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Topic: Afraid to do the jump, any advice? - Page: 1

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So, I've been a PC guy for all my life.

Now contemplating going Mac for my DJ needs.

I have a Hercules Rmx, will it play nice?

I'm so scared to buy a Mac and then have all kinds of problems. So, any feedback?

Are the macs all that they are cracked up to be?
 
Posted Mon 14 Mar 11 @ 9:09 pm
This is my overall experience with Macs...I first started using a G3 at this recording studio I worked at in 2004. Hated it to death until I got familiar with it and then I was like wow this is simple, a lot more stable. No unexpected errors so this program has to close. It just works. Since then I have had 3 other Mac laptops. I bought a powerbook g4 (it still works & it came out in 2004). I have a 2008 white macbook bought it from a friend to help him out. Didn't really need it. Now I have a 2010 Macbook Pro. I tell everyone that a Mac is an investment that's why they are a little more expensive but they will last you a long time. I still use my powerbook g4 as my everyday carry around and it is like 8 years old. If you do purchase one don't give up on it, you need to give yourself an adjustment period. It took me about 2 to 3 weeks of everyday use to fully adjust to OSX. But once you do I think you will enjoy it and be happy. As far as your gear working flawlessly, I haven't used that piece of gear with mine so I can't comment on that.
 
Thank you rd

About lasting up to 8 years, that's really good.

I have never had a laptop lasted me more than 3 years.

However, since I know windows (not an expert, but more than a regular user) I can say that my laptops are mostly very stable.

I haven't had my laptop get locked up at a gig, I haven't encounter a problem I can't solve.... that is until now.

My Gateway laptop is starting to freeze up, the reason might be that a week ago my dog ran right from under the table where I was using it and tripped on the power cable and the lappy suffered a fall from the table to the hard floor.

This is why now I"m in the search for something new.


So, any advice on what to get? Tiger? snow lepperd? tundra cheetah? jungle lion?

Don't know what any of that means, is that like saying Vista home, business, xp, 7, etc?
 
Go for a Macbook pro 15" or 17" snow leopard a 13" can do but the extra screen space is better, I have an iMac 27" and white macbook mid 2009 ( bought it used ). I have had no problem what so ever on any of them. I've also been a Windows guy for at least 20 years and a Mac only 1 year. I took me only 2-3 days to adapt to mac and would not dream of going back. I use the Macbook for dj'ing and I play usually 5 hours each night without a single crash ever. I plan on getting a 15" pro not because the with can't do the job but because I want a larger screen and more ram.
 
So, how about the "latency" problems we've been able to troubleshoot and work with.. is that also an issue on a Mac?
 
The DPC is a windows thing.

The big difference between VDJ for OS X and VDJ for Windows is plugin availability. I'm attempting to help out with this situation but it's a lot more work than I anticipated.
 
@Ticoindamix, there are pros and cons to going with a MAC. If you are wanting a MAC only because of Virtual DJ, you may want to think about that since you will be paying a premium. You can get a very stable Windows laptop that doesn't have issues by following many comments in this forum.

The MAC has become a staple in the music industry, mainly because of CoreAudio being extremely stable and having a higher priority within the operating system then on a PC. There are less drop outs and clipping. A MAC can, however, be taxed to the point of failure as well, so there are times that it can have the same issues as a Windows system, but overall audio is slightly better.

On the MAC, there can be a lot less startup programs and drivers loaded then on a Windows machine. If you have a lot of programs with lots of DLL's on a Windows machine and then have the same programs on a MAC, the Windows machine will start showing issues due to how it handles this through the registry versus the MAC.

The biggest issue I see is the learning curve. It is very different then a Windows system so I wouldn't get a MAC the same day you have a GIG.

As has been pointed out, the plugins for VDJ are lacking for the MAC. If you use those effects within VDJ, this could be an issue. If you use external effects process (like I do) for audio, then those plugins may not be important. If you are using the Video plugins, this is one area that is harder to overcome. There are also other minor issues with VDJ on a MAC since the majority of users use a Windows system and the development and testing dollars follow the majority of users.

