The only way to compare two computer is to compare their performance not necessarily what they have in them.

My PC has an 8 core i7, with 24Gb of triple DDR3 memory, with  three Western Digital Cavier black drives (6TB), silent cooling fans and running a pair of 1920 x1200 monitors. With this I run upto 3 instances of VE Pro, with typically around 20 to 30 libraries, mainly VSL, some EW and Kontakt and BFD as well, most of my VSL instances have 9 to 12 articulations loaded ready to go - and it all runs together (all through MIR as well), and not only that,  but I often have Sibelius loaded as well with it's memory hungry library (and that has Vienna Convolution reverb running as well)..

It has never ran out of memory or glitched at all, it is ran as a slave PC, my other PC runs Cubase via VE Pro.  So this PC is more than powerful enough to run anything I throw at it, and I do use big full very active orchestrations.

You don't need Xeon processors, SSD drives, use RAID configs, or waste money on Macs (or branded PC's) to have a very powerfull flawless computer.  My working PC is proof of that.

You cannot compare a PC with an I7 and with 2 x 6 core Xeon.

Give your adress I wil send you a file to test With MIR in 7.1

I bet a beer that you cannot play and bounce this song on a single i7

I forgot to say, I run on my two Xeon 12 core 64 GB :  Logic with 1 omnisphere and 2 K4 + one VE that has 97 VI + 3 input with MIR in 7.1

All VI are loaded with preset level 2 !!

I do not use my 8 core !

Astro, you will find that ADK support is excellent, and will work with you to make sure a problem is fixed should one occur.  I have used them for a number of years, and they are a great company.

For me, it has been very worthwhile to pay a bit more for their expertise rather than buy a generic PC box or a computer from that company with a logo of a fruit with a bite taken out of it.  I recently did something by accident to mess up my VSL setup, and ADK helped me to get back up and running again.  That specific type of support is not something Dell, HP, Apple, or any other generic computer maker offers.

@noldar12 said:

  I recently did something by accident to mess up my VSL setup, and ADK helped me to get back up and running again.  That specific type of support is not something Dell, HP, Apple, or any other generic computer maker offers.

If you have a VSL problem, you are getting very good support from VSL.

If you mess up something in VSL, on Mac you just need to re-install VE and VI !!!

@Cyril said:

You cannot compare a PC with an I7 and with 2 x 6 core Xeon.

Give your adress I wil send you a file to test With MIR in 7.1

I bet a beer that you cannot play and bounce this song on a single i7

 Yes you can compare these two system, because my system works absolutely perfectly with all my full orchestra arrangements, it is widely known and accepted that Macs do not deal with assigning cores as well as PC's do, Macs do not run Cubase very well, some companies like East West even go as far as to suggest Macs are not suitable for some of their libraries, and I believe it has been stated on this forurm that PC's handle VE Pro better as well.

It's time to face reality Cyril,  OSX just doesn't make use of it's hardware well, and in the real world of using music based software, a PC is so much more effective, both in terms of performance and cost.

I don't particularily like Microsoft, and I don't think any company should own the majority of the worlds operating systems, but until something can challenge it (be it OSX or Unix), a windows 7 PC is the most logical decision.

Hey - just had a thought! 

Do any of you guys carry a gun?  [:$]

 It's OK, theres a big river between us  (known as the English Channel)

The bottom line here seems to be that PCs have become every bit as strong and reliable as Macs, but cost a lot less and, due to the fact that you can do many upgrades your self, they have a far longer "planned obsolescence" period.  In my estimation, the PC wins the game.  I believe Apple will win in the "cool gadget" game, but computers become very personal, just like an instrument, to composers.  One size does NOT fit all.

Mike

Yes, Apple seems to now be specializing in consumer gadgets more than computers per se.

@Cyril said:

You cannot compare a PC with an I7 and with 2 x 6 core Xeon.

Give your adress I wil send you a file to test With MIR in 7.1

I bet a beer that you cannot play and bounce this song on a single i7

 Yes you can compare these two system, 

You dont know what you are talking about !!!! you are just talking rubbish !!

Go on the Intel site  to see the difference between a I7 and a XEON !!!

