Imac Or Ibook For Music? Options

Well, maybe I just buy new PC (mean Windows-machine) then... But I would like to have a bullet proof comp, which doesn't crash every moment and accepts new hardware and software. But, thanks for answers! Gotta check this mac-thing again, when I really have the money, and re-consider the computer.

[boze]

i'm not saying the iBook or even the iMac isn't a good idea. all i'm saying is that 1) the landscape will be very different in six months, and 2) macs are elegant machines but it's wrong to understand them as being top notch for performance and it's misleading to suggest that they don't have hw and sw compatibility problems of their own.

[dixiechicken]

I beg differ on some points about "boze-s" expose.

(I've been a systemsadmin at our dept for 11years now, reponsible for some 275 computers, mixed environment 75%pc:s 25% mac:s & and a handful of *nix boxes - I have a bachelors degree in both Electrical engineering and in Computer science)
I spend almost all my time (85%) keeping the the pc-s up and running. With the mac:s and the *nix boxes
it is largely "set it & forget it".
( the last 15% is keeping our PC-servers up and running )

I think it's meaningless to talk bout the diffrences in specs. It doesnt really tell you shit.

Nowdays it's pretty easy to compare a PC with a Mac.
Keep it simple and sit down in front of two different computers and time the daily chores you usually do.
Open a word document.
Surf the web to your usual sites.
Open a Photoshop file - apply some filters to it.
Copy som files & folders over network & to another drive.

The normal things you excpect to use your computer for.
If the differences seem disturbing to you, it's time to consider specs or hardware issues.

to suggest that macs have an advantage in plug-and-play is pure conjecture

It's not, it is the plain truth. My experience backs this up.

i've plugged apple mice and kbds into my vaio laptop and had them pop up little 'installed and ready to use'

My various diskett drives, zipdrives ms-mouse, PowerShot S-50, Logitech usb-keyboard and so on pops right up in Mac OS-X panther 10.3.2, no extra drivers needed.

and mostly i think it's just folks parroting apples marketing campaign from four years ago

I t really is'nt very polite to imply that mac-lovers are brainwashed and incapable of forming rational decisions, based on rewieved facts.

Lets not forget about security issues - hackers and viruses.
These problems are almost nonexistent on a Mac.
On my iMac at home I dont even have an antivirus program installed, dont need it. ( beware YMMV )
A default installed win xp pc at my work usually get attacked by viruses directly after an install of the OS, somtimes it takes as long as 15 minutes.

If you dont stay on top of updates and security-patches in win-xp & win2k, you're dead meat. On a mac you really neednt worry.

Do a portscan on default installed Mac OS-X & a default installed PC-WinXP/Win2k. Notice how the pc is wide open on a respectable number of ports & protocols. The first versions of win xp even tried to communicate with my refrigerator - for crying out loud.

At long last - although I wouldnt dream of bying a pc for my OWN money the widescreen Compaq NX7000 notebook, my job bought for me, is rather nice as such things go.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

Well, have to take another look at the computer-thing at summer, but mac is still an option. I actually don't need SO much power, now I have AMD Athlon XP1800+ w/256mb DDR 266Mhz, and one 40gb HD. I can make my music with that. But because of the crappy soundcard (audigy), lack of memory, lack of HD, I really don't love my computer. And also, it's very loud. So what do you think, how powerful is, let's say 1Ghz G4 (w/ ½ or 1 gb RAM) to my computer? If it's something like my current computer, I think the power is enough for me. I just want (enough) power, stability, and clean sound (which my current ammount of RAM and soundcard doesn't really offer).

