[Drew]

Ok, so, my laptop is now officially worthless for recording, as it's now crashing on me with a single drum loop and one (short - say a minute) track of rhythm guitar, whenever I try to overdub anything. This is because I'm down to about 300mb of available disc space, on a 6-gig drive. I COULD strip everything I don't need off it (again), but that'd only buy me another six months, and still wouldn't get me enough room to do a full album. Besides, my sound card eats bass like its its job, lol.

So, I've currently got two setups in mind. The first is a Dell Insipion, probably one of the 3000's they're offering with flat screen monitors (partly because they look badass, and partly for reduced 60-cycle hum). Probably this with a couple upgrades - http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...c=D30PF4&s=dhs - the upgraded sound card and a CD-R drive, plus maybe more memory. This would probably come to about a grand, all told.

The second would be an Apple IMac G5 desktop - http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL....3.1.2.0.0.1.0 - $1299, although I think I may be able to get a slight discount through State Street, and I know I can get a discount through my sister's school (although they'd probably load it up with all their campus-specific programs which I'd then have to delete, lol)

Either would (most likely) be used with a M-Box, as I don't really need more than two channels at a time and it comes with a fairly comprehensive software package.

So, my question is, on paper the Dell outperforms the Apple, but Apples have a reputation of being excellent for multimedia work. I'm more familiar with a PC environment than Mac, but I used to use macs to do layout back when I was a high school newspaper dork, so I can physically run one (although I miss the two-button mouses - that's probably my biggest issue, lol) with no issues.

The Dell is probably a better deal, and it's much easier to find windows software than it is Mac (although really I won't be using this for much besides recording and internet, and even then I have a spare laptop that couldn't handle recording but would probably work as a screwing around the net computer) . At the same time, word has it the next version of Windows will require 3-3.5 gigs to run, and I've never really liked microsoft (I'm a recovering commie).The Apple's a bit more expensive, but if it'd be an all-around better recording computer, it's a difference I'm willing to pay.

So, thoughts? I'm a little over my head here, so feedback from anyone who actually knows what they're talking about would be GREATLY appreciated...

-D

[WayneCustom7]

Well I just purchased a kick arse Dell, 3.0 Ghz ( I think) and I am happy. Their cool to deal with and they usually throw in some goodies, like free in home warranty It was only 1400.00 CDN (way less in US funds) and well I don't use it to record tunage just yet, but it runs hi-end games without effort...don't know if that helps. I thought I'd mention that casue I read how Half-Life 2 required a 3000.00 machine...well I guess it doesn't!

[keithb]

Seriously consider building your own machine from parts - it's not that hard, and you can save a lot of cash. I recently built a 2.4GHz athalon system with 1.5GB of ram, 120GB HD and GeForce 6800 vid card for around $500.

[Digital Black]

Originally Posted by keithb

Seriously consider building your own machine from parts - it's not that hard, and you can save a lot of cash. I recently built a 2.4GHz athalon system with 1.5GB of ram, 120GB HD and GeForce 6800 vid card for around $500.

For 300 more I bought a new HP with a P4ht, 3.2ghz, 512kb ram ( spent another 60 bucks and moved this to 1 gig), 200 gig HD, and a DL DVD burner..

[Metal Ken]

As much of a PC guy i am, i gotta say, apple is superior for recording. The numbers on their specs might be smaller, but they utilize them better. The programs on a 'slower' mac will run just as good, if not better than a slightly 'faster' PC.

[BCrowell]

I agree with keithB....build your own system. Every other year I replace the MOBO & Processor....and depending on game performance the vid card too. I built my 2800+ Athlong 64 w/140GB drive, 1024 mem for 500$ Of course I already had the G-force vid card, case, drives, and M-audio card.

Because of that upgrade I have a PC (Athlon 1400+ w/712MB mem, 60GB drive, case & CD drive) that I could...well...donate to you! I was using this with Adobe Audition just fine, and could have about 4 live effects going with no glitches. Only thing you would need is a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and of course a decent A/D card (NO a soundblaster ain't gonna cut it).

[Vegetta]

Originally Posted by Drew

So, my question is, on paper the Dell outperforms the Apple, but Apples have a reputation of being excellent for multimedia work. I'm more familiar with a PC environment than Mac, but I used to use macs to do layout back when I was a high school newspaper dork, so I can physically run one (although I miss the two-button mouses - that's probably my biggest issue, lol) with no issues.

Just coz they come with that garbage one button mouse dont despair.. you can use any plug and play mouse or keyboard with a mac...On my work mac I am using a logitech optical (I thought the same thing till i started using macs at work)

As far as the OS goes os x is pretty simple to pick up and is very stable

I have a dell (got it last july) I didnt get a crappy one 3.0 P4 with a gig of memory and a decent graphics card...one of my ram sticks was bad...which resulted in my Motherboard getting hosed....which required a smelly fat guy to come to my house and fix my computer...