If you do decide on a MAC, the 15" MacBook Pro is the one I would recommend. A new system will come with Snow Leopard (10.6). Also, you can install BootCamp onto a MAC and install a copy of Windows (if you have a licensed copy) and dual boot if there are plugins that you couldn't live without.

I am running Snow Leopard and have two 15" MacBook Pro's. I wouldn't trade them for anything else in the market.
 
cwfluke wrote :
On the MAC, there can be a lot less startup programs and drivers loaded then on a Windows machine. If you have a lot of programs with lots of DLL's on a Windows machine and then have the same programs on a MAC, the Windows machine will start showing issues due to how it handles this through the registry versus the MAC.


I'm afraid I disagree here. The Macbook Pro sat next to me has just booted and currently has 54 total processes. My heavily loaded full of crap W7 dev laptop currently has around 36 total processes after a boot. My gig XP laptop has around 12 if memory serves. So technically the Macbook has more startup programs running. FWIW I'm a UNIX person so I fully understand why the difference is there - but your comment is misleading.

A windows machine will also not start having issues if you load lots of programs on it, and certainly not due to DLLs or the registry. Sometimes there can be issues with DLLs but this is often due to a program overwriting them and is no different to some sloppy programmer deciding to overwrite a shared lib on OS X. This dev machine has literally hundreds of 3rd party programs on it and runs without issue.

cwfluke wrote :
The biggest issue I see is the learning curve. It is very different then a Windows system so I wouldn't get a MAC the same day you have a GIG.


Absolutely - but the same goes for any change - never do it when you have a gig coming up!

For me the decision was easy - being a video user windows was important. For this reason I went for the best hardware specification I could find at the time which was a normal PC laptop. It cost more than the top spec MBP at the time too!

OSX is a decent operating system (although the gap between it and windows was closed up quite a lot with the release of W7 IMHO) and Apple hardware is generally well built. You'll also get good service and support from an Apple store which can be handy.
 
SBDJ wrote :
I'm afraid I disagree here. The Macbook Pro sat next to me has just booted and currently has 54 total processes.

Your right, it was too simplistic and misleading, which wasn't the point.

I agree that everyone's situation is different, but comparing processes from a Mac and Windows directly using Activity Monitor and Task Manager, is misleading as well. Unix, and unix derivatives, are very different then Windows and comparing just the number of processes is not a good place to compare the two. The point, from my experience with having Windows, MAC, and UNIX systems and also doing development work for years in all three systems, the total system load for Windows is higher for equivalently loaded systems. That is my experience and I was trying to convey that in as simple of terms as possible, so yes, technically it was misleading.

You need to also look at threads, handles, memory usages and CPU load to fully compare the systems.

So my MAC has 85 processes compared to 48 on the PC, but those 85 processes are using 464 threads versus 598 threads on the PC. So if you simply used processes as your gauge, then the PC doesn't load as many and is better. If you based it on threads, which is a better reference point, then the MAC doesn't load as many and is better. On my Windows XP machine, I only have 11 programs installed, all ones that won't run on my MAC. On my MAC, I have 112 programs installed, development tools, network sniffing tools, VM Ware, VNC, and DropBox among other things. My Windows XP machine is taking up more threads with a lot less installed onto it.
 
First off, I really really appreciate all your comments which are def helping me out.

As I am still on research and weighing out my options I can tell you that I will not just get a Mac cuz people think it's cool.

I consider myself a power-user of windows. I don't use my laptop to find porn and don't install unnecessary programs. I always use AVG and do scans and defrags pretty often. I practice safe-search (lol) and I know how to run msconfig and not have all those programs load up on start.

Currently I have Vista64 home, Intel Centrino, 4gigs of ram, 260 gigs HD, it has been running pretty smoothly.

Also we have to compare apples to apples (no pun intended). You can't compare a Mac with i7 dual core to a PC with Intel centrino.

I'm ready to spend about $1500 on my next laptop, I understand Mac is a little more than that, but I'm sure I can get a PC that kicks royal butt with that ammount.

I do however want to start learning how to create apps, how to run a studio, how to edit videos with Final Cut studio and that stuff is Mac only.

I'm thinking I might just have to stay with PC but get the quad core i7 with windows 7, and then save up for a starter mac to start practicing on.

