To iMac or not to iMac?

[Ola Englund]

Why bother having the discussion? Because the OP is considering getting the computer we're discussing here I completely understand your points and I'm honestly not trying to turn this into a flame war. That being said...

1) I haven't personally had problems chaining firewire devices, though I haven't even tried it with this particular computer.

2) Screens are fragile? This one I really don't understand. They're as fragile as any other LCD screen as far as I know, no more, no less. The picture quality beats the shit out of my old LCD displays, though.

3) True, the expansion options are very limited. This is something you just have to decide whether you can live with or not. For me, the i5 processor and a terabyte of HD space will last perfectly fine until I'm going to jump to a Mac Pro and PT HD when I finally get a proper space for a commercial, fully functioning studio. After that, this computer will serve as my home computer.

4) I work with a Mac Pro running PT HD2 on almost daily basis at school, and have never encountered such problems. I also work with another, newer Mac Pro running Cubase 5 every now and then with no problems.

5) I understand your ethical point about running a Hackintosh setup, and I've done it myself with a couple of PC's out of curiosity, but if you're publicly doing audio work for money, I really don't see it as a particularly good idea to advertise you're running "PC w/ i5 processor, 8GB DDR, 1TB HD and OS X." If nothing else, someone will sooner or later ask you something like "Wow, you can do that? Is that legal?" and you're gonna have to answer "Well, it's kinda complicated, but personally I see nothing wrong with it." See my point?

:thumbup:

 

[Lustrum]

So erm, thats a yes to the iMac?

Cheers dudes anymore opinions are warmly welcomed!

 

[arv_foh]

Why do a Hackintosh? Simple. Apple do not do a machine that is marketed towards me. I can build my own machine for less than half the price of a Mac Pro, but with all the features of a Mac Pro, and often even more features than a Mac Pro.

Did you know that the current crop of Mac Pro's have speedstepping features on the CPU, that you CANNOT disable. In real terms.. this means that a project that plays back perfectly fine on Monday, might not playback at all on Tuesday because of the speed of the CPU being limited.

I've never experience a problem like this on my Mac Pro, and I'm willing to bet that some piece of hardware on a Hackintosh "Mac Pro" will crap out way before the legit Apple does.

OP: Do it!

 

[drew_drummer]

I've never experience a problem like this on my Mac Pro, and I'm willing to bet that some piece of hardware on a Hackintosh "Mac Pro" will crap out way before the legit Apple does.

OP: Do it!

Dude, I said it MIGHT be a problem. MIGHT.

Fact is; on a PC, you can turn that speedstepping shit off. On a Mac you cannot. Gehy.

Yes, these things are important to me. It's the same reason I don't believe in God.

(waits for thread to go Godmode)

 

[TheDriller]

5) I understand your ethical point about running a Hackintosh setup, and I've done it myself with a couple of PC's out of curiosity, but if you're publicly doing audio work for money, I really don't see it as a particularly good idea to advertise you're running "PC w/ i5 processor, 8GB DDR, 1TB HD and OS X." If nothing else, someone will sooner or later ask you something like "Wow, you can do that? Is that legal?" and you're gonna have to answer "Well, it's kinda complicated, but personally I see nothing wrong with it." See my point?

but it's not actually illegal, at least in Europe anyway.
even US law states that you are permitted to install whatever software/os you buy on whatever hardware you want.
at the very worst, it's a breach of contract, not a breach of law.

and lets face it, plenty of musicians and members of this very forum regularly consume thoroughly illegal substances and no-one pays any heed to it.
and there are plenty of guys using "illegal" versions of windows like TinyXP and the various N-Lite versions of Vista.

I see what you mean though, when you have to explain things like that to clients, it looks shady
I'm just saying that using an OS on non-standard hardware is hardly a big deal, especially considering the kind of illegality that is a regular feature of many musicians lives.

anyway, to the OP, the newet iMacs are deadly machines if you can live with the limited expandability.

 

[abt]

Okay, I always say to myself that I shouldn't weigh in on this debate so I'm breaking my own rules here.

Here is my question to you: Why do you want to use a Mac OS? If the answer is performance, reliability, etc. the forget it. You won't get it. You will find little or no difference between the two with like for like specs. There is rarely a reason to switch. My advice it stick to the OS that you know how to use best and are most comfortable with. This will give the the best work flow.

Do not build a hackintosh. I've been doing this for longer that Apples been saying that it is not possible. If you want to spend a lot of time mucking about (I used to enjoy this but mostly to annoy my mac user friends) then you might have some fun and save a few bucks. Sometimes I've built them and they just work, but usually they are a lot of work to get them going.

I won't give you an opinion on which is better though I do have one. Why? Because at the end of the day there is no point pushing a windows user towards a mac or vice versa, you are far better off spending your time using the OS you already know.

 

[abt]

Id rather work on an OSX based system, due to the fact that XP is getting antiquated and 7 is yet to support Digi drivers...

So, iMac, 2626, Adam A7s and some room treatment, go go?

I setup PT on Windows 7 64-bit in early December last year. Although I haven't used it that much because it is on a laptop, it works fine, never had any problems with it. The drivers are still in beta but there is loads of people using them without trouble. There are plenty of user who are having trouble but lets face it there are plenty of people having trouble with pro tools regardless of system or version.

I haven't bothered to upgrade my main rig because I too lazy to reinstall all my shit.

I guess what I'm saying is that you could run into trouble anywhere so don't let this influence your decision too much.

