SHOULD I BUY A MACBOOK PRO OR OTHER PC LAPTOP??? 2018

[beaurmcleod]

Okaay. So I know this is an everlasting constant debate between producers, but I have come to a point where I am ready to spend a large amount on a laptop for running Reason and all my plug-ins and VSTs, and want to have some facts and opinions by experienced Reason users to back my purchase.

- I grew up a PC user never understanding why people spent so much on mac! two years ago my work computer was replaced with a brand new iMac and over time I fell in love with it! I cant directly put my finger on what or why, but the format, display, and everything just seems so much cleaner! (especially on reason). Since then I have ONLY wanted to produce on apple products.

- While I have seen on tons of of instagram stories and pictures many professional producers using macs, I went in to Best buy to shop around, and at some instances I couldnt tell why this almost $2,500 macbook pro was sooo much better than a similar Del or other option for $1000 or less (all of which unlike macbooks had touchscreen!)

I dont mind spending an absurd amount of money if the product is worth it from a producers standpoint, I just want to make sure im not getting taken for a ride by apple in buying the logo and OS for an extra $1,500.

1. Beyond simple preference, Which one is better and why?

2. What features and capabilities stand out to make this so?

(answers primarily aimed at production and Reason use but if you have some other facts that may help sway a decision those are helpful as well!)


Thank you all for your time in reading this post and your response! This is a huge purchase for me and a large step for my production career so I really appreciate responses.

[chimp_spanner]

I don't think you're even READY for this thread

In seriousness though, I can't comment on Mac as I don't use it. All I know is, I work all day every day on a Windows laptop. Always have done. As long as you're prepared to invest a little time and energy into learning how to fix things if and when they go wrong and spend a little more on hardware that's gonna work well together, you should be fine. I know some people can have an absolute nightmare with Windows but thankfully, I've not been one of them. Or rather, when I have had issues...it's because I treated my install like garbage and didn't backup. In which case, any OS is gonna shit out under those circumstances.

[sdst]

- While I have seen on tons of of instagram stories and pictures many professional producers using macs,

for instagram pictures and look professional, Mac is the best

to make music any powerful machine does the job

[beaurmcleod]

I don't think you're even READY for this thread

In seriousness though, I can't comment on Mac as I don't use it. All I know is, I work all day every day on a Windows laptop. Always have done. As long as you're prepared to invest a little time and energy into learning how to fix things if and when they go wrong and spend a little more on hardware that's gonna work well together, you should be fine. I know some people can have an absolute nightmare with Windows but thankfully, I've not been one of them. Or rather, when I have had issues...it's because I treated my install like garbage and didn't backup. In which case, any OS is gonna shit out under those circumstances.

Thanks for your response! So in saying I need to be prepared to fix things and spend more on hardware, is this because macs are less prone to crashes and viruses and such? I have heard something similar to this before, just wanted to confirm.

[chimp_spanner]

I don't think you're even READY for this thread

In seriousness though, I can't comment on Mac as I don't use it. All I know is, I work all day every day on a Windows laptop. Always have done. As long as you're prepared to invest a little time and energy into learning how to fix things if and when they go wrong and spend a little more on hardware that's gonna work well together, you should be fine. I know some people can have an absolute nightmare with Windows but thankfully, I've not been one of them. Or rather, when I have had issues...it's because I treated my install like garbage and didn't backup. In which case, any OS is gonna shit out under those circumstances.

Thanks for your response! So in saying I need to be prepared to fix things and spend more on hardware, is this because macs are less prone to crashes and viruses and such? I have heard something similar to this before, just wanted to confirm.

Ehh I mean...honestly? I think it's BS. PC's aren't just inherently prone to crash for no reason. There's always a reason. Either hardware mismatch, or something gone awry in the installation. Both are easy to avoid. Buy the right hardware, and always back up your OS and data so you can restore to a functional point in 5-10 minutes if you should mess it up somehow (which is usually down to installing badly written software that corrupts system files, or messing about with drivers and codecs and stuff). As far as viruses go I mean...they're super easy to avoid. Don't open attachments if you aren't expecting them, and don't torrent. And you won't get a virus!

