I know this is not a debate Mac vs PC but a few things have to be stated.

Absolutely right. MacOS was and still is the most user friendly os. On the other hand, with Windows you get to choose which app you will install to do this (and other tasks as well), but yes it is something that should be built in. My suggestion, if it hasn't popped up in your radar, is Treesize Pro, here's the creator's address: https://www.jam-software.com/treesize/
Personally, i do miss tagging with colour bars the filenames in folders. It makes it much easier to view contents of ie. wav folders etc. , and i have yet to find something similar in Windows.

You mean your pc that runs MacOS ... The only real proprietary tech on your machine is the software ...

Quite the hoax this one mate. What durability, you ever threw any booze on a mac laptop or have it fall from your performing desk ? I dare you to do so hehehe... A rugged pc laptop can beat any Apple laptop in terms of what "accidental disasters" it can survive. And don't take my word for it, if it was really an enduring machine you would see the army using it. But they 're not, are they?
What sets apart Macs for live applications, is one word: Stability. The way the OS handles external gear like USB peripherals, it is rock solid. IE: Too many times a Win laptop failed/stopped communicating with a usb soundcard or a usb controller in the middle of a live session. MacOS just doesn't do this, it is simply more reliable, and i will not get into technical details as to why this happens. Some other time maybe. If the external device works, it will keep working, no bad surprises there unless the laptop itself has a hardware problem or the OS is fkd up by the user.
In the studio though, i prefer Windows machines because of the more open end of the architecture. I do plan in giving an overview as to why sometime later, if people want to that is. Usually nobody cares lol.

No doubt the DAWs run ok. But then you try to run Serum or Diva etc, and your Core2 Duo cpu goes 95% if not crash and die lol. So much for fluency. As stated, modern Macs are just pcs running MacOs. No doubt they look beautiful...

For me and many others, Hackintosh is the way to go if a user wants a powerful machine that runs MacOS with less restrictions and less money than an Apple branded pc. With that said, you need a higher level of expertise to build it, or find someone who can. But you can have Windows too there as well and no Apple will tell you which graphics card or hard disk/ssd you will choose to work with.
Just remember APFS (High Sierra and forward) doesn't work well with spinning hard drives when you use them for editing audio or video etc. For those the older HFS+ is mandatory.

All the best

PS: @the OP. Ask yourself why you want MacOS. For instance, if its Logic Pro you want, then you are 100% justified to make the leap. Cheers.

 

Last edited: Sep 30, 2019

agree with taskforce ^^... I have nothing against windows or other os's, but I have been using Macs for 30 years. I have had many, but amazingly I just realized that my mid 2009 MacPro cheese grater just turned 10 years old and I am still using it daily, and sure, over the years I have added multiple SSD's, upped the ram, added usb 3, flashed it to 5,1.... haven't swapped out processors yet, but it has been just fine with most tasks I have thrown at it... I have had 140+ track sessions with plugins and whatnot and it chugs along just fine. Wish I could use thunderbolt on it, but not possible, but still, it has represented tremendous value over a decade without question without spending a lot of money incrementally on upgrades.

 

I don't use Serum or Diva but I can run several instances of spire or Pigment (with I think is equivalent to serum with wavetables) and CPU rarelly goes above 10 % for each plugin.
All stock plugins of live, studio one and Logic run OK, only some Alchemy presets are CPU intensive.
I made full techno tracks with vst instruments and effects for mastering (EQs, compressors, limiters, enhancer, delay, reverb, transient shaper, loudness analyser...) without the need to render and CPU never goes above 50 %.
Some plugins, as microtonic take 1% CPU on my imac.
The only CPU issue I faced was with Roland plugins but I think it is an issue even with powerfull CPU.

But as the OP said he need "just a few synths , eqs & stuff, no big deal" so why advice a super charged computer ?

 

@fredboudin You are right about the op, and if you look closer earlier in the thread i suggested a used imac at about 300 euros... As to what a Core2 Duo cpu can handle (no matter the OS), sorry but your light usage with stock plugs etc is not on par with what today's VSTi world demands. But hey you are entitled to use it your way till oblivion, and for what it's worth, i am sure you can do great work with what you got
Oh, and i did not advise a supercharged comp, i just indicated a Hackintosh comp will be cheaper and faster at the same time. FYI, all modern gear is powerful compared to a spec like your machine. A desktop i3 9100F cpu is 4core @3.6ghz, that is double your Core2 Duo cores and about 50% more on the frequency let alone the newer tech and power efficiency and costs 85 euros with no built-in graphics. Add 30-40 for a simple graphics card and you 're good to go. Do i need to add Apple's warranty on their machines is a totally unrealistic joke? Never mind. If you want examples of how Hackintosh is better+cheaper i can surely provide, np.
@sisyphus
I made the leap to Windows more than 20 years ago as i was tired of limited upgrade options with my Macs. I have always kept a Mac or two though. The last 12 years or so, i build Hackintosh machines as well. Anyone remember the "Intel outside" stickers Apple fanboys used to stick on their comps in the G4/G5 era? Steve Jobs though made 'em look like fools siding with Intel because it was the only way to get the performance needed for modern apps to run properly.
Personally, as i 've stated before, i hate all OS'es equally, i can provide myriads of reasons why they all suck, starting with the usage of the completely unorthodox, inhuman way of input, the keyboard and mouse lol and ending somewhere in users' data mining by all major companies (including Apple of course).
In the studio i will bring to its knees even the best machine i can afford. So i run multiple machines on LAN with Vienna Ensemble 6 (soon upgrading to v.7). I am always in "envy" of self-contained producers like @fredboudin or you, who manage to keep production resources within the margins of their hardware/software combination. So in a nutshell, it always depends on how the computer will be utilized by the end user.
Thanks for listening

 

Last edited: Sep 30, 2019

Well put. Yeah, I have considered at different times going the hackintosh route, or windows, but haven't really had to. As well as VEP... I should look into that though as I have a few machines, and would solve some problems if I run into a brick wall with cpu resources etc...