Decision hasn't been made. It's just what I'm thinking so far.
 
cwfluke wrote :
I agree that everyone's situation is different, but comparing processes from a Mac and Windows directly using Activity Monitor and Task Manager, is misleading as well. Unix, and unix derivatives, are very different then Windows and comparing just the number of processes is not a good place to compare the two. The point, from my experience with having Windows, MAC, and UNIX systems and also doing development work for years in all three systems, the total system load for Windows is higher for equivalently loaded systems. That is my experience and I was trying to convey that in as simple of terms as possible, so yes, technically it was misleading.


Absolutely agree. I've also done development work across all three platforms for a long time and I'd usually choose a Unix based system over a windows based system for most tasks - it's just the way I'm wired personally. My actual personal preference is for the more open OS's over OS X though. How many threads, processes and so-on is less important than what they are actually doing :)

cwfluke wrote :
So my MAC has 85 processes compared to 48 on the PC, but those 85 processes are using 464 threads versus 598 threads on the PC. So if you simply used processes as your gauge, then the PC doesn't load as many and is better. If you based it on threads, which is a better reference point, then the MAC doesn't load as many and is better. On my Windows XP machine, I only have 11 programs installed, all ones that won't run on my MAC. On my MAC, I have 112 programs installed, development tools, network sniffing tools, VM Ware, VNC, and DropBox among other things. My Windows XP machine is taking up more threads with a lot less installed onto it.


Thread count isn't a great indicator either IMHO. You're also confusing running apps with installed apps. The two are entirely unrelated, except in the case of apps that run at startup.

My point was more that it's often stated by people that Windows runs more in the background, windows runs more on boot etc, and it's not always true. Yes, there are reasons why this is the case related to the environment and the way Unix is generally structured, but as a statement of fact it's a silly one to make.

Anyway let's not hijack this poor blokes thread.

If there is a potential need for you to run OS X then there is absolutely no harm in getting a Mac and running bootcamp so you get the best of both.
 
I must say having used the macbook pro for the last 6 months for my dj'ing I will only go back to PC if I do something stupid like leave my mac at my girlfriends house 100km (60miles) away but even then if I realise soon enough I'll make the drive back to get it, I found the first couple of gigs I did were a lil problematic after the change but managed to pinpoint it to my controller settings, since then I have updated to yet another controller and again initial setup was annoying but once I had it all set I had no more issues with it so overall I'm loving the mac as a better choice and with the aluminium unibody on the pro I've dropped mine and still have no probs (my boss has a habit of drinking a bit too much tequila around his and then spilling it on his mac and again no probs) so IMHO the mac is worth the time it takes to setup and learn
 
SBDJ wrote :
Anyway let's not hijack this poor blokes thread.


You can't disagree with that. You are always so right and perfectly answer everything. ;p
 
Rubbish. Plenty of smarter people than me out there!
 
Guys, thanx again for all your comments.

Is it true that when Mac throws an update, you guys have to wait until VDJ does their update b4 you can update?
 
Not as far as I'm aware...
 
Ticoindamix wrote :
Guys, thanx again for all your comments.

Is it true that when Mac throws an update, you guys have to wait until VDJ does their update b4 you can update?


Might be true with a major update like from snow leopard to lion but that would be the same as going from vista to 7. smaller updates are like SP on packs windows
 
Today I'll be visiting the Mac store, I am still on the fence about this, it's a serious investment for me. $2k is hard to come by. So, I'm trying to do the best of my research.

Thanx again for all your comments, also thank you for not turning this thread into pc-haters vs mac-haters, lol

To review:

I need a lapto to DJ with, that's it.

I use VDJ pro, and Hercules Rmx, (in the future.. 6 months or more, I'll be looking for a different console)


I have a question which maybe I should call up VDJ and ask, but maybe you guys know the answer...

Can I d/l VDJ pro in Mac format to install in a 'sample Mac laptop" for me to play with and see if it's it fits? Then I can uninstall it. Or will that void my license?
 
also, will I be able to use all the extra sounds and effects that I've d/l from here?
 
Only Mac compatible effects will work. Video plugins are currently more limited I'm afraid.
 
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