Considering a move to Apple Silicon from Windows

[MeanMrMustard]

I mostly write original classic 70's prog rock consisting of audio tracks of vocals, guitars, bass along with EZD drums and synth vst's. (Yes, Floyd, ELP, ect)

I'm currently on Windows 10, and considering moving over to Apple Silicon... possibly Mac Studio M3 Max.

I read a lot of glowing 'reviews' but would prefer to hear from musicians who actually use AS and what their thoughts and opinions are. I'm OS agnostic, don't care either way.

[jancivil]

I'm using the hardware which is significantly faster than anything I've had before, and I'm used to fairly high end machines.
An all-silicon project has been tough here due I believe to changes (not plugins that no longer "work") to Mac OS at a certain point (OS13.6) which in my case a non-Core Audio host (Cubase Pro 12) was not compatible with. Apple appears to have fixed some of this for OS14 as I'm no longer stymied, but I haven't got back to my doomed all-silicon project.

I would go as far to say, however that the machine you're looking at will be much better performing per se than what you have unless there's some catastrophic something under the hood stopping the show. What host is a most pertinent question IME.

[vstdls]

I have both, and do rock as well. I went AS for the power efficiency as a travel rig. The lowly M1 air does everything just fine. I neither love it or hate it.

For my "stationary" workflow...it's still a PC (12900) all the way. Disregarding the marketing... I don't think the Mac Studios are punching in thier price-class yet.

[glokraw]

I'm currently on Windows 10, and considering moving over to Apple Silicon... possibly Mac Studio M3 Max.

Make a list of the expensive softwares you rely on, and verify they work fine on whatever purchase you consider. For example, if 3 out of 10 won't work on the desired mac, what is the cost of replacements that do work, and the price of your time and willingness to learn new interfaces, and browse the new sounds etc? Add it all up. Compare it all to the best windows setup in the same price range. Then consider the gear/software you could buy by staying with your current system.

I have a relative who happily switched to mac after personally verifying superior performance and ease of use of his key applications.
Good shopping!

[chagzuki]

It's a mixed bag for me. I've been frustrated by combinations of problems with Logic and Mac OS, and I'm seeing more value right now in the fact that I can still get 20 year old projects done in Orion (old discontinued software) to run in Windows 10. So I tend to think that for a desktop I'd go PC, but for a laptop I still prefer Apple. Should Windows laptops ever run cooler I'll probably go back to them, although the combination of awesome trackpad and speakers on MacBooks is great for musicians. But that doesn't apply for desktops, so I doubt that the fixed ssd, ram etc. is a worthwhile trade-off in that case.

[Funky40]

I read a lot of glowing 'reviews' but would prefer to hear from musicians who actually use AS and what their thoughts and opinions are. I'm OS agnostic, don't care either way.

Some thoughts and points from me:

Can´t go wrong with a AS mac ! since you are OS-agnostic.

This is the important one. ( but might not play a role for everybody)
Mac has Core audio and Core midi.
This is for many things a big thing !
( i do today -multi Audio app- workflows i never would have thought of, bevore understanding what this means for real live uses ! ie. MacOS has multi client support for AIs, which just opens up doors ! allows also for a way easier "virtual audio cable" handling. On a win machine that seems way more stressfull from what i gather. Until you run a RME AI, it seems)

The apple silicon macs do run fine !
if ALL of your plugins run under ARM native is up to you to check.
So far, most things have made the transition.

TB3 Audio Interfaces run easy on AS macs, for smallest latency ! Thats Great !
I´m not sure if Windows runs there behind ? I think it is.

Small powerconsumtion footprint !
i think, until somebody does NOT need to HAVE a *super-powerful* (allways latest) Win-machine, is a AS mac just the winner.

running a M2proMini (12core) here
edited: some typos

[rACatkvr]

As has been said above check your goto’s are good with AS, or what the price of changing them to something that is is.

[jamcat]

Do it now.