Going from Mac back to PC

[bhb]

I have a Power Mac G5 and I love it. Ok,I wish it could run Fruity Loops, but that's Image Line's fault I guess. Long story short,I now need a computer with an intel processor. I can't upgrade from Reason 4 without it. I can't upgrade from Pro Tools 7 to 10. I can't use various new plug ins. I feel like I have a Mercedes with low milage but fuel companies have stopped producing gasoline.Get a MacPro?Have you seen the prices? I can't get a MacPro + crossgrades on my budget.This leads me to my next option and question. Are the new PCs with the Intel I-7 processors and TB hd and 6+gb of memory just as good as a Mac for music production and recording? I like the sound I have and don't want it to change. Will I notice any difference in workflow? Sound quality? I have a friend who says music produced on a Mac sounds better.Will I have to change the fans on the PC for quieter fans? I read on here where a member said that software companies don't make 64bit software with 64bit Windows in mind. Can I get some facts?

[krushing]

Macs nowadays are PCs with a different operating system, so the only real difference is the OS.

[CPhoenix]

Quality wise? same thing. Once you're working in the DAW.... no difference whatsoever. Same program.

Operating system wise? I have friends w/ MACs who are able to do things system wise so much easier than I could do on a PC. Like that multiple screens thing. But this has nothing to do with audio and your DAW.

[A_Eberts]

You can build yourself a nice pc for 800 bucks and install windows and mac osx on it. Like Krushing already said...Macs are pc's these days....quality wise. You pay only for the design and the Os.

tonymacx86 Blog: CustoMac

[Ave.]

You thought about getting a Mac Mini? They are good little computers. It has the same power as imac and you can hook it up to any screen that has a HDMI (your flatscreen, or PC monitor, etc) the new mac minis even have thunderbolt inputs... I think you can get one for 599$ and then they go up to 799$ . I just got a new imac and when its time for me to upgrade im getting a Mac Mini .... Mac mini - Buy Mac mini desktop computers - Apple Store (U.S.)

[logic7]

Quality wise? same thing. Once you're working in the DAW.... no difference whatsoever. Same program.

Operating system wise? I have friends w/ MACs who are able to do things system wise so much easier than I could do on a PC. Like that multiple screens thing. But this has nothing to do with audio and your DAW.

I"ve been doing multiple screens since Win98SE. It was pretty brain-dead simple back then and easier now with video cards that support multiple monitors out of the box (back then we didn't have this, you had you use a second card from a very narrow list that microsoft supported. I happened to have had two on the list back then).

[bhb]

Everybody's reply has been helpful. My biggest concern was would I loose any sound quality. I'm only hooking it up to the internet for upgrades therefore I'm not really concerned about viruses (but I will still run I virus protector).As far as building my own pc,I have seen some pretty good built pcs out there in the $800 range.
I'm looking at the Intel I-7 processors. I'm starting to believe that Macs are like Starbucks coffee. It's good but not better any than it's competitors but people like to be seen with it because it says"hey,I got money to spare". People also believe that if they spend more then it ABSOLUTELY must be better.

[logic7]

Everybody's reply has been helpful. My biggest concern was would I loose any sound quality. I'm only hooking it up to the internet for upgrades therefore I'm not really concerned about viruses (but I will still run I virus protector).As far as building my own pc,I have seen some pretty good built pcs out there in the $800 range.
I'm looking at the Intel I-7 processors. I'm starting to believe that Macs are like Starbucks coffee. It's good but not better any than it's competitors but people like to be seen with it because it says"hey,I got money to spare". People also believe that if they spend more then it ABSOLUTELY must be better.

how could you possibly lose sound quality?

Assuming you're still going to use the same PT interface you have now with 10 and going to continue using Reason, there should be no difference in sound quality. Both PT and Reason are cross platform. They're going to have the same audio algorithms in use whether on OSX or Windows and you're using the same hardware to translate that to analog audio.

[JeanLukPigheart]

There is no sound-quality loss possible.
As far as robustness of the drivers and such goes, Win 7 as it is now is more stable than the latest OS Xs.

Top range Win PCs are as expensive as mid-range Macs, but outperform them by lightyears (due to better hardware you can get for the same price).

If you don't go super-cheap on the hardware (the first sign is BOTH worse hardware AND drivers), you will get a much more stable and cheaper system.

In the mid-90s, we were forced to work on Macs, by the end of the 90s, they were still much better, Win PCs kinda caught up with Win 98 SP2, got worse with ME and Vista (horrible).

Win7 is by far the best and most stable system I've worked on so far.
Like I said, unless you go with cheap hardware and drivers, you will be positively surprised.

In many countries, Apples license agreement is against the law, so building your own Hackintosh with a bought OS X license is legal.
But once you switch to Win 7 and set up a nice system, you won't look back.

---------- Post added at 11:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 AM ----------

I have a friend who says music produced on a Mac sounds better.

He obviously has no idea what he is talking about.
It's like saying that a "K" written on a Mac is a better "K" that I wrote on this Linux machine here. LOL Complete nonsense.

Will I have to change the fans on the PC for quieter fans?

The Macs my friends used over the years ALWAYS had noise problems.
I have a sound-proof case and a i7 system. No noise or any sound AT ALL.

I read on here where a member said that software companies don't make 64bit software with 64bit Windows in mind. Can I get some facts?

The FACTS are, that there is more software that is Win-exclusive, than there is software which is Mac-exclusive. Most of the plug ins/DAWs/software in general these days is written for 64bit systems and utilizes the 64bit structure. There are still SOME companies which didn't switch, but as you've already guessed, it doesn't matter if OS X or Win. When it's STILL in 32bit, it's still in 32bit on both platforms.

So no, this theory makes no sense either. Most of the PC software I bought is in the 64bit format.

[bhb]

how could you possibly lose sound quality?

Assuming you're still going to use the same PT interface you have now with 10 and going to continue using Reason, there should be no difference in sound quality. Both PT and Reason are cross platform. They're going to have the same audio algorithms in use whether on OSX or Windows and you're using the same hardware to translate that to analog audio.

That's exactly what I was thinking but a friend of mine said that his Mac set up sounds better than his PC set up. There's a few reasons why I think this COULD be true but I didn't bring it up to him.
I have been messing with music for...wellllllll let's just say my 1st. drum machine was a DR550. My 2ed was a Roland R8. My 1st DAW was Fruity Loops 3. As far as I go back I will ALWAYS consider myself to be a noobie. The reason why is that you NEVER stop learning! I am always willing to listen to opinions from season vets as well as guys new in the game, then filter it all to find what's real or what I didn't know. That's why I love this site because we all mostly leave our egos at the door and help each other build.