You have a very little template, mine is 97 VI loaded with Level II preset + 3 inputs  and I use MIR PRO 7.1 and I only use 59 % of CPU load 

Give me your email I will send you the midi file, 

@Astro said:

The bottom line here seems to be that PCs have become every bit as strong and reliable as Macs, but cost a lot less 

NO READ BEFORE YOU CANNOT COMPARE A I7 to a XEON processor, XEON proc are costing 1500 $ each and in a Macpro 12 core there are 2 

Well not to join in on the 'Dog Pile on Cyril' game here I'll just say that I've used both systems and, for handing sample libraries, the PC always seemed to work better at a lower cost.  I used to compose Pop and Electronic styles and back then, five to ten years ago, Macs were the industry standard.  In fact, they pretty much still are in Pop, Rock, and Electronic genres.  If you go into any modern recording studio these days I bet they probably have the latest Mac(s) running.  I read a lot of the trade magazines and they always have interviews with some young up and coming Pop Music producer.  These kids go on and on about how Logic is best thing to come out since toilet paper.  I don't think I've read a single interview where somebody said anything nice about PCs.  In fact, they don't talk much at all about PCs as if they don't even exist.  That has always irritated me about the Mac elitists.     

However, I used to do film editing and the software we used (Avid, Final Cut) were Mac based and they ran very well with multiple things going on at the same time.  Very well indeed.  The PC, with Adobe Premier (Adobe CS3 at the time) was very buggy.  It constantly crashed and it was a pain in a$$ to get anything done with.  BUT  when the Mac did crash it was usually a devestating and catastrophic disaster.  I'm talking we had to wipe drives and reload everything from scratch.  And, I'm sorry to say Cyril, our calls to Apple support were routed through Bangladesh or Outer Mongolia somewhere.

Say Vibrato, (Tanuj) if you're reading this do you own a Mac?  I know you live in India so I was just wondering when you call Apple support do you get some guy in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA or Cork, Ireland or something?  Funny how that works isn't it.

In the end, arguing about performance thresholds for Macs and PC's on Internet forums is a lot like competing in the Special Olympics.  Even if you win you're still retarded.  So why bother?

Oh BTW PaulR,

I own a P2000 40 calibre.  And I'm a pretty good shot with it too. 

 Yes,  I am going to retire from this thread,  I think it has ran it's course.

I use my PC everyday, it just always works, what more proof of a successful system than that can you have.

It is a mistake to judge something's quality by it's price, some do, and Apple make a business out of that.

I don't really know why people are getting so involved talking about Apple. I thought that this thread was about getting a good PC. Apple makes good PCs, but they don't necessarily use the best components, and in any case, to get the best performance you would have to use Windows, not OSX, so it seems rather a moot point.

I do think that the Mac Mini is a good machine, for what it is, but certainly not suitable as a main DAW machine, IMO.

DG

@jasensmith said:

Oh BTW PaulR,

I own a P2000 40 calibre.  And I'm a pretty good shot with it too. 

See - this is what makes me jealous about America. We British actually create the USA and then we're not allowed to have guns! It's ridiculous.

but in the meantime......

CYRIL!!!! HE DOESN'T KNOW!!! IL NE SAIS PAS!!! IL SAIS JAMAIS!!!  KIILL!!!!!!!

Edit: Apple don't make PC's. Ahemmmmm.

al this talking is BLA BLA BLA as we say in french

I Propose to do a real bench mark to ompare the same song on PC and MAC !!!

@Another User said:

In the end, arguing about performance thresholds for Macs and PC's on Internet forums is a lot like competing in the Special Olympics.  Even if you win you're still retarded.  So why bother?

I'm not sure how this relates to this thread, but it's a beautiful quote to remember for anyone trying desperately to achieve the best possible realism of the dreaded and so venerated spewccati!

I know that all of you guys know the insides of your computers much better than I do, and I know that in the end for a professional what counts is the end product (the computer being merely the tool), but I just cannot work with something as painfully ugly in front of me as any Windows incarnation (and the awful workflow). Even if Apple stops making computers and focuses entirely on iSkateboards and I'm forced to have a monster PC clunking, crunching numbers invisible under my desk, I'd still like to route it all back to a Mac terminal, even if it is my MacPlus - still a lot better looking GUI than Windows 7 or the pictures of 8.

And I don't understand something. Mac OS X is a Unix based system; shouldn't it be better than all Windows (DOS so far, right?) by default?

(sigh) Only the French understand elegance... Way to go Cyril!