Switched from PC to Mac: 1 year later. Is it REALLY better? 20-Year PC-DAW user's experience 

Lol, hey now, gaming is the perfect way to take a break from time to time...

Bad news... with the introduction of the M3, Apple have started making a drive into the game market.... so expect to see more titles coming to Mac over the next few years. 🤷🏼‍♂️😬🤣 But, if I wanna game, I have an Xbox Series X for that - something Microsoft actually makes well! Or, well, I have a number of high end PC's on a shelf that would run games if I wanted them to... not as if they do anything else anymore 🤷🏼‍♂️🤣

@@mkgilmore The main reason I would like an M3 is because of the efficiency of the SoC ARM chip design, have 10-20 hours of battery life is awesome, but it is sooooooo expensive for not being able to run games properly yet. Once it can run overwatch at at least 240 FPS at 1080p with render at 100%, no stutter and minimal input lag, then I will be paying more attention. They will get there, I know that, but right now I cannot afford to buy one, especially since my current laptop runs Ableton 12 pretty much flawlessly. For the same price as the M3 I can build a PC that runs overwatch at 540 fps and buy a 540 hz refresh rate monitor. Which if you don't know what that means, lets just say it blurs the line between cgi and reality, it is soooo smooth to look at extreme refresh rate monitors (not artificial refresh rate like some tvs have, proper refresh rate renders every individual frame, no artificial copying.).

​@@vodkastudios4170worked in IT over 30 years mate, know exactly what you mean! They will get there, eventually for gaming - it's a serious goal for them now. But if that's what's important to you - then I for sure wouldn't be an early adopter of them for gaming. Everything else though, game on! They're just going to keep getting better, so they'll be ready, when you are! 😉

@@mkgilmore If i could afford the expense, I would get one right now, that battery life is such a good selling point, it would make me go outside more to make music and that alone is awesome. Camping with it and only having to bring one jackery battery for a whole week of charging? Yeh it isa pretty cool lol. But I will wait a little longer.

You probably aren't fully booked in your studio and have enough free time for all that computer hands on work

@@Kris_jellybeard Probbaly doesn't need to be with all the money saved.

@@Kris_jellybeard I just like tinkering with things. The backup PC taking over production duties cost less than half of the Mac. If there's only one downside, it's the ILok-locked plugins I can't use when something goes wrong. If Apple concedes to a right to repair law, I'd be very willing to welcome a Mac in my space. At the end of the day, they're all just tools making the same result.

@@royaltyfreemusiccollective8662 If the money you save on tinkering your tools is compensating the income loss, then your business is not viable.

@@MattStevens9824 So you run a hobby, not a real business.

I love my PC, and I love building them. I am due for an upgrade this fall when the new chipset comes out, however, I'm intrigued. Safe to assume you are a musician and record in a DAW, since you are here on this video. If so, if you had used PC and have all your VSTs in Windows format, do you have to buy them all over again for MAC, since that is a different installer/package?

If you've been a PC Windows guy for more than 20 years then maybe you can help me? I have one Windows PC that is about 4 years old. It's been crashing quite a bit lately. Sometimes I turn it on and it doesn't boot up. Other times it boots up then I run software and it crashes within a few minutes. So I recently upgraded the boot drive with a brand new SSD. It still crashes. Doesn't seem to have rhyme or reason. Any ideas on why (my) a Windows PC computer keeps crashing? Even with a new SSD? I've had Macs for decades and they almost never crash. My one Windows PC has crashed more in the past 3 years than all of my Macs combined for over 20 years of Mac computers. I've probably owned at least 15 Macs.

@@777trader8 I know you were asking the other guy, but have you reseated your RAM? That can sometimes be an easy issue to fix, but it depends. Started by doing that first.

@@777trader8 Unfortunately there isn't a specific thing to name as a cause. First I would buy a power supply with more wattage. Cause after years a "low quality" rig is loosing more wattage then a high quality one (still they loose some). In this case if your hardware takes to much energy it shuts down. Doing Paper work might be fine, playing card games too. But in the moment you run a specific task it needs just a strong energy peak for the system to shut down for security reason. Buy It somewhere you are able to send it back if it still doesn't work. Second I would take one RAM out. If you have 4 sticks, try it with 2, if you have two, try it with one. Try them on different Lane configs. Depending on the CPU you might have onboard graphics. If so, take out your graphics card for testing. If you don't have measuring tools than trial and error is your only option.

​@@KevboKev For some reason my answer wasn't saved. Compatibility depends on the manufacturer. The VST/FX I use/used were available for PC and Mac on one purchase as separate downloads. But back then not every Plugin was Apple silicon compatible. That shouldn't be an issue since it's 3 years ago, but if you use very specific, long time not updated plugins from small companies, then these might not work natively. Better check their website if your work depends on those. Still there is a workaround to run your DAW through Rosetta (Virtual Windows and/or x64 MacOS), but with the cost of more resources. I for myself had most troubles with some waves plugins.

And they tell you it needs a new Logic board..which you can't buy yourself from anyone else

@@royaltyfreemusiccollective8662 and they spy on you too, and were called out for it a couple of years back.

@@royaltyfreemusiccollective8662I’ve worked for producers that use Macs and I’ve heard “it’s the logic board” multiple times at the Apple Store. Every single time they just bought a new MacBook because of the expense and they were going to lose everything on the laptop anyway. There was a period pre 2010 when Apple support was great but my experience the last 15 years has been “when there’s a problem, open your wallet”.

been using iMacs since 1999.... out of the 4 Mac's I've owned over the last 25 years, only one iMac (2007) had a logic board failure and that was in 2021, 14 years after I'd bought it and used it daily. they're workhorses that dont break. I still have to use PC's every day at work. what a nightmare they are, continually needing an I.T. department to fix things like not recognising a printer on the network, you know... basic shit.

@@coldacre They aren't workhorses. They are shiny fragile unicorns. We have owned 5 Apple computers over the past 20 years and 3 have died due to poor thermal design. A 20" Imac, a 27" Imac and a Macbook Pro all under 5yrs old. The two Mac Minis have been fine which is probably because there's no screen built into them. I'm sure the M2 mini will be fine as it runs pretty cool compared to the intel based machines. I've never had a PC hardware failure other than an old style HDD go down which I was able to just swap out unlike the current Apple computers. If you are the type of person that needs an IT Dept to get basic things like a printer working then yes you probably are better off having a simpler OS.

