The advantage of a Hackintosh is that when you get into it, you will have a cheaper upgrade path in the future. Although some Apple products are very good, the company mainly exists to separate you from considerable amounts of your cash, even more so since SJ departed.
Sorry for INTERRUPTING MAC USERS: Feel free to pay >3000$$ for this 2012 computer... have fun with a box with super cooling and few USB ports, that calls itself PRO. Itts totally ridiculous, apple drove their car of super computers against the wall since Steve Jobs has left us... I say REALLY honestly (was macuser for a long time): Buy a Wincomputer with new good core sturice i7 5820, 6 core, and 23 GB and everything the mac pro has, for max 1000$ ! Im shure it will run much better than this strange black "pro" thing, and it is much better for PCIe interfaces and expanding other stuff!!
I disagre with the person who said that Apple designs Macs to fail, as I would with anyone saying that the sky is red. Macs are built to work and keep working, and as for any comparison to PC (as is inevitable), one has to upgrade with similar, if not greater, frequency hardware for that platform. (PC people just like to rag on Macs; it's hardly ever the other way around. Sounds like some sort of sour-grapes envy, really.) The latest virtual instruments and libraries are usually designed for compatibility with the latest versions of any OS and leading-edge specs of harware. Having to periodically "upgrade your shit" is a fact of computer life. Therefore, it's necessary to plan on doing so about every five years or so. With a Mac or a PC, anyone inolved in media production shoul plan ahead: what specifications probably won't be outmoded in 5–7 years? Current 4k video, for example, requires a minimum of 500MB of video RAM; it won't be long before a whole GB of video RAM will be the minimum for further-augmented professional-quality video resolution and bitrate. (My understanding of this might even be trailing-edge, by now.) My Macbook Pro from mid-2010 – i5 2.4GHz, 8GB of RAM (maxed-out), with SSD upgrade – is now insufficient for working with MIDI and processing of moderate complexity; I am wanting a quad-core with at least 16GB, if not 32GB, of RAM. I also should get an SSD with Thunderbolt connection to replace my Firewire 800 drive for sample libraries – but, you know, finances. Six or seven years ago, I was working in Logic 9 on a G5 iMac. When 64-bit architecture is replaced by 128-bit, I'll have some really fancy upgradin' to do. So, max those specs out now, while you can.
No, sorry. Once I upgraded to 512 GB SSD I know using Kontakt without an SSD is a suicide for your project loading times.
Every product is designed to fail, even software, unless you live in a different world to the one that I live in. The simple fact that you need to keep on upgrading should tell you something Yes, they want your money, a continuous never ending flow of it! Last edited: Feb 18, 2016
It is just a matter of money. If you take the price for a mac pro, you can buy 3 years, each year a brand new pc with is very much faster than the mac pro! I was a mac user for a long time, products are awesome, but you cannot call a computer PRO for audio, if you are not able to put a PCIe audio card in it and have lots of USB ports :D It is NOT professional!!
And the macbook PROs did not had even an quadcore i7 in it in their standard configuration.. only since january they changed this!! Before that, a laptop for 2500$ without a quad core CPU is NOT PRO! and 16GB ram.. COME ON!! That is not a PRO computer in 2016 :D Thats a fact!!
You got to love "build a hackintosh" answers... people who're into it, don't need to be pointed at it.