[boze]

unless i'm misunderstanding the post, i think he's just buying one computer and not 275, dixie. how much time you spend keeping your office happy is almost completely irrelevant as are your degrees. no offense, but we're not talking about sysadmin stuff, we're talking about running a single computer in your home to do audio. what percentage of those 275 machines are macs? how many of the 275 comps are audio workstations? how much did they cost? how many vsti's can they run? that would be more on topic i think...

if specs don't tell you _anything (telling me about polite? try not to use obscenities on the board please- should i have to tell this to a moderator?) then you are arguing with the world and not me. a machine running a P4 at clock speeds over 2.4ghz is going to outperform an iMac or an iBook with a G4 under 1ghz for audio apps. try to keep in mind that the poster is asking about a single machine for use as an audio workstation.

frankly, your whole response is off topic. i'm telling petronome that there are more similiarities than differences with what kind of things you can do and what kind of experience you'll have buying a new computer because like many ppl he seems to have come to this board thinking an apple purchase is the only way to find success doing audio. folks think because macs are so popular that they are _better for doing audio, when the fairest thing to say is that they are different. i'm pointing out some of those differences and letting him know that the whole landscape will change by the time he's going to buy.

why not say something helpful to the pentronome instead of the same old boogyman talk about virus's and software updates that xp machines do automatically anyhow. or better still, why not show me some benchmarks of an 800mhz G4 outperforming a 2.4ghz P4 for audio tracks, plugins, vst instruments or something.

petronome: if you decide to get an xp machine again be sure to use the system updates that it alerts you about online as most of them are security patches and also install a basic antivirus program (these update themselves automatically as well).

[dixiechicken]

Boze!

No offense meant - none taken.
I quite agree with you that the similarities out-weighs the differences.

But at home everyone ( that owns a computer ) is forced to some degree to play the sysadmin for at least one computer. Unless of course he/she happens know some knowledgeable person like you, - he/she can persuade to to help out.
Time counts even at home.

In the end your computer is simply a tool to get a specific task done. You choose the one/s that suits your way of working, the ones you feel comfortable with.
I believe creativity and workflow to be all important, I hope your tools of choice helps you out in this respect.

Petronome:
if you decide to go the windows route, be sure to follow Boze:s advise on system updates and the antivirus program. Configure the antivirus program to do daily updates.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

[boze]

amen to that-
i seem to catch a lot of heat at this board for ever comparing mac and pc hardware offerings, but i thought it was important to bring it up in this instance.

i feel like folks who have used windows and are about to get their first mac generally feel like it's going to fix things for them and let them do what they want to do creatively. while i think this image that mac has earned for itself with savvy development over the years does make it look like apple is _the place to be for audio/video, i think it's worth stating sometimes that it just isn't true. i just saw a great music video composed by a really down to earth friend and he did the whole thing on a dell laptop with all pc sw and little avi's from his digital camera. when ppl act like 'creative people find the mac to be better for that sort of thing' and i just have to let folks know that a 2.5ghz P4 or something like that is a real asset for doing audio and video.

this whole thing will be easier to manage when the G5s are a bit cheaper and available in laptops and desktops and iMacs. if G5s were around to compete with the average Toshiba $1300 laptop then the only complaint I'd have left is the goofy OSX finder.

--- this next part is off topic, just a bit of background info on my mac/pc experiences...

my mother and stepfather tried and failed to switch this past year. they got a G4 iMac and little idiosyncracies in OSX just kept screwing them up. try to maximize a window for example- doesn't work, you just have to get used to overlapping windows that don't go full screen without help and learn to use expose.

my mom was mousing down the bottom of the screen and the dock pops up and by accident she drags something off it and it disappears in a puff of smoke. apple used to be the computer for ppl who aren't computer people and that's so not true anymore... you should have seen her. she'd try to resize a window and it was quite an awakenging for me-- i was like, 'um.. you have to drag it by the bottom right corner.... um no, they don't really go fullscreen.. um.. yeah that's Column View.. no, it always jumps sideways like that... no the dock can't have it's own part of the screen sorry. well, no you can't just save as that file there just by clicking on it.. you have to type the name in again. yeah, i don't know why they didn't think of that....'

i really don't think these things are just a question of relearning something, i think they are examples of bad UI design and i think many mac ppl are unwilling to say stuff like that. worse, there's usually an appologist around to post after me about how the OSX finder is the best finder ever and it's just a little different in some ways but he's way more productive blah blah blah.

anyway- sorry for the OT.

thaks for staying coolheaded dixie, i appreciate it.

[dmrkh]

There's a line in "A Course In Miracles" that reads "You can be right, or you can be happy." Dixie, you ARE cool.

[boze]

he's not that cool really- you're just catching him at a finer moment +)

[dmrkh]