@@perrykeshahwalker5321 same

This. I've been a mac guy since 2005 and I'm afraid I've bought my last mac. If I can't change the SSD (which is a wear part!) then the machine is going to landfill in a few years. That is totally not aligned with my values.

Apple is not in the PC business any more. You won't see anything reasonable from Apple any longer. They want the younger demographic, which doesn't relate to PC's. It's been about the Iphones till now but that's live it's purpose as well. Now they are a SW and services company. Recurring revenue every month, full access to all your date, unlimited advertising revenue. Steve would be proud of how they're ripping you.

Right. Add couple of pcie cards, a number of ssd or internal or swappable spinning drives (cheap!), and a mac doesn't do it.

you're a business with a Windows infrastructure that you've invested money into. of course you wouldnt be able to afford switching 22 PC's over to Mac. your customers though... arent they musicians? how does the operating system of your clients have anything to do with playing a WAV file?

I'm working on a Mac Studio and use a gaming PC privately, so I'm agnostic in this regard. If I think of the exhaust heat and enery consumption of 22 PCs compare to 22 M-Macs nowadays, I certainly would pick the Macs, but backwards-compatibility regarding software is really bad on MacOS because of all those CPU-switches. But probably is even worse with the ARM-Windows now coming and I doubt that x86 can compete on this level of efficacy.

@@coldacre well, for ex. Mac can't even properly extract huge archive files, quite a bummer for bigger data, also Mac can't decrypt Bitlocker external drives, cannot write to NTFS drives, recent MacOS version even corrupts external drives formatted as exFat... there's too much hassle with Win-Mac interoperability it's not worth at all at bigger scale of multiple studios (we're in similar situation like above)

@@TazzSmk I seen apps at the apple App Store that would let you write read and write on NTFS drives. I also tried to use exFat so it would be interchangeable with windows and Mac but exFat seems to make the files bigger or the drive space smaller.

This is simply because there are people grown up with Windows and others with Apple and yet others who discover that they were not in the right world all the time but thought it was normal - not until they change they notice they were in the wrong one all the time 🙂

@@blackcouchstudio6622 thank you for comment. I agree with you. I would NEVER consider a Trashcan Mac Pro. That’s why I never went for it. But the big problem with many comments is they come from people that have ONLY used one of the two systems. Some of them are not only biased but also entirely wrong as they assume pros and cons for each platform. It’s no surprise that the most meaningful comments (no matter the side) is from people who used both. Like you 😀

@@DomSigalas the Mac Studio specs look amazing for the footprint. I would consider moving back to that in my studio only, if finances allowed. But currently I couldn't justify the expense because my PC based system is working perfectly. (watch, I probably just jinxed it!)

@@blackcouchstudio6622 hahaha PC’s can provide amazing performance if you know how to navigate issues when/if they arrive. For me it was the update situation that was the most problematic. I asked people from DAW building companies about this and they all agreed that this policy from MS is not very welcome to them either. But other than that, if it works, don’t break it- I wouldn’t change my PC either if it wasn’t that there was this big coincidence that when I was considering it Apple came out with the Mac Studio with the M2 Ultra Silicons :)

2006 here. I had a similar experience as his. We had a professional recording studio, and we kept having a lot of trouble with PCs-constantly tweaking and tuning them-yet we never got them to work perfectly. There’d always be random crashes or clicks and pops in the audio. And we had a number of professionals come in and replace components, tweak the registry (which we all became experts on), and so on. Switching to Macs was a culture shock. We took them out of the boxes, plugged in the gear, and everything just worked.

Have you installed the software from Kensington? I would actually suggest you invest in an app called Steermouse - it is much more powerful!

@@DomSigalas yes, I have installed the application properly and defined what each button should do... Great, I'll download it, thank you very much!!! Greetings from Thessaloniki.

@@StudioFanThess Try Steermouse- you will never go back ❤

I have quite literally never heard anyone say they've had issues with Logic on Apple Silicon. I can easily run 140 tracks on my MBP M1 Pro, and crazy amounts more on the M2 Ultra - and I've never had glitching. Is it maybe down to something like a third party plugin?

Yes, plus the annoying issue of OS upgrades completely breaking a lot of DAW software. It would be nice to be able to upgrade to new OS features straight away, and not having to lag behind OS releases just to make sure everything works

@@mkgilmore it's a combo. Mac studios have been reported by multiple users in Reddit to suffer from SSDs randomly disconnecting (this created a lot of issues with samplers like Kontakt f.e.) and yes 3rd party plugins. The problem is I'm using M1-Silicon versions of those plugins but yet they cause problems even tho Logic successfully validated them. And Native Instruments is not a random bedroom developer. I have 300€ worth of plugins I wasn't able to use because of all these inconsistencies. The same plugins worked well in the Intel based macs for years. The new comer here is the Mac Silicon architecture. I have to point out I'm only speaking for the Mac Studio M1 based. I rarely saw bad reports from M1 Macbooks. Nor I know if from M2 onwards things got stable again. Mac Studio has been, by far, the worst investment I've ever made.

@@simonr344 so it's unreasonable to think that they have to stop developing the OS in such a way to not only maintain its security, but also add new features - but also not break things in the process, that developers need to change their code for? C'mon man, absolutely nobody that's running thesr devices professionally is going to update their OS to a brand new version, straight out of the box - without it being tried and tested in some kind of way. Don't get me wrong - some of the updates have required more to be changed by developers than others, and that's not only meant that it's taken longer for 3rd party software manufacturers to "fix" their stuff, but also that they break more things in the process. That's just part and parcel of any serious featureset or security update, and the same happens on Windows too. If your machine is critical to you, then you wait until such times as all your 3rd party suppliers have updates, and confirmed their software to work on the new version. If you want to be an early adopter, have either a second OS partition installed on your device (same advice applies for both Mac and Windows), or a separate device that you use for testing or other purposes. I'm not sorry to say, that only amateurs prioritise playing with new OS features, over the stability of their workstation. And the same pitfall is agnostic of whichever OS you choose. 🤷🏼‍♂️

@@mkgilmore you're right. It's easier for app dev to dev for Apple because of the hardware-software compatibility. In the Windows world, god knows what card, driver, ram, mainboard you use to build it? So it's very random and sometimes it just doesn't work with some combinations. But for Mac, everything is the same. Nothing in the world is 100% bug proof but Apple just does it better than other brands.

