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Old 19.06.2015, 04:28 PM
MBTC MBTC is offline
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Join Date: 16.04.2010
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Just speaking from the perspective of operating system architecture, from a software engineer's point of view, OSX and everything related to it is a freaking mess compared to Windows (in terms of quality of code, the architecture, APIs, etc.)

There are a lot things about usability that it does right. Apple has always had good design teams and lousy engineering teams. And there are some things about usability that are screwy on Windows.

The biggest issue that I always bring up is that it's important to know that Apple doesn't make money off their OS, they make money by selling you new hardware, so everyone must understand that

A RAPID PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE CYCLE IS BUILT INTO EVERYTHING THEY SELL.

Contrast that with Windows, which will run most of the software for the platform you might have bought 25 years ago, even if in some sort of compatibility mode. Microsoft's commitment to backward compatibility is amazing, while Apple just throws it all to the wind.. Fuck it they say, we have a newer shinier model so you'll just have to buy that one instead.

All of this said, I'm still convinced a desktop Mac Pro makes a fine dedicated music studio, as long as you're willing to spend $6000 USD or so for the Apple brand (because you can get same for half that as a PC). And, if it's a dedicated studio computer you are not really going to be spending a lot of time fiddling with OSX or Windows, because you'll spend all your time in your DAW like Live or Cubase which is pretty much the same on either one. Both operating systems crash sometimes or give you a hard time, but both are suitable for the job of a studio computer. It's really a cost proposition.

However, that doesn't mean I'm unconditionally saying everyone must have either a Mac Pro or a powerful desktop PC. Some people need portability (which means a laptop is a must). Some people cannot afford to have a dedicated music studio computer which means they have to use the same computer for music that they use for everything else. Some people have a workflow that is not very CPU-heavy. Mine is -- I'm always interested in squeezing a little more CPU performance out of the box, but if you're the type that works with a lot of samples or purely hardware synths instead of software based synths and FX, then CPU and thermal considerations are less of an issue.

I do think overall that every Mac product that Apple sells, other than the desktop Mac Pro, is not designed for the thermal demands of a typical studio. They intend the Mac Pro is for professional music creation and the other models like laptops and iMacs are intended for general consumers and students. I do not have any experience with Hackintosh setups or even understand the pros and cons there, so it is very possible it is a solution to the value problem presented by the Mac Pro line. I do know that one of the benefits of the Apple platform is the limited hardware configuration (makes it easier to test and provide stable software configurations), so once you start running OSX on a variety of different components, you may run into bugs and glitches that wouldn't appear on an actual Apple system due to slight variations. But as I said no personal experience there so I'm not sure how big of a problem that is.
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