Help meeeee

[WEABOO]

Using boot camp is an absolute pain in the ASS, especially with the new bullshit update apple released. A lot of the sound drivers do not work in boot camp, and you are forced to look for hours online for the right drivers. Even as I speak, my windows XP's sound driver is fucked up, making everything sound incredibly loud. If I didn't have the volume set to a little above minimum my hearing would be gone.

Look it up online. That, and the fact that most of the people I record with use PC, is why Im buying a PC to accompany my mac, instead of settling for boot camp.

[aether]

The best thing you can do is write out a list of reasons why you want either platform. Know what your two year game plan is for your music, and what you'll need to use to get there. You can always buy a Mac (or a PC) at a later date to accommodate the system you buy now. (You can interface the two through MIDI. ) Until then, choose a platform and stick to the hardware that you know will work inside and out.

Also be warned, that if you go with HP, you're stuck with Vista. If you go custom build, you can find something that works for XP.

[helix eternal]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Lim

Also be warned, that if you go with HP, you're stuck with Vista. If you go custom build, you can find something that works for XP.

But XP only supports 4GB (3.5 usable) of RAM
Vista Ultimate or w/e supports like, 64GB or something? and Vista isn't half as scary as people make it out to be, it just has bugs like any other operating system has when it first comes out. I think your biggest problem with it is you'll have to take all of 10 minutes installing/downloading drivers that it didn't come with

[WEABOO]

supposedly the new vista build is a lot more stable now (According to the guy who helped me pick out my computer parts anyway).

Im still skeptical though, so Im still asking around

[patrickphan2]

Vista is pretty good imo. I'm running on 64 Premium. The only thing bad is that if you have anything that requires a driver or something, it might not work but i most of my old programs fine(except for some video encoders, winamp). Hope that helps.

[Ryi]

Originally Posted by Warpticon

If you want to run a Mac for video and use Windows software for music, This is by far your best option.

I've looked into Psystar before, but yeah... the whole "suing" thing...

Originally Posted by ronji

that said, i've installed osX onto my Dell precision m4300, and it ran well. i also installed it on a built from scratch machine at home and it ran well. not everything worked, but success depends on your specific hardware and how far along the osx86 project has gone. this is not by any means a legal alternative, but it works.

i would go with the PC for all the reasons mentioned in previous posts.

Since I'm considering just updating the eMac I already have for all my mac-based, um, "stuff", I don't have any need to run osx on a pc. But yeah, thanks though. tbh I never really thought it was possible haha.

Originally Posted by PURPLE DRANK

protip: get one really fast HD, like 160gb or so for stuff you need on the fly, and get a couple cheap huge ones to back it up for installs, less commonly used samples etc etc.

Hmm... I'll keep this in mind. Thanks!

Originally Posted by helix eternal

I would sacrifice the little bit of extra HDD space and RAM for a better processor. You'll get better results NOW and you can always add more RAM and HDD's (external's are great for files that you don't use often)

Thanks as well! I'm not really the computer-savvy type... what sort of processor would you recommend?

Originally Posted by Jeremy Lim

The additional $500 isn't really worth it if you can survive in the meantime, and 6GB of ram is already a power horse system. But then again, it's an HP. Oh well.

lol, I've used hp's most of my life. I really don't see why everyone hates on them... but yeah, I heard that 8GB RAM on an hp running Vista is a waste, so I might settle for less.

Originally Posted by Jeremy Lim

Spend that $500 on getting Komplete 5.

I would pay that much just for Massive. Ha.

Originally Posted by The Chemist

I know this seems out of the question, but there is nothing better than just building your own computer. I'm having a guy I know build one for me, and I suggest you ask a friend or aquaintance of yours to help you out.

For the price you will pay for that HP you can have a powerhouse for a PC. I'm taking a TB of hard drive space, 3GHZ, Quad core, the works

It's not entirely out of the question. Most people I've talked to said I should go the custom build. Is it really that inexpensive? I know a few people who'd be willing to do it for me... approximately how long does it take?