To the OP, I have a 2013 6 core Mac Pro that is unbelievable. Given the amount of money, you are willing to spend, I'll suggest you spring for that. Get 32 gigs of Ram and whatever space you need and it will last you at least 5 years. Mine can handle anything I throw at it with no sweat. And I use pretty cpu intensive plugs. If you decide to go this route, I would wait for the 2015 refresh... depending on how bad you need it. Last edited: Feb 18, 2016
Zenarcist, thanks for the post. Being an electronics repair tech at a walk-in and warranty based business in a past life, this sheds light on something I've been telling people for years. BTW. Two common shorthand terms we used with customers were NWR (not worth repair) and NFG. You get the gist
@Hackintosh: yeah, if you're savvy ... this would be an option. as the OP said: it's not really something he feels comfy about - and right he/she is! What if in 6 months some Apple-update flips some weird bit and the whole machine is screwed up? => https://www.google.com/search?q=hackintosh not booting after update&rct=j what then? noone here knows what user <musicislife> needs the machine for and if the prospect of an update screwing up his tools of trade would evoke limitless happiness - doubt it Where do you go to with a Hackintosh when you use the box professionally and something breaks? ... what about legal issues? Running OSX on anything else but Apple-hardware is a violation of Terms of Use ... there is a lot to consider, when you actually make money with a machine. I do not know musicislife and therefore would not recommend this option. If s/he says it's onle for personal usage ... by all means, go for it. Myself, yeah, I would do it - because I have fallback-Macs a-plenty. And don't get me wrong neither ... I'm anything BUT a friend of OSX and only use it when I have to. My main box is a modified HP Z820 workstation under W7/64 and guess what: just as expensive as the Mac Pro. If you go Xeon you go heavy-duty, industrial-strength, no-nonsense-hardware, anything under Xeon is consumer class. The i7-boards are the same run-of-the-mill China-ware that you will find in any consumer-product, be it a Mac, an Acer or a Toshiba. "Workstation class" is different ... A LOT! as it goes Apple-machines in general (obsolescence) ... Last purchase was an i7 MB Pro late 2014 and that will be the last thing I will purchase for the next years. Any model after that ... no thanks, and that includes the new Mac Pros. Too prone to thermal issues, I don't trust Radeons, and generally: into all those new models has gone more effort to keep you from repairing or upgrading something than it went into design. Maybe a Mac mini ... if I only had a use case for it (like mastering station). This "old" 2012 dual-Xeon we are talking about here will compute the last snot out of anything that is labelled "i7" unless you take a motherboard like this one => http://goo.gl/3KrMyX (Newegg, Asus mobo). the mobo alone is almost $600 ... and that's how it is: you want pro-grade hardware? you pay pro-grade dulluh and the Mac Pro - regardless of me liking OSX or not - is a true pro grade machine.
My current i7 runs much faster then my last xeon mac pro, never had cpu above 40% with real heavy plugins+libraries, multiple instances and shitload of processing,automation etc. regarding updates : "never change a running system" (i got backup clones of my system via carbon copy cloner, highly recommended) if there happens anything, for example a new update doesnt work i copy back backup, takes 15 minutes and everything works again. In an office or public studio where you work with customers who care i would also use a mac pro. Last edited: Feb 18, 2016
your singel i7 runs faster than a dual Xeon? ... good for you, I suppose. I have yet to meet such an i7
This is good advice, and I would also recommend using only legitimate software to eliminate glitches, and also work in a properly treated studio with top class mics, preamps and AD/DA converters. Only consider a Hackintosh if you are using K'd software and operating from a home environment, i.e. if you are cash limited.
To All fellow Mac Users...Isn't it funny how Musiclife life made a thread just about getting a mac replacement. He asked a specific question. But the first response he got was from a PC Head stating a negative comment about macs. Zenarcist didn't even try to answer the question. Just started to bash our "Kind" of computer. Then of course (Since we are outnumbered on AZ and AS) 6 more PC heads jump on the bandwagon. ON AZ PC Heads are quick to run and jump mercilessly on anyone mac person that foolishly broke the rule of asking on a "PC" thread. BUT here on AS they run rampantly exposed and freely corrupt on trying to convince all MAC users that PC is the best and greatest. Just shameful! This site is supposed to be about positive reinforcement. Ya know...Helping others by information sharing. But it seems to me that most, not all, but MOST PC heads only want to bash MACS. They want us to come over to the "DARKside". LOL. But I can't remember if, as long as I have been on AS if I have seen a mac user intervene on a PC specific question thread and state nasty comments about PC's and how they should only use MACs. Can someone show me that? Maybe there should be a rule here that stops that as well. No more hijacking a Mac thread to state how great PC's are. What do you think Mac guys? P.S. Can't wait to see all the "PC Heads" respond since I also only addressed this comment to MAC guys. I'm just fed up with this PC is so great war stuff. Now on to the good stuff... musiclife I have and still use Apple products since 1989. It has been extremely rare for them to fail. But ALL electronics fail at some point. Apple IMHO has a spotless record with me. That being said, I think your last choice/thought of the Mac Pro 2012 is a great choice and wish you the best with it or whatever you choose in your future endeavors!
