Speaking of Macs

[natek]

[quote author="ruairioflaherty"]
Seriously though best of luck with your purchase. No matter which way you slice it Macs are seriously expensive for what they give you hardware wise. For most people (but not all) the value of the complete package becomes apparent once you live with one for a while, for first timers it's almost impossible to understand why they are so expensive.[/quote]

2X :thumb:

 

[McCroskey42]

The only drawbacks with the HP that the Mac doesn't suffer from are:
Vista OS

The major downside of 64-bit Vista (aside from the Windows ME-like stability) is the astonishing lack of driver support and application compatibility. I made the mistake of buying 64-bit Vista Ultimate for my DAW, thinking 'Wow...I can fit a boatload of samples into 16GB of RAM!' A short list of things that didn't work:

MOTU 896 (Turn it on and Vista blue-screens...weirdly, my HD192 works fine)
M-audio Midisport 8x8
M-audio Keystation 88 (M-audio has had 'beta' drivers forever, but not to the general public)
AKAI S5000 w/USB card
AKAI MPD16 (AKAI just doesn't do Vista, apparently)


To be fair, a lot of that stems from the fact that hardware manufacturers looked at the new Windows driver API's and collectively said 'No thanks Bill, we'll just wait until Windows 7 comes out'. Or, in the case of AKAI, declared 'No new drivers for you!' The same sort of thing happened back when Windows 2000 came out...it took a good two years for the bulk of HW vendors to ship drivers, and by then XP was out.

Apart from the driver woes, I've had CPU and disk usage spikes for no reason in the middle of a session that made Cakewalk drop out (on a quad-core monster with an 8-drive 3Ware RAID array, mind you), a litany of blue screens while setting the machine up initially, inexplicable crackling from 32 bit applications (iTunes, how I miss thee), random Explorer crashes...you name it, I've seen it break. If you can get the downgrade to XP, take it and save your sanity. Vista is hardly usable in its current state. Some people have luck with it, but I'd rather not play the digital equivalent of Russian Roulette every time I buy or build a system.

 

[Gustav]

[quote author="Emperor-TK"]

>>>Right clicking on the trackpad is as easy as placing two fingers down and clicking the button.

This is the first suggestion that really works for me. I'm glad there is this option.


-Chris[/quote]

I dont know if this has been mentioned, since Im too lazy to read through the whole thread, but you dont have to hold two fingers and click, you can simply tap the pad with two fingers to right click.

Writing from my macbook. First mac for me, and Ive had it for about 6 months now doing college work, recording and online stuff. I ike this computer, but after having used a mac for a while, Im even more confused about the semi-religious mac vs pc debates. There are some things I miss when Im on a PC now, but there are still things that are illogical to me compared to a windows way of doing things. I think macOS and windows are both usable by most reasonably intelligent people.

Oh, and it has crashed... And Ive had to reinstall the OS at one point to even get it booting again. They arent infallible, like some would like you to think.

Gustav

Gustav

 

[mushy]

In almost 30 years of using and teching macs, I've never once had to reinstall the os to correct a software issue. Barring the ocasional catastrophic hardware hd failure, I've never reached for my original disks beyond the rescue disk.

I'm not saying macs are infallable. I'm not saying pc's are crap. What I am saying is that I make records for a living and FOR ME there is no other choice. I don't even know how to turn on a pc, and I have no reason to learn.

 

[Animatic]

[quote author="Gustav"]
Oh, and it has crashed... And Ive had to reinstall the OS at one point to even get it booting again. They arent infallible, like some would like you to think.
Gustav[/quote]

Not one of us has said that here.

But if that was any PC I have used,
after that crash ALL the data backed up
would have to be reinstalled after the system.
Not a trivial amount of data and time with the size of disks these days.
I am running a terra byte or so,
but even the system disk is still pretty big,
and even if ONLY it's system partition tanked,
that's also A LOT to re-install.

Mac's can just reinstall the system and move on.
And almost always leave the data completely intact.

ie if you miss any back up time, EVERYTHING since the last is lost.
As opposed to maybe one or two things.

Most of my Mac data loss issues were solely due to hard disk
or connectors, of non-Apple products.

It's not a religion it 's just a definite preference.
I use BOTH, but prefer Mac's.

 

[Emperor-TK]

So after using the new PC for two weeks, here are my thoughts:

This mutha is FAST! Any Vista related slow downs are more than compensated by the faster hardware. Programs open and close almost instantly. The computer is also extremely quiet and runs very cool. My old P4 laptop ran like a vacuum cleaner on fire.

In general, Vista isn't as bad as I thought it would be. It's still quite intuitive to me. Right click on anything and you will basically find what you need. If I had to do it over again, I might go for Vista 32bit, but since I am not doing audio on this PC, the worst that it means is that I need to swap printers with my wife (my wireless Dell printer doesn't have any wireless Vista drivers). I also need to upgrade my Corel Draw suite for $179 and Pinnacle Video editor for $99. I'm giving up Streets and Trips, Illustrator, Autosketch, and Digital Image Pro, but I don't really need them anymore. No problems with any other software or hardware, including iTunes. So tack on $278 to the price I paid. Of course, the Apple laptop would have required some paid crossgrades as well unless I ran my older software on an XP partition. Since I am keeping my old laptop too for remote audio, theoretically I don't need to upgrade.

I dislike the glossy screen less than I thought. I still would have paid extra for a matte screen and I will still buy the matte screen protector. In the mean time though, I am dealing with it OK. With no ambient light, the screen looks incredible.

So far, so good. I'm pretty happy with my decision, but I still want to give OSX a go in the near future. Hopefully I will be able to get it on this machine at some point.

-Chris

 

[mushy]

[quote author="Animatic"]I use BOTH, but prefer Mac's.[/quote]

Wanna hear something funny? I don't use both. I have no idea how to operate a PC. I wouldn't even know how to turn one on. Sit me down in front of a PC and I instantly become a grandmother.

My point is that one can survive in this computerized world... Nay, excel... without every having to use Win-Doze or any other wanky bloated Microsoft product.

That being said, Congrats, Emp, on the new machine! There's really no better feeling than getting a new toy. Especially with computers. They take such huge leaps in technology from year to year that every time you get a new one, it feels like you've gone from a horse and buggy to an X-plane.