But no, you won't spend any longer than a Mac user sorting out issues if you avoid them in the first place Be careful what you install, and don't go anywhere dodgy. I think the same advice would ring true for Mac as well!

[sublunar]

You will spend more on an Apple than you would for an equally spec'd PC. This is true more often than it is not. That's about the biggest difference.

Which do you like better and which are you more comfortable working on and investing in? That's the real question.

Disclaimer: I'm in IT, I work on computers for a living and I've owned a macbook and a mac server. The only apple devices I still own are ipods. And their batteries are just about shot and the screens are slowly accumulating more and more dead pixels..

[Jmax]

Keep in mind the chip in new Macbook heats up like a Mother! Being as it's so incredibly thin. They didn't want it to make much noise. Except that now the fans kick in later after the CPU really heats up. Might be better to get a 2016 model if you're going mac. If I were you and wanted to drop $2000 on a laptop. 64 quad core laptop with a nice processor and your good.



Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

[Noplan]

Which one is better and why?

It doesn`t matter. In your price range both systems will run Reason well. Just make sure that the PC laptop has the optimal hardware for your purposes and all the nightmares that people have at this Apple / PC war can be ignored.

[joeyluck]

I simply prefer macOS overall. And I like being able to plug things in and have them work without having to download drivers. I also work in QLab which only runs on macOS (so there's that). Aside from that I much prefer the MacBook trackpads. It makes a world of difference for me navigating in Reason and other software with different gestures. And being able to do simple things like close a session of Reason without quitting the program seems pretty basic, but makes a big difference. The battery life on my MacBook Air which is now over a year old is still phenomenal. Works all day. I leave my charger at home most of the time.

I think if I ever feel the need to have a desktop computer again, I may build a Windows PC. I'm not sure. The iMacs seem to be a great value. But for laptops and the experience, I can't imagine using something else.

[beaurmcleod]

I simply prefer macOS overall. And I like being able to plug things in and have them work without having to download drivers. I also work in QLab which only runs on macOS (so there's that). Aside from that I much prefer the MacBook trackpads. It makes a world of difference for me navigating in Reason and other software with different gestures. And being able to do simple things like close a session of Reason without quitting the program seems pretty basic, but makes a big difference. The battery life on my MacBook Air which is now over a year old is still phenomenal. Works all day. I leave my charger at home most of the time.

I think if I ever feel the need to have a desktop computer again, I may build a Windows PC. I'm not sure. The iMacs seem to be a great value. But for laptops and the experience, I can't imagine using something else.

Thanks for your response Joey,

I was wondering, I saw you had mentioned that you used a macbook air for reason? does that work good? I have been hearing from several sources that a macbook air isnt powerful enough to efficiently run reason.

[chimp_spanner]

You don’t need drivers for windows now either! 9/10 windows sorts it out, except for things like audio interfaces that have dedicated software control panels. Saying that even my Roland Boutiques got installed by windows update! So that’s pretty cool.

[Psuper]

PC all the way, you couldn't pay me to use an Apple for a whole variety of reasons. Boils down to personal preference, how comfortable you are in either, and how much you're willing to spend.

[joeyluck]

I simply prefer macOS overall. And I like being able to plug things in and have them work without having to download drivers. I also work in QLab which only runs on macOS (so there's that). Aside from that I much prefer the MacBook trackpads. It makes a world of difference for me navigating in Reason and other software with different gestures. And being able to do simple things like close a session of Reason without quitting the program seems pretty basic, but makes a big difference. The battery life on my MacBook Air which is now over a year old is still phenomenal. Works all day. I leave my charger at home most of the time.

I think if I ever feel the need to have a desktop computer again, I may build a Windows PC. I'm not sure. The iMacs seem to be a great value. But for laptops and the experience, I can't imagine using something else.

Thanks for your response Joey,

I was wondering, I saw you had mentioned that you used a macbook air for reason? does that work good? I have been hearing from several sources that a macbook air isnt powerful enough to efficiently run reason.

It works well for me
I'm a more efficient user. Most might feel they need a MBP. I used a MBP prior for almost 10 years and I was still fine using it. But I just wanted a smaller computer and better battery life. Went from a 15" MBP to a 13" MBA. And the Air does a better than my 2008 MBP.