Originally Posted by The Chemist

Using boot camp is an absolute pain in the ASS

Yes.

Originally Posted by The Chemist

Look it up online. That, and the fact that most of the people I record with use PC, is why Im buying a PC to accompany my mac, instead of settling for boot camp.

That's the way it's been with me for awhile now. Much more faster than running bootcamp!


Thanks for all the responses guys. As of right now, I'm thinking about looking into getting something custom made. If anyone has done this before, could you tell me what you got + why? Again, I'm really not that computer-savvy...

[WEABOO]

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...px?ID=10376648

This is what I picked out with the guy who is helping me build my PC. If you have any questions just ask (And if anyone has any comments do tell)

For music production, the most important thing to have is a good OS, a good soundcard (with MIDI [IMPORTANT]), a lot of RAM, and a lot of storage, which is why I went with this computer. I only have four GB of RAM down, but thats because Im not sure if Im going with XP or Vista 64 yet. If its the latter, I will go for the whole 8GB. I use a dual monitor setup, so it was also important that the graphics card be able to handle it, hence the two DVI outputs. I also made sure to get plenty of USB ports to put my interfaces in, and two firewire ports (which if youre going to be handling video, are extremely important).

Oh and keep in mind, this does not include XP/Vista costs, so in the end, for 1500 - 1600 USD, I get a powerhouse computer.

Oh, and to make things clear:

Originally Posted by PURPLE DRANK

the industry you're getting into muc like my own is 90% mac based, so I would reccommend switching over while you have the means too

If your industry is music, you should know that PC is starting to take over major studios now. One of the bigger ones I know down in Miami have already traded their mac pros for custom built PC's, after having used macs for 15 years. Its happening slowly, but don't be surprised in a couple of years when you find yourself staring at a Microsoft logo in a music studio.

For video however, there is still nothing better than the macs, but there are people out there who say that won't last much longer. We'll see anyway

In the end however, like everything else with technology, its not what you have, but what you do with it, so screw industry standards and all that jazz.

[Warpticon]

Terabyte hard drives are less than $150 now. 750GB hard drives are around a hundred bucks. If buying a prebuilt system, I wouldn't get any more specs than necessary since you can almost certainly add on for cheaper after purchase.

[DJ SymBiotiX]

My input: Build your own (as others have said).

Mine is
750 GB HD
3.0 GHz core 2 duo (OC'd to 3.4 GHz)
4 GB Ram
Some MB
(and some other stuff that I cant remember.. cause obviously these things alone dont come to 900 dollars)

for about 900 CDN

It all depends on how much your willing to pay.

[PURPLE STRiKER]

screwing industy standards is exactly what will keep you from getting a job. a jobsite isn't going to accomodate if you can't work with their systems. just because a few people in miami switchedover to pc doesn't mean that many IF ANY independent studios (which comprise the majority of where you will work) will just decide to drop tens of thousands of dollars just to switch over to pc and re-buy all their shit when they know and are used to what they have and it already works in the first place. its just not feasible. and like the chemist said video editing is mac dominant and if you really plan to get into that as a career consider the circumstances. /rant

edit: and I will be studyin film scoring and post btw

[ronji]

FWIW: i have never bought a premade machine from companies like dell or hp or whatever, when it comes to personal use. if i were in your shoes i'd be building a machine from scratch like i always do. i've worked for dell and at the company i work for now doing their IT stuff we buy only dell machines. when you build your own machine you don't really get the support contracts like you do when you buy a machine from dell or hp. i'm fine with that, which is why i roll the way i do. you should keep that in mind. you're not just buying hardware when you buy from hp, you're also buying support.

