Sytem optimisation

[jim_branning]

Funny my core 2 duo Macbook completely locks up when it's doing a software update.

It's got naff all to do with the OS, I can use reaper on my fairly modest PC with loads of other stuff running, but when the soundcard drivers weren't set up properly you couldn't even get it to play a single wav file without glitching.

well if your Macbook completely locks up when it's doing a software update, it's knackered then, be serious. We're not talking about knackered macs.

It has absolutely EVERYTHING to do with the os. yeah sure i too have win machines which are rock solid but I built them specially, did all the tweaks, allocated a dedicated physical drive for the swapfile disk etc etc etc.

I've never had to go through this palava with a mac.

anyways i'm responding to daves story, which clearly is about problems unsolved with win os & a sequencer

[ecc83]

This is what i mean about Mac's Dave. My old PPC G5 will run camtasia type screen capture (iShowu) while also running logic pro no problems, and it'll just playback (stickily admittedly) a 70 track Logic Pro demo song with included sync'd video.... but it does play it without glitching.

It's not about the total horsepower (so to speak) is it, it's about the efficiency of the OS etc.

I still think you should get a cheap s/h core2duo mac mini and give it a go, just to see, you can always flog it for what u paid for it if you odnt like it.

Yes but this WAS about horsepower (arcane: cars are measured in kW now) We were TOLD the program needed more memory. We KNEW that W7/64 needed more memory! That was just an example to show that W7 CAN run audio very well even with what we KNOW to be borderline ram.

Now that the PC has 8G in it there should be no problem, not going to get a mac for 66quid am I?

BTW how much ram does the "ole PPC G5" have in it?

Dave.

[monquixote]

well if your Macbook completely locks up when it's doing a software update, it's knackered then, be serious. We're not talking about knackered macs.

It has absolutely EVERYTHING to do with the os. yeah sure i too have win machines which are rock solid but I built them specially, did all the tweaks, allocated a dedicated physical drive for the swapfile disk etc etc etc.

I've never had to go through this palava with a mac.

anyways i'm responding to daves story, which clearly is about problems unsolved with win os & a sequencer

It's not knackered it's running a fresh install of Lion and the hardware is in perfect working order. It's just not the case that Macs are magical and always perfect. The macs in my office have just as many problems as the Windows and Linux machines.

I haven't dicked about with my fairly cheap Win7 laptop and it has never had a problem running Reaper with whatever I've thrown at it.

[jim_branning]

It's not knackered it's running a fresh install of Lion and the hardware is in perfect working order. It's just not the case that Macs are magical and always perfect. The macs in my office have just as many problems as the Windows and Linux machines.

I haven't dicked about with my fairly cheap Win7 laptop and it has never had a problem running Reaper with whatever I've thrown at it.

ah, so it siezes up whenever it does a s/w update, but it's not knackered... ok then. i think we stop this ridiculous conversation now.

[HeartfeltDawn]

This is what i mean about Mac's Dave. My old PPC G5 will run camtasia type screen capture (iShowu) while also running logic pro no problems, and it'll just playback (stickily admittedly) a 70 track Logic Pro demo song with included sync'd video.... but it does play it without glitching.

Mac guy derails thread with style.

[monquixote]

ah, so it siezes up whenever it does a s/w update, but it's not knackered... ok then. i think we stop this ridiculous conversation now.

Or we can pretend that every time a Windows machine has a problem it's because Microsoft is shit and we should all go out and by Macs but when a Mac has a problem it's a special case.

[jim_branning]

Or we can pretend that every time a Windows machine has a problem it's because Microsoft is shit and we should all go out and by Macs but when a Mac has a problem it's a special case.

sorry, been away. But your position seems to be "mercedes are problematic because mine doesn't start"

I'm not saying it is a 'special case' in the way you mean it, but clearly if your mac siezes up EVERY TIME it does a s/w update then IT IS BROKEN, and needs to be sorted out - and quickly, if it is still under warranty!

You cant hold up a machine which is obviously knackered in some way as an example of "well macs are also prone to faults"

yes of course, sometimes an osx installation might become corrupted but no way does it happen as often as with windows, and oft times if a mac goes tits up, it means a hardware fault (which of course can happen with any manufactured goods)

yes i agree if you are on a tight budget, then windows can yield a good machine if done right and if the add-ons work with the particular chipsets etc. But if you can afford it, get a mac if for no other reason than in a professional client-charging or job/work scenario you get 3 years warranty as a safeguard, and then trade-ins every 3 years which yield at least a 50% return. It's like a courier company buying new vans with 3 years warranty and trading them in every 3 years. It's the best policy for reliability. But yes you can run a courier company with cheaper 'one-year-warranty' vans which really lose alot of value when you resell them.

