If you had to stick to one DAW, which one would it be?

[FapFilter]

i own two Macs, though not a Logic user here.

i'm following the macOS (and iOS/iPadOS) support quite closely and it's been 5 years of major updates plus an additional 2 years of more or less lackluster security hole fixes "grace period" for a good while now.
Mac Pros sometimes might have gotten a bit more out of it, but their price tags are out of the orbit to begin with anyway, so thanks for a little longer support.

if Logic is getting indeed longer support than that, that's good... and better than Apple's dev tools that will only receive updates if you are on the most recent OS, so definitively 5 years max there.

and yes, the MBA pricing is competitive, even "great" nowadays, since most mnufacturers have been raising their prices significantly over the years, offering great value with a battery life no x86 laptop could match, but i wouldn't necessarily say superior screen.
it's good, but imo nothing even close to out of the ordinary, as there are so many laptops out there with outstanding screens aswell.
the competitiveness in pricing is only valid for their base models though, if you need or want more than that, the company who is trying to sell us brake-less $600 workstation wheels, or almost non-adjustable $1000 monitor stands comes through again.

[dellboy]

People refuse to believe that Apple can be more affordable than PC.
Macbook Air price is similar to other laptops, but have much more powerful hardware, better screen and battery efficiency.
Also, you get Logic for $200.
Macbooks became affordable since M1 was released…

Its possible to buy an intel/AMD laptop with 32GB of ram and 512GB NVME for less than $500. Such a machine will be capable of running all the latest DAWs. Admittedly, it will not match a Macbook for battery life, but who walks around the house composing anyway?

[roman.i]

People refuse to believe that Apple can be more affordable than PC.
Macbook Air price is similar to other laptops, but have much more powerful hardware, better screen and battery efficiency.
Also, you get Logic for $200.
Macbooks became affordable since M1 was released…

Its possible to buy an intel/AMD laptop with 32GB of ram and 512GB NVME for less than $500. Such a machine will be capable of running all the latest DAWs. Admittedly, it will not match a Macbook for battery life, but who walks around the house composing anyway?

What is more important is the cpu performance, not the ram, check how much will cost a laptop with retina screen with 400-500nits, cpu with power similar of M1, made of metal, and light and slim as macbook air.
Many of us use our laptop as a daily driver, battery time is quite important.
M1 is quite a revolution that PC can’t compete with right now.

[dellboy]

What is more important is the cpu performance, not the ram, check how much will cost a laptop with retina screen with 400-500nits, cpu with power similar of M1, made of metal, and light and slim as macbook air.
Many of us use our laptop as a daily driver, battery time is quite important.
M1 is quite a revolution that PC can’t compete with right now.

No one is arguing that an M2 is not fast, its just that I do not need that speed, anymore than I need a Ferrari to go to the supermarket. My old intel i5 does everything I need,so what would be the point of getting something faster? Apple machines are great,they are at the peak of engineering brilliance,they have a better audio system, they run cooler,faster, its just that i don't need any of that,at least not at the price they charge.If they bought out an M3 Mac Mini with 16GB of ram and a 1TB hardrive, at a decent base price, I will switch, if not, I will stick to my good old trusty windows box.

[FapFilter]

admittedly, most laptops at such price points will likely also have worse screens, slower RAM, worse track pads, and sometimes skimp on the keyboard quality too, and of course will be loud when taxed.

i'm actually quite happy with my Macs. the Ive "form over function" era thankfully seems to be over and you can be quite sure that you will receive very good quality without having to do tons of research before your purchase.

their upgrade prices from their base models are beyond silly though.
i recently upgraded a Dell laptop with a 4TB SSD for 180€ via Amazon.
Apple wants... i already forgot... probably something like 1800 to 2000€ to go from 1TB to 4, so basically close to 2k for 3TB
other manufacturers are likely also making nice profits on their upgrades, but usually charge less than half for what Apple wants.

and of course long time support for the OS could also be handled much better too

[dellboy]

M1 is quite a revolution that PC can’t compete with right now.

