I’d like to upgrade my MacBook but the prices of new ones are way expensive. The cost for jumps between SSD sizes are ridiculous let alone any other optional upgrades which need to be chosen from the very start or they’re off the cards. Plus fragile keyboards etc
Not really here to bitch about Apple anyway. I’ve only ever used macs for music production but I’m thinking about building a computer. So a couple of questions.
are hackintoshs stable? Sounds great in theory, not sure about the reality
Any drawbacks to using windows? Everything I see makes it sound like a bit of a ball ache but that might just be people moaning on the internet. I don’t think there’s a way to do certain simple things like making an aggregate device for two audio interfaces. Not sure if this has been addressed.
In the range of £1500 am I better off building a PC and switching to windows, or buying a particular MacBook or iMac. I’d like to do some video editing too. Needs a 1tb SSD minimum so taking that into account, any suggestions?
Do you know someone with a Windows PC that you could borrow or visit for a while? I think you’ll find the cost difference more than compensates. BUT Macs are great if you can afford them.
If it’s just for audio and midi then any MacBook Pro from 2012 onwards should be more than sufficient. My 2010 13’ MacBook Pro was too slow for my daughter’s web surfing needs (!) but works great as an Ableton/VCV host. Audio software doesn’t need much these days (as long as you don’t need 100 simultaneous tracks of 96/24 audio each with a convolution reverb).
I’m also running a MOTU 828 (18 years old and still supported by MOTU’s latest drivers) and 828Mk 2 (a baby at only 15 years old) in aggregate mode for up to 22 tracks of audio I/O (plus 16 tracks of ADAT if needed) with no issues.
On the flip side if you’re editing video you might want jump to PC for some cheap grunt or wait for the Mac Pros which are supposedly due out later this year.
I had exactly this same issue last summer: my 2010 MacBook Pro was on its last legs, and I didn’t want to spend the insane prices Apple were asking, so I looked in detail at switching to PC. From what I could tell there are no major issues with Windows now (aggregate devices weren’t a dealbreaker for me) and they’re generally pretty comparable in terms of audio production otherwise.
I was all set to get a Dell XPS or a gaming laptop, right up until Apple refreshed the MBP line in June, which meant that a roughly equivalent Mac (faster processor but smaller hard drive) was only about £300 more (£1800 rather than £1500). It is a very substantial wedge of money however you look at it, but spread out over the life of the machine, it felt like a just-about-acceptable premium.
It’s not perfect - I have to use an external USB-C drive for non-everyday files because I couldn’t afford the insane prices to upgrade the SSD - but on balance I’m really pleased with my decision. Blazingly fast, should hopefully last me for another 7 or 8 years, and it’s pleasurable and smooth to use in a way that I don’t often feel with Windows machines, whatever their advantages in terms of specs.
None at all as far as I’m concerned. Other than not being able to use Logic and whatever other exclusive Apple products you want to use. But I would ask yourself if you really think they’re worth the money when there are loads of alternatives out there.
Definitely the first one.
About a year ago I decided to do some research and found out that consumer grade stuff tends to be more bells and whistles you’re paying for. Asus, Sony, Toshiba, whatever. I ended up buying a Lenovo Thinkpad with Windows 10 64-bit, 16GB RAM, 296GB HDD, i7 3740QM 2.7GHz for about $300 refurbished from ebay. My budget for just the laptop (I wanted to buy a new DAW, as I previously had FL Studio and was not liking it for the recording/mixing work I wanted to do…I also wanted to buy a bunch of soft synths) was $500, so being $200 under allowed me to buy soft synths (Arturia half off black friday) and my DAW of choice (Studio One, which was also half off) and still not break the bank. I basically got a whole recording setup for about $700…Which I believe is the price of some DAWs, even.
So you say you wanna build a PC? I say go for it. With all the money you save going down the Windows route (and it’s a lot…anywhere from $500-$1000, easy) you can buy more stuff (or don’t and save!) to make everything easier. 1TB SSD is only about $150 apparently, and you said you want to do video editing stuff so a really solid graphics card will probably cost a hefty coin, I imagine…
And if you want something portable just for music production, I highly recommend a Lenovo Thinkpad. The things are built like tanks and I haven’t had a single issue with mine in a year. I was literally just mixing a Studio One project with something like 50 audio tracks all with different plugins on them and haven’t had one hiccup. The only time my CPU takes a hit is if I’m doing intense stuff with Serum (insane amount of unison voices, 4x oversampling, etc.) and even then I can just bounce down the track. For a lot of the work I’m doing I’ll have a drum machine going (Impact in SO), multiple soft synths and multiple audio tracks and still be completely fine. If I had bitten a bullet and spent another $200 my laptop would never have an issue with any tracking or amount of instrument tracks. Computers are just insanely good now, and also insanely cheap.
I’ve bought my old dear and my missus new decent windows laptops and they both turned to complete shit, not sure if that’s due to technical incompetence destroying them though so not fair to judge from that. I’ve used windows in the past but not in a long time and never for music production. I’m not adverse to switching daw but I’m generally a logic user.
@Switchmode I’ve also been considering just building a separate pc for video editing. I’m actually running a base model 13” 2015 MBP 512gb at the moment, it actually does a decent job for general use but the biggest thing doing my head in at the minute is reliance on an external hard drive. If I accidentally unplug it without ejecting when I reconnect then it takes forever to rescan the hard drive. Then I have to reset paths to sample libraries and it’s just irritating.
@JuanSOLO another problem with my laptop is reaktor, there’s a fair few blocks patches that won’t even run without hardcore crackling. There’s a few reaktor ensemble that are a bit heavy for my cpu. Just need a little more power. How much did you put down for it?
Thanks @GirTheRobot and all the rest. tough choice. Hard to respond to everybody but appreciate the advice
I haven’t tried all the Blocks presets or whatever, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of them choked my computer. Some of those are just wild like that.
I would never recommened a hackintosh ever. Its a nightmare when it goes wrong and when theres an update , welp.
What I did is I got one of the older Mac laptops where you can upgrade the SSD and RAM yourself.(Last one before they got rid of the CDR drive) Saved myself a whole load of money. Bought it for around £800 a few years ago. Would be even cheaper now. Then replaced parts for better specs , it cost well under £1500!
in 2 words: just no.
Apple has plans about moving from x86_64 architecture to some kind of ARM64, probably starting in 2020.
so, in not very long time perspective, hackintosh is suboptimal, since someday they will drop x86_64 support, as they have dropped a lot of things before.
oh, and regarding stability:
keeping Hackintosh up to date always PITA. do you really want to deal with it?
P.S. linux rocks. but i’m not really recommending it, just saying.
I’m mostly a Windows user (because of gaming) since the beginning of times and Windows machines usually work well in music production scenarios. But not all.
I also had various issues along the years that were related to DPC Latency issues which are consubstantial to the OS and usually linked to faulty network adapter drivers (but sometimes… not).
I use Mac OS on a daily basis at work (I develop game apps on Xcode). We’ve tried Hackintoshes and we don’t recommend going down that way.
If you’re a Logic user, get a Mac. Buy one used if you don’t want to afford the premium for a new. They also have their quirks but you’re already used to them.
I solved the storage issue with an external SSD. Those are cheap and reliable and you can put the samples and library on them. I use that with my personal Macbook Pro that only has 128GB of storage. The NI Komplete suite and Maschine samples are on it, as well as other VSTs.
Performance is supposedly excellent because of the desktop CPU inside (the previous generation used laptop CPUs), it uses user-replaceble RAM modules, and it had a ton of fast ports for big external drives.