Even though I like to fool around with a lot of different software, I tend to bounce to audio early and often, not so much for cpu reasons, but rather to force myself to make decisions... now that doesn't help when I am doing a score or something sometimes where often things are changing constantly... but for other stuff... sure...

And again, completely agreeing with your point above, I hate the OS X yearly upgrades forced upon us that deliver things I personally don't need, yet have to update to keep up with NI or whatnot. I am about ready to go to a quad boot system as I have many legacy projects that I need access to, and for differing reasons, need to keep Snow Leopard, Mt Lion, Mavericks, and now having to update (running el cap safely on laptop with most software, but probably should go to Sierra, not sure, as have been moving lately and took studios apart and brought a small subset abroad and am in the process of wiring it all together now... )...

 

You clearly haven't tried TempleOS

 

Ahaha! Guilty as charged sir! Never tried an OS created by a diagnosed psychopath. Unhappily, i don't think any of my monitors supports 640x480 and 16 colours, i don't think i can meet the system requirements...

 

Are macs more stable with handling cracks? I pretty much run cracks exclusively, and have them all on an external drive backed up that i planned on reinstalling on a refurbished macbook. So basically because ive heard macs are more stable with cracks and the fact that i have everything ready to install, im leaning towards refurbished macbook. But a voice is also telling me to consider getting a pc and a legit copy of ableton. i see a lot of research in my future....

 

Back to another pc/mac cockfighting. The only opinions that counts here are from people who have used both operating systems: conclusions are given by real experience.
The point of view of those who have only used Windows for their entire lives is superficial and inaccurate, therefore irrelevant.
Also I wonder why no one ever recommends Linux, Amiga, Atari ...

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 30, 2019

well actually, mine has bounced several times from dj-booths during dj-sets, if it wasnt for the audio cable disconnecting the crowd wouldnt have noticed, and from my bed... hehehehe, ok the booze i agree on but not many pc laptops that can handle that... hehehehe, the reasoning that the army isnt using them is, well, not really something i can take seriously, there is a lot more that comes into account for them then for us slightly above average users and i'm guessing they would want a stable system as well. i mean we can turn that around as well, if the army's laptops are so great than why isnt the music industry using them? because they are build for completely different scenarios. macbook pros are, for our usage, very durable.

 

man the specs on some of these pcs is sexy. Is quad core a must?

 

just buy a normal pc or laptop with windows. pure and simple, the right choice.

 

Because they 're not made to perform best, they 're made to withstand extraordinary situations like rain, snow, extreme weather both hot and cold, drops and some can even stand a bullet or two lol. But, you will find rugged laptops in recording situations like location & field recording for movies/documentaries etc, where durability under extreme conditions is needed. Here's a beastly one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072L82...tag=pcmagonelink-21&creative=165953&camp=2025
And try doing these on a normal laptop (pc or mac is irrelevant) and see what you will get :

 

Last edited: Sep 30, 2019

@sisyphus
Wanna have Thunderbolt on your cheese grater? Possible!
https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/pr...th-thunderbolt-the-impossible-is-now-possible

 

If you love to do registry tweaks, fix driver issues, do update, to finally maybe make some music -> you go windows.
If you're a serious musician and you want to make music without hassle -> you go mac.

 

You might wanna check out dosdude's fix for the video card failure in 2011 MacBook Pro's. I just fixed my son's 2011 MBP using this technique.

http://dosdude1.com/gpudisable/

 

Like here?

Been there, done that.

Someone's been stuck in a 1995 peak from bias loop . Good thing those similarly minded in Apple's board, in a desperate plea for help when the ship was sinking, they brought back Steve Jobs to save them. They even agreed to buy NeXT, Steve's company. And Stevie brought his buddy Billie (probably the most hated figure within Apple's fans back then) as an investor to help out. What's a mere 200mil. I remember laughing to tears at that charade. But through this Stevie brought the iMac, which btw was exactly the original Macintosh in concept but with current- at the time- hardware,and iMac was an instant hit. Even i loved it hahah. I had the purple one, i'm disco like that. And then Stevie brought Unix. And then he even brought the devil himself, Intel. I bet that hurt quite a bit lol.
Do you understand where i am getting at ?
If you don't, they 're playing people to create keen followers. They all do. Always. Steve Jobs' greatest talent? Manipulator. Bill was never so talented in this. You can tell he took lessons though first hand heheh. And they both have succeeded for the most part. My simple rule is, have an opinion but don't be a blind follower...
Cheers

 

Last edited: Oct 1, 2019

that's a lot of words to say exactly what i said 'because they are build for completely different scenarios.'

 

PC's are the Yugo of computers. Garbage components all made in China, Singapore, Indonesia and Korea. So they're embedded with malware from the word "sold"!

 

so youre mac components are all made in the US