Windows for DAW?

horse

My old macbook pro which I mainly use for Reaper will be 10 years old next year. It still works okay-ish, but hdd space is becoming an issue and although I could stick a big ssd in, the ram is already maxed out and I suppose it won't last forever, and it probably isn't too crazy to be thinking about upgrading after 10 years. I'd love to go for an imac, but the costs go a bit steep when adding more RAM and going ssd, so was wondering about going for a pc instead purely due to cost.

I'm no mac snob, and am much more familiar with windows in general / have always used it for work / business. I guess PCs can run as quitely as macs these days as they are using the same processors? Which leaves my only potential concern that I've always found that PCs go a bit laggy after a while, and I really don't want good takes spoilt because windows has decided to undertake some resource intensive background task at the wrong moment - never had an issue with the macbook in this regard, which is why I'd go mac again if prices were lower on upgrades. I suppose I need to check that I can get vst versions of any au plugins too without buying again.

So, is windows performance consistent enough these days not to worry about DAW use / is there anything else I should be thinking about?

Winny_Pooh

If you've a 10 year old macbook then a recent Lenovo will be no contest. 

wave100

Windows itself is fine for DAW use, especially on a desktop. If you need a laptop I would avoid the ultra low voltage processors as (in my opinion) some power saving functions can interfere with audio streaming. You might find a Windows machine requires some optimisation to get the best performance. Robin Vincent from Molten Music Technology has some videos on the 'tube about optimising the Surface tablets for music production which are worth a look.

As someone who went in the opposite direction a couple of years ago, the main differences I found were
1) Mac on board sound works out of the box, Windows requires a 3rd party driver such as ASIO4ALL but if you have an external Audio Interface the point is moot.
2) on Mac you can plug in a MIDI controller while a program is running and it will be picked up ok - on Windows you need to restart the program.
3) the editor program for my Moog Sub Phatty works better on Mac.

It might be the case that Cubase performs better on Windows than MacOS for similarly specced hardware, but if your current machine is 10 years old I imagine you will be blown away by the performance of any modern machine regardless of the OS.

So, if you need a laptop, buy it from somewhere with a good returns policy so you can test the hell out of it to make sure it meets your expectations but the best bang for buck is with the desktop if you don't need portability. There are also specialist suppliers of PCs for DAW use such as Scan and the aforementioned Molten Music.

Fretwired

wave100 said:

Windows itself is fine for DAW use, especially on a desktop. If you need a laptop I would avoid the ultra low voltage processors as (in my opinion) some power saving functions can interfere with audio streaming. You might find a Windows machine requires some optimisation to get the best performance. Robin Vincent from Molten Music Technology has some videos on the 'tube about optimising the Surface tablets for music production which are worth a look.

As someone who went in the opposite direction a couple of years ago, the main differences I found were
1) Mac on board sound works out of the box, Windows requires a 3rd party driver such as ASIO4ALL but if you have an external Audio Interface the point is moot.
2) on Mac you can plug in a MIDI controller while a program is running and it will be picked up ok - on Windows you need to restart the program.
3) the editor program for my Moog Sub Phatty works better on Mac.

It might be the case that Cubase performs better on Windows than MacOS for similarly specced hardware, but if your current machine is 10 years old I imagine you will be blown away by the performance of any modern machine regardless of the OS.

So, if you need a laptop, buy it from somewhere with a good returns policy so you can test the hell out of it to make sure it meets your expectations but the best bang for buck is with the desktop if you don't need portability. There are also specialist suppliers of PCs for DAW use such as Scan and the aforementioned Molten Music.

I have a Windows 10 computer. If I plugin a MIDI device its recognised immediately. No need for  reboot. In any case most audio interfaces come with plug and play MIDI.

Modern PCs be they Windows or Mac will handle the most demanding DAW with ease. I have a 7 year old PC and that workd with the latest version of Cubase with a problem.

ToneControl

I have a very high spec PC, intended for DAW, loads of RAM, 64GB
works great

nevertheless, when I have Google chrome loaded, with lots of tabs, I get interruptions on playback and recording, so I shut down at least that browser. the others make little difference

horse

Thanks guys. Having had a look, PCs aren't that cheap for the kind of spec I'd like either so I'll need to have a think. Maybe make the macbook last a bit longer in the hope that ssd prices continue to fall, or maybe try to shift some gear to boost the kitty in the new year.

Funkfingers

horse said:

My old macbook pro ... will be 10 years old next year. It still works okay-ish, but hdd space is becoming an issue and although I could stick a big ssd in, the ram is already maxed out and I suppose it won't last forever, and it probably isn't too crazy to be thinking about upgrading

The 2008 MBP has the necessary connectors to run an external HDD. According to the Mactracker app, the maximum RAM is 6GB not Apple's official figure of 4GB. The real pissers are the comparatively slow processor bus speed and the inability to upgrade beyond OSX 10.11.6 El Capitan.

Some software instruments are dual format, so to speak. The manufacturers are fussy about how many computers a single  license customer is allowed to install onto at the same time. 

horse

Funkfingers said:

horse said:

My old macbook pro ... will be 10 years old next year. It still works okay-ish, but hdd space is becoming an issue and although I could stick a big ssd in, the ram is already maxed out and I suppose it won't last forever, and it probably isn't too crazy to be thinking about upgrading

The 2008 MBP has the necessary connectors to run an external HDD. According to the Mactracker app, the maximum RAM is 6GB not Apple's official figure of 4GB. The real pissers are the comparatively slow processor bus speed and the inability to upgrade beyond OSX 10.11.6 El Capitan.

Some software instruments are dual format, so to speak. The manufacturers are fussy about how many computers a single  license customer is allowed to install onto at the same time. 

Yeah, I already archive onto an external drive to free up space, but vsts that use larger sample libraries aren't really a goer

wave100

Fretwired said:

I have a Windows 10 computer. If I plugin a MIDI device its recognised immediately. No need for  reboot. In any case most audio interfaces come with plug and play MIDI.

I'm not talking about restarting the computer, just the app - eg running Cubase, having forgotten to connect a MIDI controller, on the PC I would require to quit Cubase and restart it before the controller is recognised by Cubase, on the Macbook Pro it is picked up by Cubase immediately. It's a relatively minor difference between Mac and PC, but one that I personally noticed when I switched. In fact my point was that the differences between the two platforms were very slight...

Heartfeltdawn

horse said:

Thanks guys. Having had a look, PCs aren't that cheap for the kind of spec I'd like either so I'll need to have a think. Maybe make the macbook last a bit longer in the hope that ssd prices continue to fall, or maybe try to shift some gear to boost the kitty in the new year.

What's the budget and what spec are you needing? 

Fretwired

wave100 said:

Fretwired said:

I have a Windows 10 computer. If I plugin a MIDI device its recognised immediately. No need for  reboot. In any case most audio interfaces come with plug and play MIDI.

I'm not talking about restarting the computer, just the app - eg running Cubase, having forgotten to connect a MIDI controller, on the PC I would require to quit Cubase and restart it before the controller is recognised by Cubase, on the Macbook Pro it is picked up by Cubase immediately. It's a relatively minor difference between Mac and PC, but one that I personally noticed when I switched. In fact my point was that the differences between the two platforms were very slight...

I don't have that problem - I regularly switch midi devices in and out in Cubase and the programme recognises them without a reboot.