How you computering?

[Moustache_Bash]

I see that Madoka Magica poster.

I see it

Homu is love Homu is life

Anime ruined my life.

[Disarm D'arcy]

Vanilla MacBook Pro, because Logic. Switched to an entry level MacBook in 2008. Got my MBP in 2013. Original MacBook died last summer from over heating and was running the latest version of the system, Logic X and Mainstage 3 fine etc... It maybe fixable but I don't have the time to look into it. So yeah, I'm not switching back anytime soon.

I was previously using Ubuntu. And it was pretty much impossible to make music on there.

My current setup is very much to my liking. Reliable, low maintenance, perfect for music and video and very stable with peripherals and plug-ins. And logic is a great AND cheap daw.

I have a cheap Chromebook for uni though, as I don't want to expose my prized music machine to the urban world. Impressive by all means, especially at that price point. Fast and stable, super affordable.

[odontophobia]

So that my French homeboy has some support...

Late 2013 21.5" iMac
2.9 GHz i5
8 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB GPU
1TB HD

Prior to this I had an Early 2008 20" iMac.
I was able to run Mavericks on it with Logic Pro X without much pause. Admittedly I wasn't loading it up with VSTs of any sort -- just using Logic in a pretty vanilla environment.

That being said, it took five and a half years for the computer to feel like it wasn't up to par for me. I'm not a big gamer (play mostly Blizzard games so GPU isn't as important).

I'm not really on the PC vs. Mac debate. I've had nothing but great success with my Apple products but I don't mind Windows and Linux at all.

[Disarm D'arcy]

Very similar overall experience.

I'm not really on the PC vs. Mac debate. I've had nothing but great success with my Apple products but I don't mind Windows and Linux at all.

I'm not either. I've found Apple products to be superior for audio and video editing, but I wouldn't be putting that kind of money on some piece of technology for "general convenience and prettyness" and recommend anyone does if it wasn't for that very reason.

[echoraven]

...I've never understood why Mac is starting to take over for music production though, they're hideously overpriced, have a generally more limited lifespan, and are a pain in the fucking arse to use...

If you have the ability to build your own desktop, then you have a skill far beyond most people (myself included) and are probably unable to relate why one would use a mac for music production. I retired my 1st generation G5 powermac after 10 years of service and probably a full restore would have kept her running but I wanted a new computer and for the life of me couldn't find the disks.

Yes they ARE overpriced AND I will add from the factory are woefully (and embarrassingly) have an inadequate amount of RAM. The purchase of my mac mini and the memory upgrade was simultaneous.

That being said, take a step back. With a PC Microsoft has to engineer a operating system that encompasses hundreds of PC manufacturers with hundreds of component suppliers and thousands of possible combinations, while Apple controls everything with an iron fist so the OS ends up being far more stable since there are far fewer variables involved.

As far as usability, my wife purchased her Windows 8 laptop close to the same time I purchased my mac mini. I plugged in my external drive and 2 seconds later the icon was on the desktop (the drive was PC formatted, I was not going to pay extra for the "made for mac" premium). On her PC laptop we plugged in the external HD that her old PC had and 45 minutes of research later could not get the computer to give ANY indication that it could see the hard drive, it took a trip to Best Buy to get it sorted out.

All that being said, if a person has enough technical ability to create music on a Windows machine, then they shouldn't pay the "mac premium". I can unpack a PC and that's about it.

Also if your not a content creator, nor an educator you shouldn't get a mac, unless all your friends have macs.

[odontophobia]

...I've never understood why Mac is starting to take over for music production though, they're hideously overpriced, have a generally more limited lifespan, and are a pain in the fucking arse to use...

If you have the ability to build your own desktop, then you have a skill far beyond most people (myself included) and are probably unable to relate why one would use a mac for music production. I retired my 1st generation G5 powermac after 10 years of service and probably a full restore would have kept her running but I wanted a new computer and for the life of me couldn't find the disks.

Yes they ARE overpriced AND I will add from the factory are woefully (and embarrassingly) have an inadequate amount of RAM. The purchase of my mac mini and the memory upgrade was simultaneous.

That being said, take a step back. With a PC Microsoft has to engineer a operating system that encompasses hundreds of PC manufacturers with hundreds of component suppliers and thousands of possible combinations, while Apple controls everything with an iron fist so the OS ends up being far more stable since there are far fewer variables involved.

As far as usability, my wife purchased her Windows 8 laptop close to the same time I purchased my mac mini. I plugged in my external drive and 2 seconds later the icon was on the desktop (the drive was PC formatted, I was not going to pay extra for the "made for mac" premium). On her PC laptop we plugged in the external HD that her old PC had and 45 minutes of research later could not get the computer to give ANY indication that it could see the hard drive, it took a trip to Best Buy to get it sorted out.

All that being said, if a person has enough technical ability to create music on a Windows machine, then they shouldn't pay the "mac premium". I can unpack a PC and that's about it.

Also if your not a content creator, nor an educator you shouldn't get a mac, unless all your friends have macs.

Bolded part is very important and part of the ease of use. The integration of iOS features and "likeness" with the OS (just like Windows aim with 8) seems to be going a long way in helping some new Apple folk but I usually set my stuff to some old defaults for my experience.

That said -- I usually have Windows installed on my iMac for some light gaming. If I were doing heavier gaming I'd be going with a different model.

At this stage it's done to buying a product that I'm very happy with. I could DIY a Big Muff, buy an EHX Big Muff or buy a really nice looking Big Muff made by a small builder who made some intelligent design tweaks based on what he likes. I can probably coax the same sound out of each pedal.

Obviously the parallel isn't perfect but it all boils down to preference. In the years I've spent using OS X I can tell you that as an operating system I much prefer it to Windows and while it is an expensive premium to place on a product I'll continue to pay it because I enjoy it the most. For the amount of time I spend on my computer I want to use something I like.

[Moustache_Bash]

While the nerds argue about what puter is better....

NSFW: show

My computer rulez. I love it, SSD is <3.