zimv20 said:
Amen.
Why is a Mac a better way to go for music production? To start with, Mac's are inherently more stable as machines and as a platform. The same company that writes the OS specs all the parts that go into the machine, so the OS doesn't have to deal with an infinite number of possible hardware configurations. Second, the OS is developed at a significantly accelerated rate as compared to Windows, so any potential OS related issues are cleaned up very quickly. There really isn't anything in the way of viruses or worms *at present* for Macs, so your uptime is secure uptime. With OSX, RAM is dynamically allocated, and one result is that if an app crashes, 99+% of the time, the system will not. A program has to have an extremely severe crash that basically has to freak out the OS for the system to crash (or your RAM might be crap). There aren't a whole lot of ways to crash an OSX system easily. All Audio and MIDI are handled at the OS level, so there is less overhead involved, and the theoretical minimum time for audio throughput as a result is insanely fast (one millisecond, one nanosecond, I can't remember exactly but it's ridiculously fast). With the introduction of the G5, especially in dual configurations, it's pretty much closed the gap between externally processed platforms like ProTools HD and host based systems, although external DSP power never hurts. Basically, it's durn near impossible to choke a G5 with any typical session.
Things to know coming from the world of PC. OSX runs best when you maintain the file hierarchies that the OS offers. Applications should all go into the Applications folder. Documents should all go into the documents folder, etc... Making aliases can speed up the workflow and keep you from having to dig through the Applications folder for example for application related files, and a well organized Dock full of Apps and frequently used folders is a must. With regards to folders (and even the hard drive), when you put them in the Dock, if you click-hold on them, a list pops up with the volume's contents, making the Dock a very quick and powerful navigational tool. Things to put in the Dock - Disk Utility ( found in Applications/Utilities) is a must. When you select your hard drive in disk utility, it allows you to repair permissions, a Unix way of allowing levels of access to files. Repair permissions regularly, at least monthly, after new installations, OS updates, running an App for the first time. Any other Utilities that you may need access to frequently should go into the Dock, Printer Setup, Airport Setup, Airport Admin, etc...
Enjoy your new rig, and visit osxaudio.com for your audio related questions. Great bunch of guys, all levels of experiences, some audio geniuses, and they're very helpful.
