I was looking to get a good laptop for music production and video editing.Someone is offering me a second hand Macbook M2 2023 edition at a really decent price, on the other hand I also have my eyes on a laptop with Ryzen 7 5835u processor that is available at a cheaper price.I have never worked on a macbook before and I have been told that it is possible to install windows 11 on Macbook M2 with Parallels.Now, I am a little confused because on Windows system I can try software(thanks to the sister site) before buying without any compatibility issues, however, I am not sure if I can do the same with Parallels windows installation as ARM compatible software is required for running on it.I am seeking advice from members using the Windows 11 with Parallels on a Macbook M series processor;what kind of experience did you have?Which device should I go with?

 

If you need to use windows softwares for video/audio ... forget about Mac M.

Yes, you (may) run them into virtual machine.
BUT you will loose TWICE :
-virtual machine level (Parallels)
-conversion from X64 apps to ARM (because win ARM emulate X64)

Two emulations stacked ... pure nightmare for performances, especially latency for audio.
YES, you can run Excel or any light Windows software that way.
BUT you will never run any serious video / audio X64 win app with double emulation.

So the question is : do you need Win x64 softwares ?

 

https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare/apple-m2-vs-amd-ryzen-7-5825u

The M2 chip outperforms the Ryzen chip in almost all metrics. Not to mention that Ryzen chip is a Zen 2 chip - 58(2)5u.

If performance per watt, battery life, sheer power, and quality touchpad/screen is what you need, the Mac is the way to go.

If you simply need something that is going to run windows software, the Ryzen laptop is the way to go.

I hate Apple, but they make damn good laptops with their M series chips. Too bad they're so overpriced.

Because you know the person you're buying the MacBook from, you also have a better idea of how the device was taken care of so that's a bonus too.

 

If you've worked with Windows so far and have been comfortable with it, you should stick with Windows. Modern Ryzen CPUs are on par with Macs. Windows and Ryzen are cheaper than Apple—they always have been and will remain so.

Stick with what you know, and why bother with two operating systems just because a friend made you a tempting offer? There's also a lot more and cheaper software available for Windows because Windows users are in the majority.

 

Really valid points dear.I guess I would take the Ryzen path...

You got me there, I was really tempted by his offer

 

Try to get a faster AMD Ryzen, the base clock speed should be at least 3.3 to 3.4 GHz if possible.

 

As PulseWave mentioned, you should aim for a better Ryzen chip if you want performance similar to the M2 mac.

The problem is that we're comparing a Zen 2 Ryzen CPU and an M2 Apple CPU in this case.

If you were comparing a high end 7000-9000 series Ryzen chip to the M2, I would be more split in terms of what I think is best. The newer Ryzen chips are more energy efficient (so better battery life which is more similar to Apple chips), and also have better integrated graphics which will be good for video work.

What is the model of the Ryzen laptop you're looking at? That makes a HUGE difference in terms of port selection and quality of components like screen, touchpad, etc.

Does the Ryzen laptop have any upgradeable components? (SSD, RAM, WiFi Module)

Also, are you going to be working on the go, or more of a laptop/desktop setup at home? These 5000 series Ryzen chips have a much different power envelope when working on battery power vs. plugged in to an outlet.

If your software is both macOS and Windows compatible, you are going to get better performance on the Apple laptop between these 2 options.

 

As PulseWave said, stick with whatever you know; I am using windows since i first touched a keyboard; bought an intel macbook a few years ago for cheap; yes, its smooth, its nice, its different, etc... i played with it for the first week and since then its gathering dust; i still catch myself trying to use it and but it really is just a toy for me.

Edit: And... trying to work with emulation is close to impossible (for me that is)

 

Go with the ryzen, I've had 2x M2 MacBook's and ended up being terrible for music production, worked great at first then no matter if I froze tracks or not it was constantly crashing on ableton, reaper and logic. I'm back to windows with no problems at all

 

neither of those. stick with windows , any new ryzen 7 will do the job. especially that you never used a mac/macos, you'll save yourself from endless frustration

 

Why would you buy a Mac to even think about Windows? Don't buy the Mac. You can get some more OS reinstallation practice that way.

 

That sounds more like an audio driver, plugin, or hardware issue if all 3 daws "constantly crash".

I use 3 (one is a hackintosh, 1 is an M1) macs and 2 windows 10 PCs for professional work, Ableton, Logic, Reaper, Davinci Resolve with complex audio aggregate devices and have never had consistent DAW crashing issues that I havent been able to figure out on either platform.

Ironically, Windows 10 has had more crashes than macOS even on my hackintosh (Ironically considering I built my own EFI with minimal experience). In college we only used Macs and we never had a crash while working. I think my windows crashes may have to do with my shitty ASUS TUF mobo.

Your experience is definitely not the norm. Sometimes software gives you crash reports that you can analyze. This is definitely not a "macbook terrible, windows laptop good" case.

Edit: Oh lmao, that's your first post on AS. Yeah imma take that post with a heaping mound of salt.

 

Depends on what you're doing on the computer. I didn't find the transition from macOS to Windows difficult. Obviously it helps to have some technical knowledge, or ability to troubleshoot, but I'm not that smrat and it wasn't hard.