Same, still runs like the day I got it, even after two major OS updates, to now running Sonoma. Most Windows laptops I've previously had would have either needed a full fresh install by now, or replaced! But the M1 Pro just keeps on running! I'll probably update it when the M4 comes out, but I'm certainly not feeling the need to from a performance standpoint. And as Dom also said, the resale market and value for these things is STRONG, as we all know just how much life and worth is still in these machines. It's insane!

How much RAM you have?

​@@takaliuang16Gb on my M1 Pro MacBook, and 192Gb on my M2 Ultra Mac Studio. I've never had any issues with either running out of memory, even with large video projects.

@@takaliuang 32GB, 16GB would have been fine too…

💯

Same here mate. Everything just works for Windows with me. I hate the Mac OS window management as well so much I was ready to throw the computer. Windows shortcuts and os just make sense to me and it just works..

I had a Mac for 12 years and now I use Windows with no issues... I think it's up to you

Windows and RME UFX 3 are rock solid together and I never have to worry about an OS update bricking my plugins.

@@dannyprecysroadtoforever5234 Yes! RME! Rock solid!

@@BleuNoirProductions 🤣🤣🤣 I doubt that !

still RULES!!!

@@lanceevans1689 you can spend a lot of money, but it won't make the audio performance better. Highest end desktop CPUs are priced well below 1000€

@@lanceevans1689 Well the 14900 or 7960x I can get for 500€. I don't think you can get better desktop CPUs, or can you? I'm terms of audio realtime performance, that will be the bottleneck. You can always spend a lot of money on ram, storage and graphics cards

@@lanceevans1689 and by that I obviously mean that you might still need 128gb of ram, but even that is rather very cheap

@@lanceevans1689 you can get it for pretty much just that (64gb ram, 1tb storage) with everything exceeding that being treated as add-ons. Idk you could shove a 1050ti in there to make it work. My PC cost 1.1k before I upgraded my graphics card

You want an OS that just is what it is and nothing more. Not one that doesn't get in your way. MacOS gets in the way so badly. Can't stand it.

@@rmcq1999 not for me. I'm turning Mac on, I'm opening Cubase and then I can work all day without any issue. The last Windows that I enjoyed using was Win7. I can't stand Win10 and Win11 (the latter I still use for the Game Dev). Win11 is horrible for HiDPI and multi-monitor setup. So many issues with DAW and plugins it's crazy. On Mac zero issues with HiDPI. How it gets in your way? Bugs? Errors?

@@rmcq1999Absolutely the complete opposite for me. Everything works on my Mac’s and I never need to hack the system or anything of that nature. At work the IT department is constantly coming down to fix another problem on the PCs

@@lanceevans1689 Well that hasn't been my experience where I work, or indeed the other places I've worked. Maybe it has been like that elsewhere, but it has not been my experience. Big or small, the fact is, it's alway been the PCs that seem to always be needing assistance and maintenance in my experiences.

@@lanceevans1689 But many creatives don't want to be computer geeks, they just want a reliable machine so they can get on with creating which is perhaps the reason Macs are popular in the creative fields. I think it's something of a misconception that Macs are 'locked down' though. Sure, Apple have always tried to make things easy and reliable but it doesn't mean you can't go under the hood if you want to.

I have never needed to repair my Macs. 🤷‍♂️

@@RayyMusik Good . Because you can't - they won't sell you the parts. 75% of the 4 Apple computers I've owned have gone wrong.

@@RayyMusik Wait until they age. And moreover I had been a Mac Pro user since a long time now I've had the trustly old 2009 Mac Pro with dual CPU that thing was my favourite because it had modular components, I still use that computer for my works along with a custom built windows PC with i9 and 256gigs of memory but nowadays even tho newer macs are better I cannot simply afford to have a computer with all soldered-in hardware, if something goes wrong you'll have to take them to their authorised service centers and waste your time, that doesn't sound 'pro' to me.

@@junaidsiddiquemusic My iMac Pro is 6 years old without any issues. I don‘t expect it to run for 100 years.

@@RayyMusik That iMac Pro has modular components inside unlike today’s Macs which is just a one logic board like a phone. 😂😂

Never had an issue with spikes, ever on Mac, whereas got them regularly on PC (Ryzen 3900, then 5950x, 64Gb DomPlat, 2x Samsung 990 Pro PCIe v4 NVMe m.2, Nvidia RTXa5000 GPU). Whilst those machines were both specced and built for live broadcast purposes (and still fulfil that role), they have never been able to handle anywhere near the amount of tracks at the same time, as any of the new Apple Silicon. And the Mac Studio M2 Ultra (24 core) that I have now, will absolutely DESTROY the 5950x on any render too. I did have to adjust the buffer slightly (to 512) on Ableton Live 11 and 12 on larger projects - but this hasn't been the case with Logic (10 or 11), Bitwig Studio (my preferred DAW), or Cubase. I've had zero issues with E cores being used over P cores either on my M1 Pro MacBook, or the M2 Ultra Mac Studio. They just keep slappin!

@@mkgilmore Spikes have been an issue for some time now, especially on apps the use the JUCE dev platform. (I beta test for PlugIn Guru Unify and many Mac M series users have complained.) See thread on the JUCE forum: "FR: Thread-Priority vs Efficiency/Performance Cores".

@@TonyThomas10000 I'll have a look at that later, interesting. I run some plugs that are based on JUCE 6, and I even think 7 too - but I can't say that I've noticed any spikes (and I can see all the cores easily via iStatMenus at all times). Be interested to see what's the cause of that, and try to replicate it.