 

[dani]

the cpu scalar in OS X is very stable, i've never run into problems with it.

even if you do, you most certainly can disable it, and without even restarting to get to the bios.. coolbook controller lets you set the speed of the CPU, turn scaling on/off and set core voltage levels (so you can run the CPU a lot cooler)

hackintoshs.. i've made a fair few of those. they're fun, and they do get interest from others, but they can be bastards to get working, and updates are a big issue..

if you don't know what

# rm -fr /

means, then don't bother now.

macs are nicer, neater, and apple sure as hell can design hardware and software for ease of use. i'd recommend a mac, any day. but get a PC if you know windows and are really concerned about budget! you can easily get a decent i7 system for £1000...

thanks,

 

[::XeS::]

Why do you want to use a Mac OS? If the answer is performance, reliability, etc. the forget it. You won't get it. You will find little or no difference between the two with like for like specs. There is rarely a reason to switch.
....
I won't give you an opinion on which is better though I do have one. Why? Because at the end of the day there is no point pushing a windows user towards a mac or vice versa, you are far better off spending your time using the OS you already know.

I used windows from the 3.1 version, I builded every pc I used in my life etc...so I know Windows and pc world.
Last year I switched to a mac and sincerely I would never come back. Moreover you don't need months to learn Osx...in a week I was completely comfortable with it so, I think it's harder to learn the windows control panel, the register, how to set a firewall, how and wich antivirus to use, all the cleaning stuff etc...
Different points of view

 

[RCW]

I used windows from the 3.1 version, I builded every pc I used in my life etc...so I know Windows and pc world.
Last year I switched to a mac and sincerely I would never come back. Moreover you don't need months to learn Osx...in a week I was completely comfortable with it so, I think it's harder to learn the windows control panel, the register, how to set a firewall, how and wich antivirus to use, all the cleaning stuff etc...
Different points of view

competely agree. switched to mac osx and now it's hard to use a pc unless i have to. learning curve was really fast. i am up and running with mac and osx as well as i was with windows in a couple of weeks.

it really hit me hard today actually. i got a new printer from best buy an hp. it's a newer model. it came with all this shit in the box about the proper procedure, steps, what not to do, and driver disk all relating to installation on windows.

it came with another piece of paper. i unfolded it and it read:

"please do not attempt to use this driver cd with mac osx because support is built into the operating system"

plugged it in bam. full functionality. it's not always that way but that ease of use sense you get from a mac was my reason for switching. plus bootcamp!!!!! you can still run your windows on a mac.

plus, what good daw doesn't work in mac osx!? sonar depending on how you feel about that one.

DOOOOO ITTTTT!

 

[TheDriller]

Goddammit I'm GASing hard for an iMac right now.

 

[jipchen]

Goddammit I'm GASing hard for an iMac right now.

Haha +1

If it had 2 FireWire slots, i would buy it asap. I don't want to plug in my fireface and an external hdd into one fw slot.

 

[TheDriller]

Haha +1

If it had 2 FireWire slots, i would buy it asap. I don't want to plug in my fireface and an external hdd into one fw slot.

Indeed,
thats the problem I have with Apple hardware, they are the eternal prick-tease.
they put in so much effort to make it a good/great machine, but leave out one or two small things that would make it an absolutely stellar machine.

of course they think that you will take your £1500, magically double it and get the most expensive machine instead.

 

[greyskull]

Haha +1

If it had 2 FireWire slots, i would buy it asap. I don't want to plug in my fireface and an external hdd into one fw slot.

just daisy chain em.
theyd be using a shared bus even if it had 2 ports.

 

[plague_rider]

If you get a new iMac with Snow Leopard on it you're gonna have to upgrade your PT software to 8

 

[AudioGeekZine]

Haha +1

If it had 2 FireWire slots, i would buy it asap. I don't want to plug in my fireface and an external hdd into one fw slot.

Nothing wrong with 1 port. Firewire is built to be chained.

 

[TheDriller]

To the guys currently running iMac based rigs,

I assume you're running external Firewire drives chained with the audio interface, and using that as the recording/projects drive,
but where do you store your sample libraries? (both things like Superior and Slate libraries, and just huge collections of samples)

on the internal with the OS ? if so is the disk partitioned?

or on an external USB drive?

I think im gonna get an iMac some time in the coming year.

 

[monolithsound]

To the guys currently running iMac based rigs,

I assume you're running external Firewire drives chained with the audio interface, and using that as the recording/projects drive,
but where do you store your sample libraries? (both things like Superior and Slate libraries, and just huge collections of samples)

on the internal with the OS ? if so is the disk partitioned?

or on an external USB drive?

I think im gonna get an iMac some time in the coming year.

I have a previous generation iMac with both FW400 & 800. My interface is on the FW400 port and my hard drive on the FW800 port. I upgraded the internal drive to a larger 7200RPM Seagate drive for extra storage of things like samples and then have them all backed up as well as second copies of projects on a USB drive.

 

[TheDriller]

I have a previous generation iMac with both FW400 & 800. My interface is on the FW400 port and my hard drive on the FW800 port. I upgraded the internal drive to a larger 7200RPM Seagate drive for extra storage of things like samples and then have them all backed up as well as second copies of projects on a USB drive.

fuckin sweet.
thats pretty much exactly what i was planning on doing.
cheers

 

[beyond dead]

go used 1st gen mac pro. I hate that the imacs dont have esata, and only have 1 fw 800 port. Im starting to find that sessions with 300 + takes take a long long time to load when daisy chaining a fw drive and fw interface on one fw 800 port.