From PC to Mac, Article Options

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From PC to Mac

[Presto]

If you want to "cheap out", you may find with Apple its just as cheap if not cheaper than PCs for making and listening to music, particularly nowadays. Plus of course you get all the other advantages of the Mac including absence of viruses etc. You can do alot from the MacMini at 499$ (no keyboard/mouse/screen) but as with all systems for music and/or pics, you should add a nice RAM chip. Don't bother paying extra for a bigger HD. You'd be better off getting a fast external HD, when and if the need appears, that you can dedicate to music.

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

I don't know what you want to do but you can always start with Garageband and iTunes included in iLife05 that comes bundled with all Macs. If you wait a few weeks you'll probably also get bundled the latest operating system called Tiger (129$ if you had to buy it). Still, what's the point waiting for a RollsRoyce for the price of a bicycle when you can have a Bentley for the price of a bicycle now.

Macs are really so much less hassle than PCs and they'd have been the #1 computer in the world without Apple's historical distribution snobism (IBM would also have done very well without their initial snobism too). That problem's always been so obvious to us buyer's that it seems strange that Apple's taken 20 years to start understanding just how much they've lost. Ignore the Apple snobism and just look at quality and price for your music and whatever else you want to do.

If you want to do recording with microphones, and pianissimo is important, you should consider the noise the computer makes whether it's a PC or a Mac. I've not heard the MacMini so I can't advise on that. I use an old ibook/Mbox/ and a pair of good mics for recording, and silences are silent.

Listening is the most important factor to me, so if you can't pay for a pair of active monitors at triple the price of a MacMini (or you've got sensitive neighbours), get a good pair of headphones. The better the quality, the lower you'll set the volume, and the easier it is on your ears.

This sort of cost has no relation to what computer you use.

The computer is only the base but if you economise by choosing one of the cheapest computers on the market: a top quality Apple, you can't go wrong.

Not all of us are PC or Mac fanatics so do listen to advice, but in the end just make sure you get some hand's on experience then use your head. Then you'll choose a Mac and become a MacMusicFanatic

This post has been edited by Presto: Tue 19 Apr 2005, 11:54