@@mkgilmore There is a RU-vid video "Roland Cloud VST plugins - XV-5080, JV-1080, SRX VSTi" that shows spikes in action. The person has a M1 Max. The XV-5080 VST works just fine on my Ryzen 7.

@@TonyThomas10000 cool, I should be able to replicate that, both ways - although I only have Ryzen 9's, that shouldn't matter.

Some simple tips for that problem: Don't update your operating system the first day it arrives. No rush, wait for the upgrade to your audio interface manufacture has upgraded its drivers.If your hardware is way too old, you may not be able to upgrade your operating system at all. Buy a new audio interface. Pro Tools 9 is 14 years old. it's not Apple that doesn't care, it's your audio interface manufacturer that doesn't think it's worth creating new drivers for their older stuff. It applies to all types of operating systems.

​@@hedisenIt doesn't apply to Windows, or at least not anywhere near the same extent.

@@hedisen It's, in fact, Apple not caring. Every single major OS version (as far as one can call it major as it's still OS X) some production software or device suddenly stops working or being supported, due to some protocol changing on Apple's end. And sometimes companies go out of business, making it completely impossible to ever update Mac OS while still using the software or hardware. As someone used to both Mac and PC, I've never had that happen on Windows.

Apple is constantly improving security for you as a user, they cannot allow really old drivers from your audio interface manufacture to run on their more secure operating system. That would be a security risk. Windows and Android doesn't really care of your security and privacy. Don't blame Apple, blame the manufacture of the audio interface that doesn't care about their old hardware users. Should the audio interface manufacture care about a driver for a 14 year old product? - Well, that is a better question.

@@hedisen It's a false sense of security. When is the last time you've heard about audio hardware/software causing security issues? Now when is the last time you've heard of companies going out of business? Exactly, one never happens, the other does all the time. When I own things, be it hardware or software, I very much would like the choice to still have it working like it did. Even if protocols are no longer supported by Windows, one can still get it up and running easily without hassle, whereas on Mac that's quite literally impossible. Besides, if it was for the sake of Apple's security, it means their previous OS wasn't actually secure...

From my humble experience is that you unauthorize vsts from your computer and reauthorise to a new one. I’ve had to do this for Ableton, MPC and I have just got Kontakt and isotope so suspect it’s the same thing. I also have an ilok account to handle my authorizations and universal audio is another one that I’ve used. It shouldn’t cost anything. Aside from an ilok usb but you can just make an account for free. They do realise thr people change computers so I don’t think you’ll have an issue

it isnt difficult to factor in the RAM when you buy a Mac. I bought a Mac Mini Pro with 32GM RAM last year, I'm good for the next decade. this continual need to upgrade your computers parts is not something I'm interested in. buy it once, forget about it.... then get on with making music.

sorry to tell you that, you did not have understood apple... there is no need to share files they are all there on every mac or ios-device

I’ve been using Mac and Windows for a long time, and it is TRIVIAL to share data between the platforms, so I don’t know what you’re talking about there. But you’re right about the RAM prices.

I use Airdrop and it just works...

@@fernandofragoso4118 AirDrop isn't available on Windows or Android. Only in Apple environment.

Lots of utilities & other programs iLike won't run even on 7, let alone 10 or krapintosh. All the stuff he talks about U can do on windows XP as well or better, which is my main OS. Silly how many fools pretend they can't use N E thing but the 'latest greatest $camware' =)) Newer doesn't mean better. If a restaurant 'no longer supports' making real food & now only offers bowls of dog $hit 4 lunch, these clowns will gobble down the poo =P I'll stick with the 'stale pastry', thanx =D Nothing is perfect.

100% agree. I switched in 2010, and you couldn't pull any of my Macs out of my cold, dead fingers! The time I save alone, makes the investment worth it - easily!!!

So 22 years without a real comparison but sure everything here is valid, uhuh.

Hey, never say never. I mean, I NEVER thought I'd recommend a macbook (Air M1) as the best value computer when it came out. But I know what you're saying. For Music production, it's awfully hard to go against a Mac, unless you have a music PC maker. I wish I could say the same for blender, but can't win em all.

Like Dom, I’m a professional user and have come into contact with current Windows systems. That’s how I’m able to make that claim. I’ve been using computers for music since the Commodore 64, then the Atari ST and spent 3 years on Windows before getting a Mac. That’s how I know what Dom’s saying is valid and to say that a Mac isn’t a real computer is just a sign of a Windows fanboy lashing out in anger. If something is better, then I’ll use it and especially since the introduction of Apple Silicon, a Mac is better. Simple as that!

what revelations on windows?

@@papahuge Win Recall, worst idea ever, security wise.

@@lanceevans1689 Until they decide it will be on forever. Remember telemetry that had an off switch before?

@@lanceevans1689 I agree with your words... Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

💯

Agree!

Oh God, I despise Mac file management. Of all the reasons why I hate Macs, that one is very high on the list.

You don't use Cubase on a Mac. Cubase is a way better on a PC, because the VST formats work better on a PC in my opinion.

What's so good about file management in Windows? I sometimes miss the ability to calculate the sizes of all folders in a list view and then sort them by size, something MacOS has been able to do for ages. By the way, I have a Windows 11 desktop at home and use a MacBook for work. I see advantages and disadvantages in both operating systems, but will admit I prefer MacOS overall. Except for gaming. :)

I moved to mac Mini M2 Pro 16gig from a i7 32gig pc and the Mac is just so much better. Was worried about the 16 gig ram since I could not afford more but so far still much better and no problems with my 16 gig ram.

@@SkeadFerdinandMusic Awesome! thanks for that info

@@lopez_guitar pleasure.

​@@SkeadFerdinandMusicthe memory management in Macs is insanely more efficient than Windows managing a swap file - that's for sure! Whilst I'd definitely recommend 16Gb minimum (moreso for future OS upgrades etc), I've also seen 8Gb machines do stupid hard tasks way better than they should too. I've never run out of memory on any Mac I've ever used... and I use the absolute crap out of them! As I said though, if you can - definitely always get 16Gb minimum. 😉

This video seems very biased as I assume he has had a bad experience with Windows. For what its worth, Windows just works and keeps working for me. Never had a single DAW issue. The fans might kick up and be more noisy but hell I could care less as long as the OS experience is good and for me the window and shortcut management is much better in Windows.