[jim_branning]

Mac guy derails thread with style.

i think discussing the relative merits of daw host reliability in a discussion about DAW Sytem optimisation is hardly 'derailing', except to some idiot.

and anyways, beyond a few basic tweaks this whole balls about 'windows optimisation', turning off services etc never did anything worth a toss in terms of 'getting the user more'.

the sad - and i say sad as a windows user of 20 years going back to syncing workstations with smpte cards to tape multitracks & syncing audio workstations to midi workstations & hardware sequencers via mtc etc - fact is that each version of windows doesnt necessarily yield 'better' & 'more', and now we have win8 which is another disaster for MS on par with vista. They've lost the plot let's be honest, win8 is tanking the company, and they dont know what the bloody hell they are doing, half in half out with a phone OS late to the game as almost a panic move, and trying to unify with desktop, it's a disaster for MS. Sales are in the toilet.

it's like windows does one 'off' and one 'on' OS in a pattern.

fact is, for 50% + user who want to simply record decent quality ideas as demos, a cheap mac mini with garageband (included free) does it all & no extra cost beyond a cheap audio-interface. It even has guitar amp modelling & audio time-correction (flex) built in. It hardly costs more than a cheap win laptop from pc world & you can add-on a 3 year warranty.

noobs reading such a discussion perhaps should be given all the options dont you think?

[ecc83]

i think discussing the relative merits of daw host reliability in a discussion about DAW Sytem optimisation is hardly 'derailing', except to some idiot.

and anyways, beyond a few basic tweaks this whole balls about 'windows optimisation', turning off services etc never did anything worth a toss in terms of 'getting the user more'.

the sad - and i say sad as a windows user of 20 years going back to syncing workstations with smpte cards to tape multitracks & syncing audio workstations to midi workstations & hardware sequencers via mtc etc - fact is that each version of windows doesnt necessarily yield 'better' & 'more', and now we have win8 which is another disaster for MS on par with vista. They've lost the plot let's be honest, win8 is tanking the company, and they dont know what the bloody hell they are doing, half in half out with a phone OS late to the game as almost a panic move, and trying to unify with desktop, it's a disaster for MS. Sales are in the toilet.

it's like windows does one 'off' and one 'on' OS in a pattern.

fact is, for 50% + user who want to simply record decent quality ideas as demos, a cheap mac mini with garageband (included free) does it all & no extra cost beyond a cheap audio-interface. It even has guitar amp modelling & audio time-correction (flex) built in. It hardly costs more than a cheap win laptop from pc world & you can add-on a 3 year warranty.

noobs reading such a discussion perhaps should be given all the options dont you think?

Hmm, well I tend to agree this debate has gone on long enough but CHEAP mac mini Jim?

The cheapest I could find on Amazon was a used i5 with a paltry 2G ram for £440 and you still have to buy keyboard, mouse and monitor! My HP i3, 4G, W7/64 does all I need it to and was well under 400quid brand spanking.

Dave.

[monquixote]

sorry, been away. But your position seems to be "mercedes are problematic because mine doesn't start"

I'm not saying it is a 'special case' in the way you mean it, but clearly if your mac siezes up EVERY TIME it does a s/w update then IT IS BROKEN, and needs to be sorted out - and quickly, if it is still under warranty!

It doesn't stop entirely it just becomes incredibly unresponsive and the fan goes into overdrive. It's not because it's broken it's because that's how Lion runs on a Core 2 Duo Macbook. There are plenty of other things that makes it do that including using flash, running Eclipse and occasionally just because it feels like it. I felt compelled to post because you suggested getting a Core 2 duo Mac and my experience of owning a Core 2 duo Windows 7 laptop and a Core 2 duo Macbook is that the Windows laptop is a lot more stable and seems to be able to cope much better with having lots of applications open.

I get pissed off because though I like OSX very much it gets recommended as a panacea for all computing ills and the reality just doesn't live up to the hype. A friend of mine recently bought an MBP having been told "Buy a Mac" by fanboys every time she complained about her PC and it turns out she can't work out how to use it so it's a £1,200 paperweight and she is still using her old XP machine.

Just in my small office of software developers we have a Mac Pro which corrupts its profile left right and centre, a Retina MBP which randomly freezes, a MBP that the glass fell out of because it is only held in with sticky tape (the apple store wanted £700 to fix it), an MBP that the feet fell off, the bluetooth doesn't work properly and it overheated horribly when upgraded to Lion and had to be downgraded to Snow Leopard.