See if apple will replace graphic card and or motherboard. Just had that happen w a laptop. It's now brand new. If that doesn't work. Get the new imac. Ssd drive will be better.
well, I am ALSO one of those "PC heads" and I should therefore and consequently have received my "Nasty" :D I am with you and yes, I agree: there is a certain stereotype from PC-users ... but hey!, like Apple-users don't have a certain prejudice about PC users neither. I agree that it might make the thread confusing, when the OP states s/he doesn't feel comfy about Hackingtosh or PC in general. then again ... I can agree to many of Zenarcist's point too, all the more and easily when s/he throws a little fun at my expense in my direction. That doesn't hurt. A little irony or sarcasm ... well, it's the soy sauce on the spring roll, the inflatable sheep in the bedroom ... makes life interesting and is a sign of humor and wit. But what's more important is: I didn't have the feeling that anybody recommending Hackintosh was trying to educate musicislife. It was posted in the good intention to save musicislife a ton of money. Ever since the dawning of the computer age there have been rivaling parties according to what's better than anything else. It's how the world is, and just a day or so ago we had the ever so popular "Great Mexican OS-standoff" here: Windows vs. OSX vs. Linux. A day before that we had a remake of the even more popular "Battle Royal of the DAWs": S1 vs. Reaper vs. ProTools vs. Sonar vs. Fruity vs. ............... We all have a life expectancy of somewhere around 80 years ... and I'm not willing to sacrifice a single second to the hamster wheels of "Excel vs. Numbers", "Pages vs. InDesign", big boobs vs. small ones, Stratocasters vs. Les Pauls, or whatever ... coz it is a matter of personal taste and personal workflow. I admit: if it's up to me I wouldn't touch OSX with a pair of 10 feet long pickle pliers. That doesn't hinder me to consider my Macs proper, valuable and solid tools! I have arrived at this conclusion after spending literally years in front of various machines and various OS'. I am a Windows-guy, even though some stuff is more than just appalling and the Windows-Registry e.g. is no less than a Quentin Tarantino-movie of a Steven King novel. But I know my way around it in this nightmare and that's why Windows is my OS of choice - NOT because it's better. and before it get's too lengthy ... / guess it's too late for that already Anybody here having suggested anything Hackintosh ... they did that because they have made their (good) experiences and yes, they shared it ... which is nice as there is a difference between saying "if you pay 5k $$$ for a Mac than your dumb" and pointing out pros and cons about alternatives. coming from that direction, I do not think it was necessary to flag everybody who isn't purely Apple/Mac as "nasty" in this thread. This somehow comes across as the same patterns that got your hackles up. Sorry for the long post, after all it's the age of 120 character opinions but hey ... read and suffer, biatches Have a nice one all of you!
LOL! Truth is I wouldn't touch a PC with a ten foot pole either. So we can agree to disagree. But when he starts off not answering the question and bashing my platform, which with it's issues as well serves me great, he is totally wrong for doing so! And there was no humor in it anywhere. That is how these wars get started and Zenarcist should know better. So you being a PC Head I guess you would miss my Point. It was totally Asinine for Zenarcist to start that way. It sure wasn't constructive at all. Yes it did pinch a nerve...Just sick of the bashing of macs and mac people here. And since you did respond and are a PC Head I guess you do deserve a "Nasty" as well. But as usual, it ain't really worth it talking to PC heads I have found here. But I will refrain and just give you a "Disagree". Since we both do.