Everyone has their own process, and moving to Mac can be a steep one if you're not used to it. I've worked in IT for over 30 years, and in my experience of Apple from a professional standpoint as well as a personal one - they have never once let me down on support, especially if it's a confirmed hardware issue. 9 times out of 10, they would just replace the hardware completely. Sometimes witg custom builds, they will have to send those away for repair, due to them not having the matching specs to swap them with. So I am a bit gobsmacked with your experience. These things are meant to make your life simpler - so you've got to do what you want, within your own boundaries to achieve it. If running on PC doesn't give you any hassle, and makes you happier - then maybe that's just the solution for you. Maybe one day you'll try Macs out again, and hopefully have a better experience than you did last time - but either way, so long as you're happy with it, it's the right solution. 😉

@@mkgilmore And how long does that take? I had a cooler block's motor give out. I swapped it for a new unit that I had couriered over and was up and running on that system 2 hours after it failed. I got a full refund on the warranty return two weeks later. No warranties on any of the components of that build were void as a result and I wasn't waiting around for brilliant service that I had paid through the nose for in the purchase price.

@@rmcq1999 that's fantastic, great that it works for you. But remember that the vast amount of people that use computers, don't have the technical knowledge to actually do these things themselves. That's why people like me have made such a great career in IT. 😉 For random Joe Bloggs on the street, it's probably dependant on what support is available in your area, but even at that, if your box is under warranty from an OEM, you either need to get an onsite visit (if you even have that coverage), or return-to-base and await a repair. So it's apples to apples, literally 🤣 in that scenario. Depending on the age of the box, and the hardware configuration, I've often seen Apple just issue a new or refurb box when you take your broken unit in for repair - so the theoretical "downtime" is minimised, in those scenarios. But being brutally honest with you, I've seen nothing but new spec PC's give nothing but problems with audio related scenarios. From buffer underrun, and being unable to render or sustain realtime audio, plugin stability issues, to just generally poor performance (on high spec machines) - each PC can be totally different, and have a different resolution... if there even is one. In some cases, it's not even an issue that can be resolved - with processor manufacturers blaming the motherboard manufacturers, to everyone blaming Microsoft. It's great to watch as a finger-pointing exercise - but absolutely useless if you need a resolution to a problem that renders your hardware useless for the purpose it was built and paid for. Whereas, buy a Mac - and it's a consistent experience, in my (and most others) experience. I can guarantee the same behaviour between different devices, their consistency is repeatable - and that's what a lot of people need, especially when they use their devices to keep clients happy, and make money with. Not spend hours/days/weeks playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey with an operating system that seems to have been designed to work against you. 🤷🏼‍♂️

ROFL @ PCs R just 'hobby' computers = clearly Y they R by far the main thing in all professional business & production environments, world wide =))

Like there R not over a dozen different 'virtual desktop' apps 4 every version of WIndows = LOL

But you get exactly what you want and there are so many third party apps available to get exactly what you want. And if you're proficient, it doesn't take hours to configure.

I found it interesting that the new $700 M1 Macbook at my local Walmart had a broken screen in the first week it was on display. Retail laptops today tend to have very fragile screens, and apparently this one is no exception. I only buy laptops with a durable screen (usually Dell Business laptops) because their going to get dropped at some point. And while $700 price point vs a PC is not bad, there is no way to upgrade past the 8 gb ram. (or upgrade past the 256 gb hard drive) And 8 gb ram is not equal to 16 gb in a PC as Apple would like to make you think.

Im with you in this bro its just acward to choose mac over pc especialy for us who do programming and gaming mac is trash and hype you have to stuck with what they gave you in the box with pc you can always upgrade and overclock

MBP late 2017, broken from the start: "Butterfly Keyboard" was the first noticeable mishap, got replaced with another "improved" keyboard that was unusable, too. Battery failed more and more often, took them years to admit they built crap. So then I called support, okay, they'd exchange it for free. Got it sent back to me, "yeah it's broken, but sometimes it runs, so it is not broken enough", no replacement. Paid 250€ to have the battery replaced (including the top case/keyboard, cannot be separated from the battery part). Got it back, it ran for a day, then: Complete death. And no new top casing, because miraculously the construction must have had changed somehow. Called them, sent it back. There they found a liquid damage. In an engine I had treated like the "apple of my eye". After having thoroughly tested and repaired it, oopsie, where did that come from? They contacted me, for ONLY 400€ more they would also replace the top case. And stuff like this happens all the time and lots of deluded fanbois don't want to shamefully admit having been ripped off. Apple are scammers, a fraudulent bunch, whom I hate with my guts. Burn, Cupertino, burn!

What on earth are you doing to these things

@@Harrysound A fair thought but all was normal use. I actually used to work for Steinberg for almost a decade. Every one of our Intel MBP had battery issues that had to be fixed. 3 personal Mac laptops and Mac Pro all had to be fixed. I left the audio world professionally for IT. I have a ton of expensive products at work and at home and I don't have any real issues. Only PC part I have had go bad in 20 years was a mobo. I realized I was likely just unlucky but the experience has left me not wanting to return to Apple. Funny extra: Once I had a rubber foot on my Macbook fall off and I was at the Apple store and they said they had to send it in!! lmao. I will never forget that.

Fame and toys ....

Had one myself as a kid. It was great if you had £1000s in 90s money for hardware synths, samplers, an ADAT etc… a modern DAW and software synths can replicate for far less outlay. The MIDI ports and Mac-like interface made it a beast for MIDI sequencing but a sequencer isn’t a modern DAW. An Atari Falcon 030 with Cubase Audio and a DSP for effects rendering was a game changer because it was the best of both worlds but you still needed a lot of external gear to replicate a modern DAW. Again. Because of the limitations of a CPUs of the time and the need for external MIDI synths.

@@barkmonster That isn't the point. You can make music using a basic second hand $200 HP i.7 laptop. That is my point.

​@@louminati4318 That's true, but you can't compete in this industry with a 200$ hp laptop, because it's about speed, precision and a lot of tools for any case, some client may want. I agree on the fact that this isn't what a carrier in music production/writing should be, but it is.