True,but its just a temporary blip. Within the next year or so, intel, and perhaps AMD, will have caught up on battery life and,quietness. They are already faster than Apple silicon.

[FapFilter]

yes, who knows, maybe even just going from 10nm to 5 (or 3) manufacturing sizes will be enough for even Intel to compete power consumption wise.

[skijumptoes]

They are already faster than Apple silicon.

It's the efficiency that I like, all Windows PC's I've had to run numerous system tray tools to limit the boosting on the CPU, reduce fan speeds, set up battery profiles, fix DPC latency issues to create something useable that's not blaring away at me.

A Mac you just turn on, power is always there and you're getting hours of battery. I don't notice any noise, any loss in performance between portable and plugged in either.

On top of that MacOS audio drivers are multi-client off the bat, so if you're running from the built-in headphone jack you haven't got to piss about with releasing the driver from DAW to other applications if you need to.

And if you've never heard the speakers on the new silicon MBP's, they're fantastic. It's just the full package for audio.

If you don't like those aspects then of course, go PC. But for me a Macbook absolutely kills it as a portable solution, the power underneath is just a bonus and I know I'm covered should I need it.

[dellboy]

It's the efficiency that I like, all Windows PC's I've had to run numerous system tray tools to limit the boosting on the CPU, reduce fan speeds, set up battery profiles, fix DPC latency issues to create something useable that's not blaring away at me.

A Mac you just turn on, power is always there and you're getting hours of battery. I don't notice any noise, any loss in performance between portable and plugged in either.

On top of that MacOS audio drivers are multi-client off the bat, so if you're running from the built-in headphone jack you haven't got to piss about with releasing the driver from DAW to other applications if you need to.

And if you've never heard the speakers on the new silicon MBP's, they're fantastic. It's just the full package for audio.

If you don't like those aspects then of course, go PC. But for me a Macbook absolutely kills it as a portable solution, the power underneath is just a bonus and I know I'm covered should I need it.

If you read my posts I have already said that Apple machines are great. But all the stuff you say about PCs is just silly, apart from the awful windows audio system which I agree is rubbish compared to Apples. Its like you are going back 15 years. By the way, I have an iphone 13 in my pocket, and two ipads in the living room. Oh, and i bought a brand new intel Mac Mini in 2020 only to be told two months later it was now obsolete.

PS: Why do Pros use laptops for making music? I bought one a few months back and gave up with it and went back to my desktop. (I am not pro).

[Jac459]

yes, who knows, maybe even just going from 10nm to 5 (or 3) manufacturing sizes will be enough for even Intel to compete power consumption wise.

No they need to go to risc.... their cpu architecture is just not the good one for power consumption and battery life...

[Jac459]

PS: Why do Pros use laptops for making music? I bought one a few months back and gave up with it and went back to my desktop. (I am not pro).

Not pro neither but having the capacity to travel with your studio is just beyond awesome. Many artists have done famous albums doing so....
I am back from one month holidays were I loved being able to do music while not home.

I am not saying everybody should think the same. I am just saying it is not an uncommon pattern.

[roman.i]

By the way m1/m2 MBPs have a headphone amp, which is great for mobile music making

[pdxindy]

What is more important is the cpu performance, not the ram, check how much will cost a laptop with retina screen with 400-500nits, cpu with power similar of M1, made of metal, and light and slim as macbook air.
Many of us use our laptop as a daily driver, battery time is quite important.
M1 is quite a revolution that PC can’t compete with right now.

The best feature of my M1 MBP is that it is silent. I was working on a project yesterday for some hours on a hot day and it was completely silent. My previous Intel MBP would have been sounding like a jet engine the entire time.

[pdxindy]

By the way m1/m2 MBPs have a headphone amp, which is great for mobile music making

Yeah! That's a big plus when using quality headphones!!

[vurt]

dubturbo.