It all comes down to your preferred experience. Much like choosing Ableton Live or Reason. People on here could tell you that Reason on Windows can handle more than macOS with similar specs... They could also tell you that Live handles from tracks and plugins than Reason, but yet here we are using Reason.

[Noplan]

And I like being able to plug things in and have them work without having to download drivers.

I have always found this argument somewhat exaggerated. Yes, Plug & Play works well with Apple. But this service is not really necessary because you can do it with your own efforts in a few minutes. And you just have to do it once. It is nothing that is particularly elaborate or painful. It is actually irrelevant. Writing about it is even more complicated.

[plaamook]

If you can stomach windows go with windows.

Apple is in decline. Doens't really respect it's pro/geek client base. It's now only for people (like me) that can't deal with the prospect of going back to windows. OSX is still great but that company has deffo shat the bed.

[joeyluck]

You don’t need drivers for windows now either! 9/10 windows sorts it out, except for things like audio interfaces that have dedicated software control panels. Saying that even my Roland Boutiques got installed by windows update! So that’s pretty cool.

That's good to know!
Yeah and of course separate control software has to be installed on macOS as well, such as the Focusrite stuff (in order to do something like telling it you want the master knob on the front to control all of the outputs, rather than just 1&2)

[joeyluck]

And I like being able to plug things in and have them work without having to download drivers.

I have always found this argument somewhat exaggerated. Yes, Plug & Play works well with Apple. But this service is not really necessary because you can do it with your own efforts in a few minutes. And you just have to do it once. It is nothing that is particularly elaborate or painful. It is actually irrelevant. Writing about it is even more complicated.

Haha true. And chimp_spanner also cleared that up that it isn't the case with newer versions of Windows. But often times when I'm working in a theatre, the show computer is not connected to the Internet. So that's on my mind. But most show computers use macOS because of QLab, so I haven't encountered it in some time.

[flightONE]

These threads are tricky because they can very quickly turn into fanboy wars...BUT I'm giving my humble opinion.

I'm both a PC and Mac guy. I work on PCs all day long and often spend a lot of time doing hardware and software hacks , (I design PC hardware for my day job and have a computer engineering degree). And I use Macs and iPhones afterhours...
A couple years ago I got annoyed by apple pricing and limited connectivity/upgrade options and other things that are better on PC so I decided to go to ALL PCs....

I quickly circled back so now I am PC for all my "computer engineering" stuff and Mac for all my music production...

Here's why

-Core Audio.... its (mostly) Driverless, has really low latency, advanced software routing (agreggate audio devices, iOS integration, multichannel)
-Core MIDI (virtual ports, MIDI over BLE, iPad/iPhone Midi)
-No windows rot, bloatware, etc
-single system-wide location for plugins /Library/Audio Plugins
-Nice portable hardware (even the 15 inch fits in most bags my 15.6 PC laptop has awesome hardware but it is a mess to take to gigs , the power brick is insanely big and even though it's a 15" it is much thicker than a macbook pro)
-reliability (I used several PC laptops for DJ gigs and there was always sketchyness, from audio pops and stutters, to windows updates, it just was smoother to use macs)
-Battery life
-screens (seriously the new macbook pros have an amazing screen)
- speakers (before you cringe, when mastering it's always good to hear your music on shitty speakers in addition to reference monitors. Macbooks have the best of the shitty speakers. If you track sounds good on macbook speakers it will likely sound well on cheap headphones, TVs and other laptops, so it's great to have the macbook pro nearby for a "common person" sample when doing mixing/mastering)
-Touchpad scrolling and zooming in apps including Reason (i've tried to make it work consistently using many mice / drivers /system using windows never works well across all apps)

And I know this is a Reason Forum but these two are big for me

-Logic/Mainstage (I am a huge Reason fanboy, but even I admit Alchemy/Chomaverb are nice!! and CHEAPP!!)
-Ableton can import M4A/AIFF on 64 bits without having to do hacking.