@@MaxKusari mate you can very easily make a 90s style house & garage track using a 200 pound laptop. That is all I’m saying.

@@louminati4318 I've got music on TV that was made with Pentium PC and an ADAT

Ever seen Loopback and Audio Hijack by Rogue Amoeba? If you like Agg. Interfaces, prepare to have you mind *explode* 🤯😉🤣 There isn't anything you can't do with audio routing on a Mac! One of the reasons I love them so much!

and why would you use old software?

​@@Kris_jellybeardstrange question. Because it's good

@@pavelmolchanov7156 and not working on newer machines 😀

Sure! Watch my video on the Multidock 10G! This is what I use for storage for all my libraries!

I'm skeptical myself. When I look up the passmark M2 pro max cpu it's benchmarks are quite low. Even the low wattage 13900t (for micro pc's) is close to double it's score. Some people say don't pay attention to benchmarks, but in my experience, the scoreboard doesn't like (Jim Rome). The lower the benchmarks the slower the pc runs. As I upgraded to faster cpu's with higher benchmarks, my PC's fly. So I trust Passmarks results over fan boys of either side saying how fast their machine is. That is why I requested Dom to show us a side by side i9 PC stacked with synths vs a Mac 2 pro stacked with synths both at the same buffer setting to see how many they can handle. To me that's a real world test. My guess is the Apple will do quite fine, but with benchmarks that low, I tend to think it will start dropping out sooner than the i9.

Getting a great USB bus is ESSENTIAL. I got the Razer Thunderbolt 4 Dock: 10 Ports in 1 and it has worked absolutely flawless. I’ve never had a single issue with it ever.

@@BeatsAndMeats Yes, having highest quality peripherals (and cables) is crucial, but I'm referring to the USB bus on the motherboard. The actual architecture of the hardware and its controllers. There seems to be an issue with some of the M1s where they can't handle bussing priorities.

Such a valid point. The amount of money you spent for a decked out Mac Studio is just not realistic for me. But I've been a mac user for about 20 years and I switched to PC for the cost savings and built the computer I wanted and it's been working extremely well for me. I really enjoy Apple but I can't justify the cost of a decked out Mac Studio.

Yeah I just looked at the price tag of the max and the ultra and daaaaayyyyymmm😮

@@PurpleMusicProductions Yeaaaaaah that money would get You a really sup't up PC and a second one for back up.haha

I would encourage you to watch the video. I literally talk about three different setups starting from below 1000 bucks, just over 1000 bucks, 2500-3000 bucks. The machine I got is for a full blown video production company needs. I state this when I mention it. For most users it’s an overkill but this doesn’t mean that I recommend this for most users. So please don’t take the extremes as an example. Watch the video. Even with my MacBook Pro that’s now 3 years old I get amazing performance. And these you can now find second hand at very good prices :) ❤️

You don’t need to by a Mac Studio. I run a video production company. For me it makes sense. You can get a perfectly powerful Mac Mini for just over 1000 bucks. That’s not too bad compared to PCs.

Why would you buy a fully spec’d Mac Studio? Do you need it? Probably not. Like you don’t need 3 PCs. I run a video production company so it makes sense for me. I have mentioned at least 3 more affordable options (MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, MacBook Air). You can get a Mac Mini and the performance is amazing. So you don’t need to spend £8K :) Mac minis can give you great performance for £1200-£1400. “Macs are expensive” is a myth these days, sorry. Also, if you talk about issues with thermals it means you haven’t tried the new Apple Silicon Macs. Which is the biggest mistake that PC users make. Try it first and then you can make up your mind. I use and have both so I can talk without guessing. Also, Photoshop works perfectly even on the latest version of MacOS (Sonoma). So I have no clue what the issue is here. Anti repair: Apple has ALWAYS fixed any computer I sent them for repair even ones that were out of warranty. So this argument is not true either. Modularity: if you plan to switch ram sticks and GPUs every few months go to town with PCs. :)

@@DomSigalas I am not talking about Apple repairing stuff at their extortionate prices ( and they will pretty much always tell you it needs a new Logic board even if it's not true ) but selling the parts to allow those of us capable to fix or upgrade our own machines. We have an M2 Mac Mini - my wife does not see much if any performance increase over her old Intel Mac Mini which was about 5yrs old in Lightroom & Photoshop. And they are expensive if you want 2024 ram & hdd configurations. They price them cheap with ram and storage that was adequate a decade ago then charge through the nose to add the extra which you can't do yourself. Like I said, anti consumer. They are a walled garden closed box, soldered together piece of shiny lifestyle gadgets these days rather than genuine computers.

@@DomSigalas You should try to get your hands on a 13900t micro pc and see how it fares. the 13900t scores high on it's benchmarks and has low thermal ratings (35w) cpu. It would be fun to see it.

I would say if you’re not using massive libraries then you can get by with 16gb of ram. Especially if you mainly use soft synths. The sweet spot for me is 32 gig. Most people would be fine with those. :)

32GB

Absoutely: Use what you want- nobody cares. My PC was also maxed out (super fast drives, i9CPU (overclocked by Scan too!), 64gb of RAM. The performance wasn't the issue. The problems I had were. Like USB devices disappearing, Thunderbolt being incredibly flakey, DPC spikes when moving a window from one screen to the other... The list goes on- even PC gurus I consultes were raising their hands saying "can't to anything you have to live with this" . :(

@@DomSigalas Ohh..sounds like you were in chipset compatibility hell! The issue with PCs is the vast array of options. Ensuring compatibility is hard!. Apple solves that problem but at a cost! Ive seen plenty of thunderbolt issues simply because I chose the wrong motherboard.

