Windows or affection for the Mac and/or OS X is suffucient to put up with the occasional high-handedness of Apple -- but that's not me.

I thought, from the outside, and looking over other folks' shoulders, that I would really like OS X. But when I finally ended up working on several Macs I found that I really wasn't fond of it at all, from a user perspective. Which I found surprising, since I've often been frustrated by certain MS/Win idiosyncracies and tendancies (I must say, though, that, after W3.x -- which I despised far out of proportion to its many faults -- I've liked Windows better with each version I've had (W95, W98, and XP).


Anyhow, I'm a firm believer in open standards and building one's own computer (at least for desktops -- any laptop I built would probably take a suitcase). If something breaks, it's easy to get a replacement -- and, often as not, the replacement is more advanced. You can do that because the PC is built around interchangeability and modularity. There are those who feel that it's the PC's weakness. For me, it's the central strength.

Other folks would rather put themselves in Apple's hands and if it works for them, I say more power to them!

It's a big world. One size definitely does not fit all.

[George Necola]

grew up with Intel, changed to AMD and now study systemarchitecture / informatics..

if my father bought a mac those days.. I might be shiny white, slim and my clothes would be styled..

cheers

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by theblue1

I took the closest answer -- but it ("Windows OS") does not tell the whole story by any means.

There are a whole lot of reasons I have a generic PC running Windows.


Now, there really was a time when I assumed that I'd get a Mac -- back in the 80s. But I had to get a PC first for database work and when I had a chance to compare my modestly priced PC with my neighbor's brand new Mac that cost 2 1/2 times as much I changed my mind.

I snuck into computer music through the back door. I had an early soundcard and it had a MIDI port and I had, in 1991 or so aquired a decent MIDI wavetable synth. After I got my first ADAT I synchronized it via MTC to my PC; after a while I got a second and a BRC. In '96 I made the transition to recording directly to hard drive using the ADATs as converters.

In the late 90s, not unsatisfied -- but just curious -- I looked into other options besides what I was using (Cakewalk on a PC). I was discouraged to find that the Mac OS was actually far behind Windows 9x at the time -- no dedicated MIDI or multichannel audio layer in the OS, no plug in standard, MIDI latencies as much as 10 ms or more (as opposed to Windows MIDI latency below 3 ms at the time).


Since then, I have watched carefully as the Mac OS has pretty much caught up (I'm talking built in OS audio/MIDI capabilities here -- not UI elegance, which is, after all subjective).

But in that time I have solidified my notion that I would not want to buy my computer from the same company as my OS (or my apps for that matter!) and that I would not want to buy any machine with proprietary hardware. Period.

There are those whose antipathy to Windows or affection for the Mac and/or OS X is suffucient to put up with the occasional high-handedness of Apple -- but that's not me.

I thought, from the outside, and looking over other folks' shoulders, that I would really like OS X. But when I finally ended up working on several Macs I found that I really wasn't fond of it at all, from a user perspective. Which I found surprising, since I've often been frustrated by certain MS/Win idiosyncracies and tendancies (I must say, though, that, after W3.x -- which I despised far out of proportion to its many faults -- I've liked Windows better with each version I've had (W95, W98, and XP).


Anyhow, I'm a firm believer in open standards and building one's own computer (at least for desktops -- any laptop I built would probably take a suitcase). If something breaks, it's easy to get a replacement -- and, often as not, the replacement is more advanced. You can do that because the PC is built around interchangeability and modularity. There are those who feel that it's the PC's weakness. For me, it's the central strength.

Other folks would rather put themselves in Apple's hands and if it works for them, I say more power to them!

It's a big world. One size definitely does not fit all.

Your words mirror my experience

I was never into the Big Brother OS, software and hardware mentalities and cost that came with Apple and Digi. Aside of the fact that, out of 10 friends using Macs at any given time, 7 of them have their machines returned for repairs, have backwards compatibility issues (HUGE problem) with drivers, etc., while I'm working : )

But, whatever floats your boat.

64 bit floating point processing : )

[djui5]

I like the Mac OS :)

[handojin]

third vote here goes for windows os which treated me so well since xp.

[George Necola]

the question is:

is Windows an Operating System or just a VIRUS??

[Jonathan Starr]

My PTHD rig on a G5 is my first experience with a Mac.

I've been running and building PCs for 25 years, helped develop the protocols for Darpanet which preceeded the internet by running an early packet radio ham HF BBS system off the grid here in Hawaii in the early 80's, and I wrote a bunch of code and managed corporate DP and CAD-CAM mechanical production systems along the way. We used to consider Windows & early Mac stuff "computers for idiots". Grudgingly, I became a Windows op through XP.

Last year when I got serious about recording audio, I polled my pro friends and they all said to go ProTools on a Mac.

