PC vs Mac

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I call bull****! I use both PC and Mac and the Mac works and runs much smoother. What are you runnin then, Linux? Garbage compared to Leopard.

That's the user interface. Linux and OS X are essentially built from the same foundation (UNIX).
The Linux window managers that are available are brutal when compared to what is available on Mac.

It's also easy to build and optimize an operating system when you know exactly what the hardware is going to be in every single machine.

With Linux and Windows, they have to account for billions of combination of hardware, and make it work.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by WhiteTom

I'm curious as to whom you are referring to.

Most government computers are Mac, NASA even has a site set up for their users to keep up to date on Mac happenings.

http://ranier.hq.nasa.gov/NHMUG_page/NHMUG.shtm

As usual, a PC vs Mac thread is turning into a battleground.

[J pold]

I’m a PC guy it works for me and does what I need it too do

I’m also no authority on these matters but one thing I always here from people about Macs is that they are so easy to use, I just don’t understand this

My GF uses Macs and if I have to do anything on her Macbook I’m lost in about .2341 seconds, it just isn’t as intuitive as people say to me at least

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

As a musician who has his own home recording studio your choice of software boggles my mind! Cubase is garbage unless you are into just farting around. Pro Logic 7 owns it in all category's. Regardless, if you are serious about recording you should be using Pro Tools anyhow and it runs like on a PC compared to a PowerMac.

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

I use mac in a studio environment for audio and software synthesizers.

As someone who has used BOTH a PC and a MAC for a number of different applications, the Mac is much prettier and MUCH more expensive.

................

Logic Studio is cheaper than Cubase Studio if I'm not mistaken? Cheaper is the opposite of more expensive if I am not mistaken?

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

As a musician who has his own home recording studio your choice of software boggles my mind! Cubase is garbage unless you are into just farting around. Pro Logic 7 owns it in all category's. Regardless, if you are serious about recording you should be using Pro Tools anyhow and it runs like on a PC compared to a PowerMac.

Cubase isn't garbage at all! I also run ProTools, but seldom use it for much.

Again, think $$$$$$. For your home studio, I doubt you will ever get into a situation where you're running 135 inputs at 24bit-192khz. Then maybe one needs the extra smidgen, but until then it matters not.

Also, I do really enjoy Logic 7, but I've been with Cubase since SX. Cubase 4 is amazing...

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Logic Studio is cheaper than Cubase Studio if I'm not mistaken? Cheaper is the opposite of more expensive if I am not mistaken?

I'd rather have expensive software than an expensive computer I don't need.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Logic Studio is cheaper than Cubase Studio if I'm not mistaken? Cheaper is the opposite of more expensive if I am not mistaken?

Umm no.
Logic 7
http://www.nextag.com/logic-pro-7-software/search-html

Cubase
http://www.nextag.com/Steinberg-Cuba...89/prices-html

[dissentowner]

We can all argue until we are blue in the face, we have gotten of the original threads topic. Nobody ever wins a PC vs Mac war, I just did not like the comment "Macs are lame"

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Umm no.
Logic 7
http://www.nextag.com/logic-pro-7-software/search-html

Cubase
http://www.nextag.com/Steinberg-Cuba...89/prices-html

Try searching for the right product there...

http://www.nextag.com/Steinberg-Cuba...88/prices-html

...is the version of Cubase 4 I am speaking of.

Originally Posted by dissentowner

We can all argue until we are blue in the face, we have gotten of the original threads topic. Nobody ever wins a PC vs Mac war, I just did not like the comment "Macs are lame"

Well, in my opinion, they are. And its based on real first-hand experience.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by arsenal

That's the user interface. Linux and OS X are essentially built from the same foundation (UNIX).
The Linux window managers that are available are brutal when compared to what is available on Mac.

It's also easy to build and optimize an operating system when you know exactly what the hardware is going to be in every single machine.

With Linux and Windows, they have to account for billions of combination of hardware, and make it work.

I agree that Linux doesn't look and feel as sexy as Mac, but it has one huge advantage in my mind -- price. You can't beat free.