Originally Posted by PURPLE DRANK

screwing industy standards is exactly what will keep you from getting a job. a jobsite isn't going to accomodate if you can't work with their systems. just because a few people in miami switchedover to pc doesn't mean that many IF ANY independent studios (which comprise the majority of where you will work) will just decide to drop tens of thousands of dollars just to switch over to pc and re-buy all their shit when they know and are used to what they have and it already works in the first place. its just not feasible. and like the chemist said video editing is mac dominant and if you really plan to get into that as a career consider the circumstances. /rant

shit happens, not everyone uses only one platform or the other, learn them all. i can use macs, i can use PCs - both windows and linux. knowing how to use one or the other isn't all that matters, as it's not hard to learn a new platform, for our generation at least.

edit: also, when you get into post production companies you see that it isn't so much a matter of windows or mac. i toured a post production company in hollywood a few years ago. they were working on popular television shows, finishing up "windtalkers," editing some national lampoon movie for network television, etc. they have lots of big machines that do special tasks, i don't even remember the names. i saw one or two people in there on macs that were adding effects to some civil war TV show, but that was it. this is not necessarily representative of all media companies, but it's not unusual. i wanna say one guy was using some machine they called herbie or some shit, i can't remember.

[Ryi]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...px?ID=10376648

This is what I picked out with the guy who is helping me build my PC. If you have any questions just ask (And if anyone has any comments do tell)

I can't register to newegg... I'm Canadian!

Originally Posted by The Chemist

For music production, the most important thing to have is a good OS, a good soundcard (with MIDI [IMPORTANT]), a lot of RAM, and a lot of storage, which is why I went with this computer. I only have four GB of RAM down, but thats because Im not sure if Im going with XP or Vista 64 yet. If its the latter, I will go for the whole 8GB. I use a dual monitor setup, so it was also important that the graphics card be able to handle it, hence the two DVI outputs. I also made sure to get plenty of USB ports to put my interfaces in, and two firewire ports (which if youre going to be handling video, are extremely important).

Oh and keep in mind, this does not include XP/Vista costs, so in the end, for 1500 - 1600 USD, I get a powerhouse computer.

That's surprisingly cheap. Definitely getting a custom build now...

Originally Posted by The Chemist

In the end however, like everything else with technology, its not what you have, but what you do with it, so screw industry standards and all that jazz.

That's precisely how I think. If you're capable using both mac and windows, there shouldn't be any problem.

Originally Posted by DJ SymBiotiX

My input: Build your own (as others have said).

Mine is
750 GB HD
3.0 GHz core 2 duo (OC'd to 3.4 GHz)
4 GB Ram
Some MB
(and some other stuff that I cant remember.. cause obviously these things alone dont come to 900 dollars)

for about 900 CDN

How's it working out for you? 900 CDN is more in my immediate price range... are you running XP?

Originally Posted by PURPLE DRANK

edit: and I will be studyin film scoring and post btw

Keep me updated on how it's going! I'm interested to know.

Originally Posted by ronji

FWIW: i have never bought a premade machine from companies like dell or hp or whatever, when it comes to personal use. if i were in your shoes i'd be building a machine from scratch like i always do. i've worked for dell and at the company i work for now doing their IT stuff we buy only dell machines. when you build your own machine you don't really get the support contracts like you do when you buy a machine from dell or hp. i'm fine with that, which is why i roll the way i do. you should keep that in mind. you're not just buying hardware when you buy from hp, you're also buying support.

I don't think I've ever had to contact a company for support, other than my ISP. The hp's I'm looking at come with only a 1-year contract, so really, I'd be paying extra for something I'm very likely to never use.

ATM I'm stuck on getting a custom built machine. Hopefully everything will work out... thanks everyone for all of your thorough and informational responses!

[WEABOO]

Originally Posted by PURPLE DRANK

screwing industy standards is exactly what will keep you from getting a job. a jobsite isn't going to accomodate if you can't work with their systems.

Lmfao are you serious

[helix eternal]

there is no ONE industry standard for ANY type of media

like ronji was saying, not all companies use macs for video editing, some use windows systems, some use linear editing systems

[Eshmasesh]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

Using boot camp is an absolute pain in the ASS, especially with the new bullshit update apple released. A lot of the sound drivers do not work in boot camp, and you are forced to look for hours online for the right drivers. Even as I speak, my windows XP's sound driver is fucked up, making everything sound incredibly loud. If I didn't have the volume set to a little above minimum my hearing would be gone.

..... yeah.... in the exact same boat here :|