Time for new computer. Looking for input

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Hi everyone. It’s time for a new computer.

I currently have a 2007 Mac Pro 2.66 quad core, 7 gigs ram.

I also just bought a new line6 helix rack. It “works” I.e core audio, and is recognized, but none of the line,6 software works on my Mac. Actually I can’t even update it anymore, and I’m slowly losing web browsers.

I,switched to Apple in 2007 because I was tired of the tweaking, and I found I had to reformat windows every 3 months because it would become “wonky”.

I don’t,want to start a Mac vs pc debate. Just looking into windows as a possibility.

I will add I love, and use logic. This tilts things in favor to Apple.

Looking at either an i9 based system, or the new Mac mini 16g ram, and a 2tb drive.

The lowly Mac mini should smoke my 2007 pro. Actually most anything these days will.

I’m not running a full blown Studio, I’m Just a guy in a basement who plays guitar, using the helix as a soundcard and I play around with logic when I feel like writing.

Is there still lots of headache with a windows based system in 2021? I’m sure things have changed since 2007.

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A mac mini M1 sounds very reasonable if you are used to Logic. Only problem would be if you have 3rd party plugins, they probably don’t work in the native version of Logic. But Logic is maybe the most complete DAW on this planet with a lot of high quality plugins included...
As far as I heard the new M1 machines smoke actual intel or AMD windows machines by far and even don’t get hot with it it seems.
Personally I will wait a bit, as I am still on a very reasonable Mac Pro 6,1...

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Go for Mac Mini M1

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Most native plugins are working under Rosetta, so that's not a reason to not adopt M1 in the short term. Things will only get better/faster with time.

M1 performance seems to be extremely good, but it doesn't 'smoke' Windows machines. It just means that finally a £700 Mac is on par with a £700 PC performance wise. That alone is reason to celebrate. They may well start smoking any other machine under M2 though.

For the record, I've run both OSX and W10 for the last few years and with few exceptions, Windows is completely rock solid now. A lot has changed since 2007. It's only the slight annoyance of ASIO for mobile computing that would keep me with OSX for any reason.

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Nan_wpg wrote: Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:22 amIs there still lots of headache with a windows based system in 2021? I’m sure things have changed since 2007.
Even more headache since there's no way to stop automatic updates freezing the whole system in Win10. Never again Windows for music production. It's a pita imho. You simply spend to much time fixing driver issues, optimizing windows, etc.

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ajdz wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 10:18 pm
Nan_wpg wrote: Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:22 amIs there still lots of headache with a windows based system in 2021? I’m sure things have changed since 2007.
Even more headache since there's no way to stop automatic updates freezing the whole system in Win10.
Is this true?

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SHall1000 wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:01 am
ajdz wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 10:18 pm
Nan_wpg wrote: Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:22 amIs there still lots of headache with a windows based system in 2021? I’m sure things have changed since 2007.
Even more headache since there's no way to stop automatic updates freezing the whole system in Win10.
Is this true?
Windows 10 allows you to schedule automatic updates at a time you choose, or you can set it to only run outside of "active hours" that you choose.

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SHall1000 wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:01 am
ajdz wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 10:18 pm Even more headache since there's no way to stop automatic updates freezing the whole system in Win10.
Is this true?
Not really. You can use a Group Policy or edit the registry to stop them. Bit cat and mouse and you do find things you've disabled coming back after updates but a billion times better than Windows used to be.

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I just remember windows being an absolute joke. Not very stable.

I bought a new line6 helix. Plugged it into my 2007 Mac. It just worked.

I’m actually happy with the performance/latency of the helix, even playing along to a fairly loaded logic 9 project.

I’m pretty confident I’ll be more than happy with a Mac mini. It should do circles around my 07 Mac Pro.

I’m gonna go with 16 g ram (current 7 g) but can’t,decide between 1tb or 2tb to drive?? (Current is 250g + 1tb

Most of my stuff is “cloud” I.e music, movies.

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Yep, Windows is not very stable, hasnt crashed single time yet from 2013...

But logic binds to apple, I have escaped such binds in the past to Ableton :)
If logic then apple.
Soft Knees - Live 12, Diva, Omnisphere, Slate Digital VSX, TDR, Kush Audio, U-He, PA, Valhalla, Fuse, Pulsar, NI, OekSound etc. on Win11Pro R7950X & RME AiO Pro
https://www.youtube.com/@softknees/videos Music & Demoscene

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Windows loses snappiness over time and I experienced ocassional freezes, but overall I’m quite satisfied with 8.1 Pro on dedicated audio desktop PC, on other hand 10.6.8 was amazing, best OS I ever used.

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GaryG wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 7:30 pm
SHall1000 wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:01 am
ajdz wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 10:18 pm Even more headache since there's no way to stop automatic updates freezing the whole system in Win10.
Is this true?
Not really. You can use a Group Policy or edit the registry to stop them. Bit cat and mouse and you do find things you've disabled coming back after updates but a billion times better than Windows used to be.
Big improvements.

XP wasn't bad but weak. Vista was a mess. W7 was pretty solid. W8 was broken for some people but I never used it. W10 also broke things for some people but it's been solid for me (I jumped in after the "Creators" update - installing that version on a fresh build) - I've got this PC locked down so it has never updated.

No issues with software running under W10 for a few years now.


Used OSX and whilst it was a little like Workbench (which I remember fondly), I didn't gel and it's Apple - so I was half happy when my MBP finally died.

Will be building another Ryzen system at some point in the future and recently acquired a Ryzen based laptop.

I would naturally recommend that the OP do similar - and certainly build your own whether you're going for Intel or AMD. However...

It can depend on your DAW: Reaper's efficiency improved even further for systems with many cores in a recent update. Also, if you favour OSX and Logic it makes most sense to choose a new Mac based computer. Don't worry about grass being greener when the solution you have works for you.

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SHall1000 wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:01 am
ajdz wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 10:18 pm
Nan_wpg wrote: Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:22 amIs there still lots of headache with a windows based system in 2021? I’m sure things have changed since 2007.
Even more headache since there's no way to stop automatic updates freezing the whole system in Win10.
Is this true?
Not really. I run Apple and Dell machines with few issues. Both have pluses and minuses.
Zerocrossing Media

4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~

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I have a M1 Mac Mini and love it. After using Windows for two decades, I switched to Apple. The Mini is silent and ridiculously fast. I haven’t had any issue with any software.

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Passing Bye wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 3:38 pm Windows loses snappiness over time and I experienced ocassional freezes, but overall I’m quite satisfied with 8.1 Pro on dedicated audio desktop PC, on other hand 10.6.8 was amazing, best OS I ever used.
Nope, havent seen that with 3 Windows machines, only thing that losed its snappiness was harddisk slowing down. I've seen the same on osx 10.6.x, the disks slowed and it lost its snappiness too.
On SSD times, I've not seen that :)

Also I dont install & uninstall stuff, except games..
Soft Knees - Live 12, Diva, Omnisphere, Slate Digital VSX, TDR, Kush Audio, U-He, PA, Valhalla, Fuse, Pulsar, NI, OekSound etc. on Win11Pro R7950X & RME AiO Pro
https://www.youtube.com/@softknees/videos Music & Demoscene

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