I had an old PC ( 30GB hard disk, 512MB RAM, 32MB video card, etc ) that I wanted to use at home. I tried Win XP on it but it was a nightmare. Opening IE took a good 2-3 minutes of solid swapping before anything appeared on screen. So I installed Linux on it instead ( Ubuntu ), which worked like a dream. Everything was lightning fast. For a machine that is probably worth less than $100, I found it pretty impressive.

I've used a Mac plenty of times ( I have a Mac, a Win XP PC and a Linux PC at work), and it is certainly nice to use and the interface is really sexy. And with the number of easy-to-use creative tools on it, I can see why its so popular in the artistic community. However, for common users that are just checking email, surfing the web, burning CDs and so forth, I find PCs to be the superior choice when you consider the vast difference in cost between the two.

I think its foolish to conclude that there is one platform that is best, as it totally depends on what you're doing with it and how much it costs. To me buying a Mac for normal, non-creative work is like buying an SLR camera and never taking it off full auto-mode. And I'm not saying Linux is the best choice either. It's gotten a lot better it the last couple years, but you still need to have somewhat advanced computer skills to use it as a daily machine. Every platform has its purpose and uses, the key is matching each platforms advantages to what you're looking for in a machine.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Try searching for the right product there...

http://www.nextag.com/Steinberg-Cuba...88/prices-html

...is the version of Cubase 4 I am speaking of.



Well, in my opinion, they are. And its based on real first-hand experience.

More likely based on ignorance.

And also..your link does not support your argument as it is still cheaper.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

More likely based on ignorance.

Ignorant enough to find the right product, as opposed to being blind to anything that doesn't support your own ignorance.

So hey, lets agree! We're both ignorant. Maybe we should both start posting tracks and let CP decide? I don' think they'd care what platform anything was made on as long as the product was quality.

I'll take my inferior PC, inferior software, and my ignorance and put it where my mouth is. Will you?

[dissentowner]

Any day of the week. I am curious to see all the posters who rush to post the "Macs are lame" with a valid argument to back it up, one you still have not provided.

Here is a post for people who don't work in the music industry to see the flaws in both systems.
http://www.tweakheadz.com/Mac_vs_Pc_DAWS.htm

Yup, very curious to see arguments that a PC outperforms a Mac in any form of the art industry.

[Russic]

MOM AND DAD QUIT FIGHTING

ah mac vs. pc. Much like a religious argument nobody will have changed their opinions when the dust has settled. Unlike a religious argument at least both mac and pc actually exist *blasphemous rim-shot*.

I've been using macs and pcs for a couple years now and I can say that I MUCH prefer the mac. I'd heard for years about the differences and I found that people who generally had the same interests as me often preferred the mac, so I decided to see what the fuss was all about. Took me a real long time to figure out the quirks because there are many differences. I found many times I had a complaint, the problem was I had just failed to do a google search to figure out the mac equivalent (took me forever to learn how to take a screenshot). Now that I've become acustomed to it, I find I can generally get things done a little faster on the mac. To each his own though, what works for me won't work for everybody.

As for the comment about how the mac are supposed to be more intuitive, I think that comment is more suited for people who are generally new to computers. If you are extremely comfortable working a pc, the first time you sit down at a mac would probably be a very different experience than say, if my mom were to sit down at a mac. I don't want that remark to be taken as an "only noob idiots use macs", all I mean is that the various things many proclaim as intuitive on a mac can be hellish if you are already hard wired in the ways of the pc.

Pertaining to music, my experiences have been the absolute opposite of Traditional_Ale. I'm certainly not calling you a liar, just saying that my experiences have been completely different. I literally tried to set up a home recording area for 2 full years with my pc and I never was able to get anything working for longer than 15 minutes. The first time I brought a macbook home from work I was able to go crash-free for the first time. It's actually a principle reason I'm getting a mac for my own personal use (next week).

To the OP: If you work in IT and the people you need to help are using macs then I commend you for trying to get broaden your skills to other formats. It will ultimately boil down to personal preference. I don't understand the back-end stuff at all so I can't really be a authority on anything IT-related. I liked the idea of running windows on your mac. Best of both worlds imo.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Any day of the week. I am curious to see all the posters who rush to post the "Macs are lame" with a valid argument to back it up, one you still have not provided.