Also the cd-r/dvd-r combo drive crapped out and the smelly fat guy had to come and replace that as well...

and their customer service is hit and miss...mainly because all of their reps are in india and it is luck of the draw how well the person you are speaking with understands computers and english...

I can't in all honesty recommend you get a Dell. There are quite a few horror stories on their support forums from people with totally hosed systems.

[Metal Ken]

Dell = crock. IF you buy A pc, Build it.
I agree w/ everyone who said build it.

Originally Posted by Sephiroth000

For 300 more I bought a new HP with a P4ht, 3.2ghz, 512kb ram ( spent another 60 bucks and moved this to 1 gig), 200 gig HD, and a DL DVD burner..

Yeah, but You probably didnt get a GeForce 6800. Harddrives and ram a rediculously cheap nowdays. 250gig HD = 200$-230$~, for example. its still cheaper to build your own.

[006]

If you had the money, I would say get a Mac. You will not be disappointed with it. BUT do *NOT*, I repeat, DO NOT buy an iMac for recording. If you buy a Mac for recording, get the PowerMac, G4 or G5.

Macs are just more simple, and better for any audio/video/graphic production. Windows machines have a huge bottleneck after the CPU, so even if you do have a 3.6gHz cpu...it will still run "slower" than say my PowerBook G4 with a 1.8gHz cpu. Don't argue with this because it's been proven and I've tested it myself with my Dell XPS with a 3.6. Macs are designed with everything together. The CPU, the motherboard, everything is all designed and developed along with each other, so they all work together seamlessly with no bottlenecks. However, PC's are mostly consisting of a lot of 3rd party products. The mobo will be made by one company, the cpu by Intel or AMD...etc. So it's just put together with seemingly random peices. That leaves a lot of room for some peices to conflict with others as far as getting data in and out at the speed it should be going. If you are worried about the OS being hard to get use to...don't, it's very simple to pick up and you'll find it easier to use than XP. I almost dread going to my Dell after playing on the Macs at the studio all day, then getting on my G4 at home and checking mail, etc., then I want to play HL2 or Counter-Strike and there's Windows..lol. The GUI is much different on OS X than previous versions. Moving on, check this out....

Microsoft used PoweMac G5's to develop Halo and Halo2. Both are intensely graphical games that use a relatively new physics and graphics engine. Makes you wonder why they couldn't do it on a PC, especially with the money Microsoft had in the budget for the R&D for those two games, they had the ability to build/buy a freakishly powerful PC..but they didn't.

Mac's OS X is based on Unix, which is a much...MUCH more simple operating system than Windows XP. Meaning less buggy, less conflict, and streamlined performance. I'm not a Mac sales guy or anything, but I only have a PC so that I can play games on it. Once in a great while I will open up on of my ProTools sessions on it to use some plug-ins that I don't have for my Mac, but..thats it other than games and web browsing.

With all that said...a custom built PC will rock any off-the-shelf PC any day. I have yet to find a PC, OTS or custom built, that could keep up with a Mac like mine (G5 dual 2.0 cpus). It's mostly just because of the bottleneck that PC's have. I can already feel the flame replies coming on..lol.

Basically look at this...
PowerBook G4
1.8gHz G4 CPU w/ 768mb RAM

Dell XPS
3.6gHz Intel Pentium 4 w/ 2gb RAM

And my Mac runs circles around my PC. It's a laptop...cmon. My PowerMac G5 with dual 2.0's isn't fair to compare simply because it's a monster. I've lost my point somewhere around "If you had the money.." so I'll just stop typing. Hope I helped. Latah.

~006

[Digital Black]

Originally Posted by HateBreeder

Dell = crock. IF you buy A pc, Build it.
I agree w/ everyone who said build it.


Yeah, but You probably didnt get a GeForce 6800. Harddrives and ram a rediculously cheap nowdays. 250gig HD = 200$-230$~, for example. its still cheaper to build your own.

No doubt, I plan to build my own for gaming ( see my thread in OT). But not everybody can do that. Nobody needs a g-force 6800 to run a recording program. I have 1 gig of ram, I have yet to see my system use more than 75%of that (and that's rarely) -even when recording with multiple applications- ( cakewalk and fruity). I would never reccomend against the more is better approach ; but one could get by with 512 for now. Unless your storeing dvd movies do you really need 250gig's for a recording machine. I've got 35 cd's and about 100 extra mp3's on a 60 gig HD and there's room left.
Drew never mentioned building a PC for himself -that might suggest 1. he does not want to do that 2. he may not know how 3. he does not want to wait to compile everything.
Rather silly to talk about building a PC when the man asked for an opnion on something commercially built..