Some of these things seem nitpicky but they make a huge difference in my musical productivity. For example, I travel somewhat frequently and often write in airports, coffee shops and hotel rooms. Sometimes I am able to bring my audio interface, but sometimes I can't. Now I know that in the PC world we have ASIO4ALL and FLStudio ASIO and so on but try watching a youtube tutorial and using reason at the same time, using a BLE midi controller, using more than one ASIO app and you'll soon want to throw the thing out the window.

[flightONE]

I simply prefer macOS overall. And I like being able to plug things in and have them work without having to download drivers. I also work in QLab which only runs on macOS (so there's that). Aside from that I much prefer the MacBook trackpads. It makes a world of difference for me navigating in Reason and other software with different gestures. And being able to do simple things like close a session of Reason without quitting the program seems pretty basic, but makes a big difference. The battery life on my MacBook Air which is now over a year old is still phenomenal. Works all day. I leave my charger at home most of the time.

I think if I ever feel the need to have a desktop computer again, I may build a Windows PC. I'm not sure. The iMacs seem to be a great value. But for laptops and the experience, I can't imagine using something else.

Thanks for your response Joey,

I was wondering, I saw you had mentioned that you used a macbook air for reason? does that work good? I have been hearing from several sources that a macbook air isnt powerful enough to efficiently run reason.

My secondary laptop is a MBA 1.6Ghz 4G... it runs Reason.. but you can't do much. If you mostly work with Audio ou'll be OK, if you only use the Reason stock devices, you'll be OK. If you use any RE or VST.. forget about using more than 1-2 instances.

However performance aside the most annoying part of the MBA is the low resolution screen. Trying to use Europa/Grain or the bigger Rack extensions is kinda bad.

[bxbrkrz]

Buy what makes you feel happy first. Specs don't really matter if you have the cash.

[guitfnky]

I've used both, and I agree with others who suggest a PC. they're not nearly as finicky as they used to be and are 1000% more stable, in my experience. with a decent budget, you can get something with great specs and still have a lot left over to put the rest towards Rack Extensions/plugins/other gear you might want.

7-10 years ago, I would've said absolutely go Mac, but nowadays there's really no reason I can think of that a PC won't suit you just as well, or better, and for a much better price.

[joeyluck]

Thanks for your response Joey,

I was wondering, I saw you had mentioned that you used a macbook air for reason? does that work good? I have been hearing from several sources that a macbook air isnt powerful enough to efficiently run reason.

My secondary laptop is a MBA 1.6Ghz 4G... it runs Reason.. but you can't do much. If you mostly work with Audio ou'll be OK, if you only use the Reason stock devices, you'll be OK. If you use any RE or VST.. forget about using more than 1-2 instances.

However performance aside the most annoying part of the MBA is the low resolution screen. Trying to use Europa/Grain or the bigger Rack extensions is kinda bad.

I went with the "top of the line" MBA with the 2.2 GHz i7

I actually don't mind the display. It's better than my 2008 MBP. And I suppose it's also what contributes to the better battery life; better than even the 12" MacBook with retina display

[normen]

If you are on PC get a PC. This is a platform thing really - if all your experience, applications and other money and brains is in PCs there is absolutely no reason to buy a Mac unless you really want to switch the whole ecosystem from phone to pc to Apple.

As for what‘s better. They are all the same „generation“ and they all have advantages and disadvantages, in reality there isn’t as much difference as to your last generation computer anyway. Its the same as with DAWs, don‘t try and run after the latest feature - make yourself comfortable and experienced with one - the features will come sooner or later. And then you‘ll be ninja in your corner instead of panda in everything

Edit: You‘ll end up like this guy:

[fieldframe]

So far this thread hasn't turned into a dumpster fire like the one about that iMac repair YouTube video. Fingers crossed!

To add to what FlightOne said about CoreAudio, on MacOS, you also get cool, cutting edge technology like IDAM which gives you MIDI and audio connections to iPad instruments over USB (see this thread for more information: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7506535). And the MacOS Audio MIDI setup tool is still the best way I've seen of managing more complicated gear setups.

All that said, a Windows PC will still run almost everything you could want, and is by no means a bad choice. I just find there are more little things on the Mac that improve the experience of making music.

[bxbrkrz]