I did, and it's been an easy transition and fun to adapt to different stuff. I feel the consistency of Mac hardware & software makes it easier to run glitch free audio.

[AngeloClematide]

Originally Posted by George Necola

the question is:

is Windows an Operating System or just a VIRUS??

are you talking about AIDS?

[pan60]

mac!
just always been, no real reason, well pc's scare me.

[parissound]

Mac + Pc X who gives a shit = Music, Creativaty.

[brew27]

I've tried my music computer on Mac G4's and PCs and in the end I have it centered on an IBM x330 Dual PIII 1GHZ processor machine... in the end using Reason and all the plug ins I have, Windows just ended up being easier for me.

But I do love OS X!

[Ethan Winer]

Geert,

> What's the most important thing that made you decide on your platform of choice? <

Your question doesn't align with the available answers. I use a PC for audio because I already know PCs very well, because more software is available for PCs (and not just studio software), and because they're a better value. I also agree with Jules that having friends that know one platform or the other is a very important reason for choosing. Even though I don't use Macs, I have recommended them to non-local friends when they have local friends who know and use Macs.

--Ethan

[bunnerabb]

Macs and their peripheral components go together like Lego blocks with no problems, they're damn near virus-proof, they're definitely the standard for audio and video production, as is the non-native application that runs so well on them.

That being said, I run a 3.2 GHz Intel P4 on a PERL 865 with 2 GB of DDR and 2 SATA drives and two IDE drives, with Nintendo 1.6.1

Why?

I can afford to.

That's why.

And if I ever DO get my hands on Steve Jobs level money, I'll get a Mac in a heatbeat.

And run Nuendo on it.

I'll still use convertors that let me mix OTB, when I want to, though.

[copperx]

Originally Posted by bunnerabb

[...] two IDE drives, with Nintendo 1.6.1

So, do you use the Famicom on the 2-buss? and does it sound like a Neve?

[Geert van den Berg]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Geert,

> What's the most important thing that made you decide on your platform of choice? <

Your question doesn't align with the available answers. I use a PC for audio because I already know PCs very well, because more software is available for PCs (and not just studio software), and because they're a better value. I also agree with Jules that having friends that know one platform or the other is a very important reason for choosing. Even though I don't use Macs, I have recommended them to non-local friends when they have local friends who know and use Macs.

--Ethan

Hi Ethan, I don't reallly understand your arguments or the way that you clarify your point.

Before posting this poll I thought maybe I can make it simpeler and exclude the Mac vs PC argument, just do a poll about power, OS, or software. But later I thought that it still would be interesting to include this. Also remember that I ask for the most important factor. Just one thing, offcourse you can have multiple reasons, but one factor is the most important to you, and that's what this poll is about.

I think that maybe I should include an extra factor, if none of the above is one of your reasons then you can vote for that. But on the other hand you can also post this here.

I have some observations and I am curious how this poll turns out, and then when we have some more results I think we'll see some intesting things. Not that this outcome is hard to predict, but I have another poll around the corner already!

[Tibbon]

First of all: I used to be a Mac hating PC (Windows) guy. Then I was a Linux, Anti-windows guy. Now i'm a Mac guy. Actually, it all started with my Comodore 64, but asides from my Sidstation that is way out of the picture.

Anyway; My choice now is Apple mainly due to the OS, but I am also using programs now that aren't available for Windows and I can't do without them.

It's not that things on a mac are just easy, they are transparent. I don't need to mess around with getting the driver for some weird digital camera (memories of an HP VGA digital camera on a PC with serial drivers come to mind). I have had the newest iSight drivers for a long time now, so to get my iSight working all I had to do was plug in the firewire cable. Boom. It worked.

Sharing G5 processors with Logic Pro... boom it works. Midi stuff, boom just works. I don't need to mess around generally with driver issues, crashes, etc...

Logic Pro 7 for me also has just been a new eyeopening workflow of music. Never with Protools was I able to get so much done so quickly. I still like protools for drum editing I think, but that's just because I haven't had the need to do so in Logic yet.

I'd like to pick up an older Protools system for Turbosynth SC (and an older mac too)

I want to work on Music, not computing. And don't tell me about expenses. If your computer is the most expensive thing in your studio, then you have some serious priority issues, and also can't remember back to what an ADAT cost when it came out.

Edit: I must also say that the stability on a Mac is wonderful. Some programs might crash on occasion (rare except my CoreAudioDriver due ti the Digi002R being put to sleep, which they tell you not to do), but the computer almost NEVER goes down. This infernal PC that I use at work crashes (hard) at least 2x daily, and programs freeze up for 10 minutes at a time non-stop. I have NEVER had that experience on a Mac, no matter how old it was.

[6strings]

Originally Posted by Tibbon

I must also say that the stability on a Mac is wonderful. Some programs might crash on occasion (rare e