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!

I'm with you guys. 

I absolutely hate Outer Mongolia. [S]

http://www.dawbench.com/win7-v-osx-6.htm

@jasensmith 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?

@DG said:

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.

Thanks for noticing that, DG.  That is exactly why I used the subject line I did.  I thought "PC" would be enough to exclude talk about Macs.  There's not all that much of a discussion to be had about what Mac to buy for audio, they make the choice for you.  My concern, because I like the Windows environment better, is that there are a TREMENDOUS number of choices one can make in purchasing an audio PC.

I actually don't dislike Macs, I dislike the attitude and message coming from their advertising department.  I have 6 PCs in my house (laptops and desktops) and one Mac which we keep in the main living space for Internet contact and skyping.  So when I'm working I use a PC, when I am playing I use a mac.

Michael

@jasensmith 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?

That is a breath of fresh air. 

I realized there is no point whatsoever in discussing it.  Make a point, don't make a point, it is absolutely the same here.  No reason to say anything, to prove anything, it makes no difference.   This is the internet.  EVerything is equal.  All people are equal.  All ideas are equally valid.  Everyone is correct.  Young composers are the only ones worth listening to.  Bernard Herrmann should be not praised too much.  Hans Zimmer should not be criticized because everyone loves him.  Cyril has the biggest computer.   Have a nice day. 

William !

What do you want to say of somebody that compare an Personnal computer that has a I7 processor to one that has 2 x XEON (WINDOWS or MAC) !!! That he does not know what he is talking about, and this beeing VERY polite 

What do you want to say of somebody that say that SSD does not help !!! That he speak rubbish, and this beeing VERY polite 

It's like comparing a 409 Peugot with a Ferrari 

Another point, if the programmer that has program the apps does not know all the trick of the OS, the program will be unresponsive and slow.

An exemple :VSL re-wrote the loading of the samples in the MAC OS X version, now my template of 59 GB loads in 1:40 mn instead of 40 minutes  when it was 32 GB !!!

CONCLUSION OF THIS THREAD :

IF YOU LIKE YOUR WINDOW'S PC, KEEP IT

IF YOU LIKE YOUR MAC, KEEP IT

PEACE 

I'm on Cyrils side totally.

Any guy that has a description of his computer set up that is usually longer than his posts - has my backing every time!

Go Cyril!! [C]