I'm bored with hearing how much better a Mac is...

[Brittanylips]

Originally posted by 4-Dak Recorder:

P,L,B

Have you taken Walters place???

I figure every good Mac vs. PC thread deserves a little Waltering up.

 

-P,L,B

[theblue1]

Originally posted by Brittanylips:

Originally posted by theblue1:

I'm just saying that people who insist that their approach, whatever it is, no matter what its merits, is the best answer for everyone are not just annoying to the rest of us -- but they set themselves up to look like fools, as the platform evangelists in teh dri's story did.

 

So you're saying that since Macs are not just better than PCs, but are no longer more expensive than PCs, everyone should buy Macs?

 

-Peace, Love, and Brittanylips

You seem to have some significant problems understanding plain English.

 

Perhaps a remedial reading comprehension course would be helpful.

 

Have a nice Sunday.

[Jotown]

That anyone is debating this topic in 2005 is just hysterical.

 

It is all very amusing to me.

[Geoff Grace]

As a keyboard player, it never occurred to me to decide that (as an arbitrary example) E-mu has the best OS so I'll only buy E-mu products.

 

Even though I've always solely been a Mac user, I hope to own a PC someday as well. Of course, as cheap as PCs are, buying all of the software and libraries I'd hope to use with one is still a pretty expensive proposition for something that would be mostly redundant to what I already have with my Mac. So, for now I'll wait until I have a compelling reason to add a PC to my arsenal.

 

As for the evangelist issue, I'm proud of the growth I've witnessed here over the years in our tolerance and acceptance of each other's choice of platforms and software. Compare and contrast this thread to one from four years ago, and the difference is obvious.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[theblue1]

Originally posted by Jotown:

That anyone is debating this topic in 2005 is just hysterical.

 

It is all very amusing to me.

Well, I don't often find much new information in these 'debates' -- although I often read a fair amount of misinformation and occasionally some disinformation.

 

Around 5 years ago the ADAT's I was using as 8 channel converters in the DAW system I put together in '96 started going south and I found myself looking at replacing them, so, being a big believer in the notion that the unexamined life is not worth living, I looked into all the alternatives -- different hardware, different software, different OS's.

 

One of the first things I found was that the Mac OS (before Panther) had no dedicated support for multichannel audio or MIDI, or support for a standardized plug-in API. Yes, there were a number of applications that offered multichannel audio and MIDI -- but they relied on proprietary, often idiosyncratic software that the developers had to create themselves -- or on the OMS system, which, when Opcode left the PC music business, was orphaned. (And, of course, there was little or no interoperability. Even now the AudioUnits plug standard is still being ironed out. Even Apple's own Logic doesn't support it completely.)

 

By contrast, all those features were in place in Windows as far back as '96 and Apple had to play a furious game of catch-up over the last few years to implement the same types of functionalities and potential interoperability in the last 3 versions of OS X.

 

 

Anyway, as I learned more about the Mac OS, I realized how much misinformation there was out there -- and how many Mac users themselves had only the vaguest grasp of their platform's actual performance and capabilities. (I must have heard a thousand times that Mac's were better for MIDI -- and in the old days of Windows 3.x, that was certainly true, due to imprecise system clocking issues. But after the new multichannel audio and MIDI layers were added into Windows 95, tests revealed that even a lowly Soundblaster Live could turn in MIDI latency in the 3 ms range -- whereas Mac MIDI latency prior to the inclusion of a system level MIDI functionality (in Panther, as I recall) was closer to 9-10 ms on up. (Now, OTOH, OS X offeres the potential for MIDI latency under 1 ms, hardware and interfaces permitting.)

 

I was amazed by what I -- and more than a few of the Mac evangelists I'd been evangleized by -- didn't know.

 

 

So, no, I don't learn much in these debates. As I said, many partisans (on either or any side) are often misinformed.

 

But I do learn an enormous amount by reading the Mac press, which I now do often.

 

And since I've been getting my information first hand from reliable technical sources, I'm less inclined than ever to switch 'sides.'

 

That's not to say that I'm not genuinely impressed by the hardware and software -- Apple has made enormous advances in the last 5-7 years.

 

 

As I said in a post above, I certainly would not try to talk a satisfied Mac user into switching. Whatever the specific plusses and minusses of either platform, it seems clear to me that either is entirely capable of doing an excellent job at audio production these days.

 

But, reading the Mac press (and having spent some 'quality' time with a G4 Powerbook some months ago and comparing it to my much less expensive Dell notebook) I'm now much less likely than ever to "switch."

 

As I said above -- we're all better served by an environment with (at least) two healthy, progressive production platforms.

 

Again: Vive le difference.

 

[theblue1]

Originally posted by Geoff Grace:

As a keyboard player, it never occurred to me to decide that (as an arbitrary example) E-mu has the best OS so I'll only buy E-mu products.

 

Even though I've always solely been a Mac user, I hope to own a PC someday as well. Of course, as cheap as PCs are, buying all of the software and libraries I'd hope to use with one is still a pretty expensive proposition for something that would be mostly redundant to what I already have with my Mac. So, for now I'll wait until I have a compelling reason to add a PC to my arsenal.

 

As for the evangelist issue, I'm proud of the growth I've witnessed here over the years in our tolerance and acceptance of each other's choice of platforms and software. Compare and contrast this thread to one from four years ago, and the difference is obvious.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

Well said, Geoff.

[Jokerelli]

What is the saying? "A poor worker always blames his tools."

 

Something like that.

[theblue1]

Well, at least most of us here are trying to brag about our tools. Now, what that says about us all...

 

 

Er... our recording tools, that is.

 

I think.

 

[Brittanylips]

Originally posted by theblue1:

You seem to have some significant problems understanding plain English.

 

Perhaps a remedial reading comprehension course would be helpful.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

As I understand it, you have been saying that Macs are generally better than PCs since a single company leverages its co-development of hardware and software. However, you have also stated that the Apple advantage is not without a premium: Macs are a little more money, or at least have been until recently. Therefore, if I'm following you, and please correct me if I'm wrong, you are now saying that everyone should buy Macs rather than PCs in all circumstances.

 

Again, sorry if my earlier misunderstanding caused any confusion on the board.

 

-Peace, Love, and Brittanylips

[theblue1]

Ha ha.