Haven't provided? Have you even read my posts?

Macs are lame because:

- They're over-priced. This is the biggest problem I have with them.
- They're too difficult for someone who isn't a computer nerd to put together.
- They seem to not like any software that was developed for PC first, and a lot of music software was.

So for someone like me who wants cheap power and would rather spend the extra money on instruments and software, isn't an uber-computer geek, and doesn't want to deal with installation hassles, PC for me.

Sorry you took the "Macs are lame" comment so personally. I can tell you're definitely a musician, but it was a stab at your rig, not at your music.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by Russic

MOM AND DAD QUIT FIGHTING

WHY!? HE STARTED IT!!! (lol...)

Pertaining to music, my experiences have been the absolute opposite of Traditional_Ale. I'm certainly not calling you a liar, just saying that my experiences have been completely different. I literally tried to set up a home recording area for 2 full years with my pc and I never was able to get anything working for longer than 15 minutes. The first time I brought a macbook home from work I was able to go crash-free for the first time. It's actually a principle reason I'm getting a mac for my own personal use (next week).

Traditionally the mac's have been used for media because as mentioned, they have specific hardware and specific software set up to optimize that, whereas Windows has been a bloated elephant for every configuration since 1985! But now that the average consumer desktop (when put together by the user) for even under $500 is more than adequate to handle any kind of multimedia I don't think it matters what platform you use.

I do want to point out that I have seen 24 tracks at 24-bit 48K go into a PII - 300mhz computer on 512mb ram. I found it especially impressive despite the time spent customizing the PC. A similar era stock Mac could not have done that.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Haven't provided? Have you even read my posts?

Macs are lame because:

- They're over-priced. This is the biggest problem I have with them.
- They're too difficult for someone who isn't a computer nerd to put together.
- They seem to not like any software that was developed for PC first, and a lot of music software was.

So for someone like me who wants cheap power and would rather spend the extra money on instruments and software, isn't an uber-computer geek, and doesn't want to deal with installation hassles, PC for me.

Sorry you took the "Macs are lame" comment so personally. I can tell you're definitely a musician, but it was a stab at your rig, not at your music.

I can see your argument and as I started on a PC you are absolutely right, if you are looking for a cheaper way to do things then a PC and Cubase are fine. My problem with PC's is the crashes and the fear of virus's ect..
Macs have dropped in price significantly although I love the fact for PC's you can build your own which I do fr my gaming machine as you will get no argument from me on that front, as a gaming console Macs are lame! Lack of titles is the main reason. However if you have a new Intel based Mac then you can run Windows and that eliminates that factor however in a gaming machine I want to be able to upgrade it constantly as games continue to develop so fast with so much more demand on hardware that you have to be able to upgrade constantly. Abyhow, to each their own, like the article I posted it argues for both sides.

[mac_gurl]

I'm a mac user. I'm a graphic designer, and this industry has been using macs forever. I've never completely wrecked this computer, or my home mac.
At home, we used to have a pc, and numerous times i had to reformat and install everything, due to deleting wrong files, or viruses. I got fed up and bought a mac at home, and have never had a problem with it! the fiance was a little hesitant at first, but now loves the mac. He just wishes there were more games available for it.

[WhiteTom]

I'm a little lost in all of this, is there any specific reason (other than to know how a Mac works) for a person to use a Mac in IT?

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by WhiteTom

I'm a little lost in all of this, is there any specific reason (other than to know how a Mac works) for a person to use a Mac in IT?

It depends on your job really.
Support: Only if people you are supporting are using Macs, then you would have to know how to support it.
Network Admin: Not sure if there are advantages of using a Mac over a PC.
Programmer: Depends on what you are programming. If its applications for a Mac, obviously you would want to use a Mac to develop on. Apps for windows, obvious choice is using a PC. Web Development, then it really comes down to the language you are using, and what you are comfortable in using.
If you are using .NET or Java, PC is probably the only choice (either running windows or Linux). If you are using Ruby on Rails or PHP or something like that, you may look into getting a Mac. There are lots of nice utilities available for these languages that are only available on a Mac.
If you are using Flex, again, you can use either or, it basically comes down to personal choice, and comfort.