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Buying a new computer for the studio


Thundergod

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I "need" to buy a new computer for the studio, what do you guys recommend?

 

I will use it for recording only, no internet, no word processing or any of the office stuff... probably no games either.

 

 

Do you think one of the new iMacs would do? Or one of the new HP all in one things that have everything inside the monitor and have touchscreen tech?

 

I'm looking at those 2 becasue I want to forget about huge CPUs and stuff like that... I was thinking one of those but don't know if they will do... the Mac probably will.

 

What do you guys say?

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That's the main issue of the touch screen HP thing... it's got Vista, and I don't mind Vista but have found that with windows XP everything (recording related) runs way faster.

 

I'm really more interested in the 27 inch iMac, great screen size and resolution, but I wonder if it will be able to run all the recording stuff with no problems.

 

Anyone tried it with something like nuendo?

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Actually, it depends. Are you using it for production work or storage? For production you will want a beefy CPU and plenty of RAM, otherwise, an average CPU and HUGE hard drive will do ya.

 

You can use server software either way for a Win box.

 

 

No idea about MACs... talk to Surfpup, I think he is a Mac guy.

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I just replaced the mac in my music room also I went with the Mac route and wanted portability and dual monitors without a hassle so I went with the MacBook Pro in 15 inch with a second 24 inch monitor. I run a Protools 8 through a Digi-002 board (although I have ordered a new Eleven Rack)

 

so far I'm loving it and have had no issues with performance, drivers or latency even with drums. the machine was almost stock

all I upgraded was double the ram to 8 and a faster 7200 500 gig HD so specs are,

 

2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB

500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm

SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

 

with a 24 second monitor attached which I love I keep the main screen on the monitor and open all the other tools and items on the notebooks screen.

 

 

I have to make a living with non Macintosh computers (i'm a CIO/CTO) but at home I'm 100% apple and have never regretted it in the least music and art put me on a Mac ease of use and crappy DOS based OS tools keep me on Macintosh.

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Get a Mac... I have been using them since the 80's. All pro studios use them and all serious production people use them.... Just the fact of not having to worry about viruses is worth it.... This could turn into a Mac vs PC flame war.... just sayin'

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I'm a PC guy. Microsoft certs pay my salary. Unlike others, who may be influenced by infantile Canadian commentary, I LOVE the Windows environment (except ME, which sucked like a drunken cheerleader). I even love Vista (on my PC... unstable as hell on my wife's).

 

 

If I were buying a new PC for my studio, it would be a Mac.

 

If I were gonna build (another) uber gaming rig, it's a Windows box.

 

 

Right tool for the job and all that.

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Well...

 

As I've said, I've done some degree of significant work on both platforms since the first PC and the first Mac.

 

Dollar for dollar, the PC is a better buy. Software may or may not be the determining factor.

 

The Mac really isn't a Mac any more, it's a fancied up Unix or Linux PC with the same basic chips. It's a matter of whether one prefers human interface A with less expensive hardware and software or interface B with more expensive hardware and software.

 

From what I've heard from experts, the deciding factors among PC, Mac and other variations of Unix would be software.

 

I've also been told there's a major difference in recording quality depending on the interface between the sound source and the computer.

 

m

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Dollar for dollar' date=' the PC is a better buy. Software may or may not be the determining factor.

 

The Mac really isn't a Mac any more, it's a fancied up Unix or Linux PC with the same basic chips. It's a matter of whether one prefers human interface A with less expensive hardware and software or interface B with more expensive hardware and software.

 

[/quote']

 

:-k :-k :-k

Sure [biggrin]

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Hey Thundergod,

 

I got my first iMac last week. I got the 27" with the dual core, 4GB Ram blah, blah blah. It's easy to install more RAM, don't buy it from Apple, way too expensive.

 

The best part though is that by getting Fusion 3, I was able to totally transfer my PC onto the Mac. I have the best of both worlds and my Windows environment runs much better on the Mac than it did before. I can run the Mac and Windows side by side, no need to boot into the required environment.

 

There's really no contest.

 

No matter what the geeks say, you can't do Mac on Windows but you can do Windows on a Mac.

 

My 2c

 

Martin

 

PS, You're avatar scares me with all those gorgeous guitars stacked against each other :) [crying] [crying]

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Hey Thundergod' date='

 

I got my first iMac last week. I got the 27" with the dual core, 4GB Ram blah, blah blah. It's easy to install more RAM, don't buy it from Apple, way too expensive.

 

The best part though is that by getting Fusion 3, I was able to totally transfer my PC onto the Mac. I have the best of both worlds and my Windows environment runs much better on the Mac than it did before. I can run the Mac and Windows side by side, no need to boot into the required environment.

 

There's really no contest.

 

No matter what the geeks say, you can't do Mac on Windows but you can do Windows on a Mac.

 

My 2c

 

Martin

 

PS, You're avatar scares me with all those gorgeous guitars stacked against each other :) [crying [crying]

 

 

Hey thanks for that info, I'm trying the 27" iMac this weekend, hope I get it.

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Hey thanks for that info' date=' I'm trying the 27" iMac this weekend, hope I get it.[/quote']

 

Nice choice for your studio, T God. I have the smaller iMac and it's a great desktop. A few mentioned the MacBook Pro. The portability is great (I have one of these too) but you don't really need that for your studio, and for the same $ or less you can get the larger iMac display and Logic (or Logic Express) for recording. GarageBand is great for simple stuff, but you have a good bit of studio experience, so while you are at the Apple store, take a demo ride on Logic.

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