Best place for new PC

thomasross20

I'm going to have to speak to somebody (a specialist) and will likely spec out a PC. Think I'll get more for the money and a wider range of programs to work with (and the ability to drag and drop mp3s).

Total bummer as only got this PC 1-2 years ago.

thomasross20

Good recommendations there for chilliblast and scan - hadn't heard of those before. 

TTony

thomasross20 said:

Total bummer as only got this PC 1-2 years ago.

I sold a couple of old PCs in the Classifieds over the last month or so.

Take the HDD disc out (so you're at risk of "sharing" any data) and put an ad up.  If it's only a year or two old, you should get a good few ££s for it.

Danny1969

Hardware wise a DVD burning connects to a Mac via USB, likewise keyboard, mouse, audio interface ect .....  there's no Mac specific hardware to buy, least I never have anyway. External drive wise a Mac can read an NTFS formatted drive as well as any Mac formatted drive, wherever Windows only reads Fat and NTFS so the Macs argue-ably better in that regard

I don't use iTunes on a Mac, I simply don't like it. But there's other progs to syn your Ipod if you have one. 

Don't be fooled into thinking identical speeds equals identical speeds in terms of rendering video and other intensive tasks. Having done a fair bit on both platforms I found my 2006 Macpro will outperform my newer quad core PC at final rendering and other stuff like decoding audio Mogg files. 

LooseMoose

I've found PC Specialist to be very good!

thomasross20

Danny, I do remember you massively prefer Apple for AV work

Danny1969

thomasross20 said:

Danny, I do remember you massively prefer Apple for AV work

I prefer Apple for audio and video work, PC's are better in the business world and better for gaming. The trouble is people these days often want one machine that does everything ........... but I think music and  music related video is important enough to warrant it's own machine and for that I would choose a Mac Pro or a Macbook Pro 

chrispy108

thomasross20 said:

I'm going to have to speak to somebody (a specialist) and will likely spec out a PC. Think I'll get more for the money and a wider range of programs to work with (and the ability to drag and drop mp3s).

Total bummer as only got this PC 1-2 years ago.

What do you mean drag and drop mp3s? You don't have to use iTunes to play mp3s on a mac, you can use VLC or something exactly the same as you would on a PC.

Can you just upgrade your current machine? What are the specs? What OS is it? You might find formatting and putting Windows 10 on it works great.

Axe_meister

I'd say it's a myth these days that a max is faster than a PC at AV work. Most AV programs pretty much bypass the OS and talk directly to the hardware which is often higher specced at the same price point.
One things do hate about macs is networking. Accessing a shared drive be it CiFS/NFS/AFP is like watching paint dry even on a gigabit connection

thomasross20

I can't upgrade the current machine unfortunately. 

I was under the impression you had to go through iTunes but clearly I'm wrong there. 

chrispy108

Why can't you upgrade the current machine?

There is no way that a decent machine from a year or two ago "can't" edit audio and video if it's setup properly.

Axe_meister

What's the spec of your current PC?
A new mother board can be had for £50 quid. A decent Processor for £120 up to £300.
You can probably still use your existing memory and Hard disks, although you may want to upgrade your boot disk to an SSD.

Skodadad

Flink_Poyd;906457" said:

If you go the mac route you can dual boot it with Windows.

If you go the PC route you can boot Hackintosh, Windows, Linux , I have installed OSX on everything from core 2 duo laptops to my old i7 pc and it was rock solid. The world of computing has never been more flexible.
I now use an i5 windows 10 laptop and a mac pro 3.1 desktop.

UnclePsychosis

I normally keep mine on my desk, a bit of natural light is good but you'll probably want a blind to reduce the glare a bit. Bonus points if no one can sneak up behind you to see what you're looking at.

thomasross20

It's one of those all-in-one PCs so I don't think I can just take off the screen backing and put in a new sound and video card. BUT I will check as I'm just making an assumption there

chrispy108

Surely you're using a USB soundcard for recording anyway?

You don't need to upgrade the video card for recording music.

You'll almost certainly be able to put a SSD and more RAM. What make/model is it?

If your machine could do what you wanted when you bought it you can do it now with a software re-install, and it'll be even better with £100-150 of upgrades.

hywelg

Here's my take. I use PC's have for many years since DOS. My PC is primarily for graphic work, not 3D though, but I dont keep another machine for leisure use so it has to do everything though I'm not into gaming. Since 1993 I have been running two monitors. Currently a 24" 1920 x 1200 and a 19" 1280 x 1024 but both due an upgrade (looking at Dell 30" 16:10) Do not underestimate the value of screen real estate to the ability to accomplish more in a given time if your applications can take advantage of it.

I would expect any serious audio/video editor software to be capable of running over two monitors and the ability to have a lot of tools open at once will be a huge production asset if you have a lot of work to do and are an expert at using the software. I use CorelDraw, PS, DW, ThumbsPlus, often all running at once but only CorelDraw over the two monitors. Outlook and FF are always running too and being able to have two apps both running on their own screen is very useful.

Software is also a huge consideration for me. Firstly CorelDraw wont run on iOS without running emulation and my experience of those is poor, there is a big performance hit, and  I do not wish to compromise the operation of my main design tool. Secondly the monetary value tied up in software licenses is way more than the value of the hardware. Thirdly knowing your way round the OS saves lots of time.

So, if you have a real job to do, choose the software to do the job, then the platform to run the software on, then the hardware to make it all work efficiently. Compromise on the others things but not those.

Snap

@hywelg ; - wisdom on the two monitors. I have a 24 and a 22 and I would struggle without this.

When I'm doing music, its great - have the DAW on the 24", and all the plugins/tools/synths in the other monitor.

I'll be putting a 27 inch in the setup soon too. I often ahve a 3rd screen  on the go too,

hywelg

Snap said:

@hywelg ; - wisdom on the two monitors. I have a 24 and a 22 and I would struggle without this.

When I'm doing music, its great - have the DAW on the 24", and all the plugins/tools/synths in the other monitor.

I'll be putting a 27 inch in the setup soon too. I often ahve a 3rd screen  on the go too,

Oh and a word of advice for the older generation with failing eyesight. Never ever be tempted by varifocal lenses if you use two monitors. Your neck wont know whats hit it!!

Roland

Yes, two monitors is the way to go. Either make one the largest which will fit in your working area, or have a matched pair so that you've effectively got an extra wide viewing space across your "desk"