@@mistaox The truth is I've seen die-hard PC users (myself included) like film composers, (you can see this for yourself if you do your research) switching away from PC for the first time the recent years. The reality is Apple nailed it with the new CPUs. You can get an affordable Mac Mini and be able to do amazing music without any problems. For less than 1000 bucks. This wasn't the case years ago. There are just too many things that can go wrong with a PC. If you're experienced like I am you might get away with it and fix them but at some point you have to prioritize- your livelihood or your OS choice :)

@@DomSigalasThe performance people are getting in DAW software with just the 4 performance cores of a base M2 Mac Mini with 16GB is insane compared with 12 and 16 core Xeon Mac Pro’s from only a few years ago because the CPU power blows them out of the water. It’s not all good now Apple are being sneaky with the number of performance cores on the M3 Pro chips by only having 5 on the 11 core and 6 on the 12 compared with 6 and 8 in the previous 10 and 12 core M2 Pro when it comes to MacBook Pro’s just so they can push people into getting the M3 Max systems with 10 or 12 performance cores.

@@PureJmist The primary goal of Airdrop is speed. It is significantly faster than Bluetooth since it delivers data via Wi-Fi Direct technology. It’s the greatest choice for massive data transfers between iPhones, but it’s not very practical for connecting things like speakers.

File sharing is crazy simple to set up on Macs too, and if they're connected via 10G, you'll get crazy speeds over the network - like you're sitting in front of the actual machine, kind of speeds. Makes Windows SMB look like a kids toy by comparison! I connect between my broadcast system (Win10) and Mac Studio at 10G, and the recordings from broadcasts usually range from 8Gb to... well the biggest one was 450Gb (in a single file 😳🤣). Like a hot knife through butter! Dead simple setting up various folders to drop things into for different people too, and even if it's a wireless network, it's surely got to be faster than Bluetooth? Although I suppose if it's for a small-ish file, AirDrop will still rip though it also.

oh what strategic flows?

@@Kris_jellybeard the inputs on iPhone

@@LearnCompositionOnline The inputs? What do you mean? How is that related making music or producing? By the way I have no iPhone, Samsung for ages!

@@Kris_jellybeard you can use the inputs to produce music on iPhone, this is the relation.

Yes you can use Logic 11, but you don't have steam Splitter and chromaglow, that all!

@@joseivanmartireyes4646 so, and what's next? Next year I cant use this and that plugin etc. on a machine that's over 10k after 4-5 years... well done apple

@@LabofmusicRecords Always happens when new technology arrives! Am not defending apple, am realistic! You can use you’re Mac twenty year and logic to if you want, just don’t update.

The upgrade from my i9 to the M1 (first generation) was a different universe to any PC upgrade I've ever done. But like I say on the video, performance is just 10% of the story... It's about the sum of the parts that made me switch.

@@DomSigalas Most computer users have more computing power than they actually need. Your the exception of users with some really high end tasks. I do think a Mac is a better choice for extremely high end tasks, but most people aren't doing that. And clearly the rendering times for video editing on a Mac are generally better. I used to work in broadcast TV in the analog days and I'd like to get into video editing a little. But I watch a RU-vid channel daily and the guy is clearly no computer expert and uses a PC for his editing, which is probably nothing special. His photography is great. I don't need to have "movie making" features to do some general video editing. I'd just like to have quality titling and basic transitions. My videos will feature my 1080p footage I've taken over the years. I've been a PC user since the Windows 3.0 days and sold PC's & Mac's before going into the tech support side of things. To me, the things I value the most in computers are compatibility with existing products. Apple is terrible at that! Once you know how to do something, you don't want to be forced to re-learn how to do it all over again (like learning how to drive again) just because they say you have to. I wish the OS's would never change, and they only add new features to them as needed. It would make a lot more sense. The most annoying thing Apple did was eliminate all 32 bit software on my iPhone all at once. 75% of my iPhone software no longer worked in one shot. My iPhone is LESS useful to me today than it was maybe 7 or 8 years ago. A lot of my favorite software was not updated and no longer worked, and nothing too similar available either. Microsoft values compatibility a lot more than Apple does, and keeping things running. I'm also amazed how well a "decent" 10 year old PC still runs today as I have a couple in my computer collection. And while I don't love Windows 11, it still seems able to run my older software and do all the tasks I've asked of it, but on my newest PC (3 year old) I duel boot Win10 & Win11. I have 2 copies of Windows 10 as one is optimized for Pro Audio, no AV, disabled a bunch of stuff. I do agree a Mac requires less work to optimize the OS. I also have a spare hard internal hard drive I can swap out in 10 mins if something crashed with everything load up. On my old Dell laptops I loved the swappable hard drive bay where I could pop out hard drives in seconds and reboot with a different drive. Sadly that ability seems to be a thing of the past.

@@classicarcadeamusementpark4242 I know, and this was one of the reasons why I stuck with PCs for 20 years. :) However, just wait- there are Silicon computers coming on Windows. Let's reconvene 1-2 years later and see if Microsoft will still respect the legacy 32 bit apps on these new CPUs. I can almost guarantee you they won't. Simply because all this legacy code has to be re-written for the new CPUs. It's a waste of resources for them and every developer. The same why VST2.4 is no longer supported on new Silicon Macs. It made zero sense to write the legacy protocol just so that users could keep compatibility 14 years after its life cycle ended. I completely disagree with the notion that companies have to spend resources to keep alive software that SHOULD update to support newer technologies. If for example Cubase didn't support Apple Silicon Macs it would be Steinberg's loss, not Apple's. But Apple would never be able to achieve what they did if they didn't break the mould. Cubase supported Apple Silicon super fast, can't say the same for plugin developers who had the option to switch to VST3 14 years ago! In my opinion PC's can be equally fast as Macs. But the problem with PCs are issues that have not been resolved where they should. Compatibilities, inconsistencies, a OS that forces updates and so on... it's the price you pay for infinite choice of hardware but for audio and video work (I run a video production company in the heart of London), you never want to play with these things. You want a system that everyone can test and replace/fix. I never suggested a hobbyist to pay a premium for Mac. And my system is overkill for 90% of the users out there. That's why I recommend a Mac Mini to most people that start out that want to go down the Mac route :)

Agree. This subject has been argued ad nauseam on forums like Gearspace since forever. It's pretty much a troll subject. Similarly specked machines will perform roughly the same regardless of OS. Never taken me more than an hour to do fresh windows install. There's something disingenuous about this video. Both OS are fine. Use what you want people. You don't have to have an Apple product to have a pro set up. Dom knows this....

Apple ad is correct. The whole time he doesn't talk about specific examples of problems and if he ever found a solution. Never had a problem on Windows.

Exactly, go to passmark and look up the M2 pro max and see how it scored. Then look up a low wattage 13900t (i9 micro pc) and see what it scores. imo Benchmarks don't lie, at least not when the final score is that far apart.

Yes sure I’m talking nonsense. I installed Windows 11 Unicorn Poor Performance Edition. Wasn’t this the right one? I am sorry. My PC was optimised to the final spec and look around you - the vast majority of the audio industry and video industry are raving about the M1 Macs. If you want to prove your point make a video and show us. I’ve made 4 up to this point on the subject. Writing a comment accusing me of talking nonsense means you’re just butthurt because you’ve never really used a Mac to compare. Get yourself a MacBook Pro M1 or M3 and come back here. Or is it too snobby for you? Are you also comparing a PC with 32gb of RAM with a Mac Mini with 8gb??? Who’s talking nonsense here? 🤦‍♂️

@@DomSigalas ... Of course I'm comparing, the same amount of money was invested in both computers. I don't want to diminish the quality of Mac computers. If you want a Mac computer to really work properly, you need to invest significantly more money in it than in a PC. Personally, I don't like computers where I can't change the component, or upgrade it, increase the memory or insert a storage unit. Claiming that Win 7-11 are unstable is frivolous and superficial. Personally, I don't remember when my windows system crashed, while a colleague on a Mac mini had a problem due to lack of memory, ah YES, Mac computers don't crash, they just "Quit".

@@igorbalen3389and what kind of audio work do you do exactly? Just to understand what work we’re talking about? Did you measure your computer for DPC spikes? Are you talking about office work here? 😂 Listen, my friend, if you work fine with PC why change it? Here I made this video to help music producers, engineers film composers and video creators hear my thought after using both systems thoroughly for over a year. If you’re happy with what you have keep going - you’re blessed. But coming here and venting doesn’t make any sense. This video was clearly not for you. The sooner we realize operating systems are not football teams the better off we will all be. I cannot understand why people get so upset if someone says that the opposit OS works better for them. Also when did I say that Windows 10 were unstable? Or that they crash? Do you even know what DPC Spikes are? Show me on the video. I never said that.They are just super flakey with multiple (40-50) usb peripherals and thunderbolt devices. The fact that YOU don’t use so many doesn’t mean the problems don’t exist. I understand you don’t use computers in a professional studio situation. So your points are perfect if you just want to do standard PC work. Stay PC -be happy 😊

🤣true

Yes it was a process. So it had to be absolutely worth it for me to take this step. I started with the M1 MacBook Pro and when I saw how good it is I bit the bullet and setup the Mac Studio. To be fair, the setup took me around 3-4 days and the hardest part was copying around 20TB of sample libraries from NTFS drives to APFS ones :)

Yeah bro but not in gaming and programming

@bighousemusic628 Gaming, yes. Apple lags in 3d rendering, but that’s going to change soon. What’s the limiting factor for coding over Windows (unless you are intending to code for Windows, but that goes the other way as well)?

@@ckatheman bro you don't know the power of Amd ryzen threadripper cpu combines with nvidia gpu even the weakest systems mops the floor with apple its only a fanboy will praise apple dr lisa su will destroys both intel and apple check out their new apus the graphics part of that apu is the same as nvidia's 4000 series cards apple will never pe a pc i knows this because i build and program pc linus tech and jayz two cents and moores laws dead spit on apple everyday not to mention motherboard manufacturers the speed of nvme and usbc 4 smoked thunderboalt

@@bighousemusic628 I couldn’t care less. I don’t game and the system works incredibly well for my purposes. Never going back to Windows.

​@@bighousemusic628I'm not a kid with 24/7 gaming and I'm not a nerd programmer! I use computers for job and pro music production. M cpus and OSX are king for this.

Yeah. does not compute. 🙂

How can you, in any way, say with confidence, that his experience isn’t true? When you build your own PCs, shit goes wrong all the time. Just because you haven’t experienced this, doesn’t mean that someone else hasn’t.

@@musicstudioml I can’t believe you don’t have any issues.

@@musicstudioml I've been on custom PC for 20 years & switch to the Mac when they made the M chip. These new Mac computers are light years ahead of windows, AMD & Intel! The speed & load time alone are on another level. My PC is still good but sluggish compared to Mac.

@@VinceJackson1 agreed. I switched in 2010 after having constant issues with win (reinstalls after reinstalls.). I have a steong pc but only for dcs world military flight sim nothing else. Win is lie a cheap chinese shit. Just seeing the file browser toolbar it shows how ridiculous and what a mess it is. Who can’t design a proper ui should not make any os. Fun fact: since my first mac (mini 2009 c2d) I never ever had to reinstall the osx, just migrated the old system to the new computer.. A month ago purchased a :m2 16gb mini and it is just stunning. Bought a behringer audio interface. Watched many videos for windows where they installed the asio driver by hand but the device worked like shit. Latency was 256 ms instead of default 128 and after they tried to set to lower it just refused to work. Also it was max 44 khz not 48. I almost gave up to buy it but then I have find a comment that the problems only win related (and there was some difference between win 10 and 11! What a mess). Now the device works fine with my new mini, no driver neede at all and tadaaa it does 48 khz and 128 ms latency. Win is for gaming. For proper work it is a waste of time. You are always a guest on your own machine.

I was a PC user until this year. Windows 11. One shit after the other with crashes, problems with the graphics drivers (on 2 different cards), USB drives sometimes not being registered out of the blue, audio stuttering at random restarts, that were not reproducable the next time...... Yes, there were good things, like upgradability, or the bigger amount of compatible plugs. However, it's all not worth the hassle. And I grandly dislike the way Apple wants to dictate everything. That's why it took me so long to switch. But I want to spend more time making music and less restarting the machine. Sorry, Bill.

Your report means to me more than Apple could ever pay me. I couldn’t care less about that. I am happy you are more productive and creative ❤️

Agreed! I never judged Mac users for 20 years while I was using PCs and I certainly won’t do it now to PC users. Use whatever works for you :)