so i finally gave in...

cribble · Post by **cribble** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:31 pm

There i was... working away, and... bamm... my PC crashed. Lost all my work, and it corrupted the file i was working in (cubase).

I was so annoyed because the track(s) i was working on was a total of just over an hour of multitracked audio, and the whole thing just won't open anymore. I wasn't going to go through this again.

In this annoyance i finally emptied my wallet and rebate, for once and for all, and brought a new macbook pro. I can't wait now, dual core processor and the general reliableness is getting me all excited.

Anyone else had the same experiance which forced them to change over?

DarthFurby · Post by **DarthFurby** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 12:06 am

I'm sick of my computer too, but unfortunately it still works.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 12:16 am

Yikes...

Uh... yeah... I've had that happen to me... on my Mac though... and my PC... actually it was the hard drive that crashed so it didn't make any difference which computer it was hooked to.

You're lucky if you only lost an hours worth of work.

Congrats on the new Mac!!! WooHooo! Any excuse is a good excuse for a new Mac!

-vern

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 10:39 am

I've had five computers (all PCs) die on me over the years. Haven't bought a Mac yet, but now they can pretty much seamlessly play PC stuff, there doesn't seem to be a good reason not to...Maybe next time!

cribble · Post by **cribble** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 4:07 pm

I hear, because of the new intel chips, you can install both the Mac OS and Windows, though there's a warning about installing windows because of the security issues Windows has.

And Heyvern, i hadn't work for an hour, the whole song (or more like set) equals an hour or more, probably taken me a good 2 weeks worth of editing and mixing... awww

Bones3D · Post by **Bones3D** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:20 pm

cribble wrote:I hear, because of the new intel chips, you can install both the Mac OS and Windows, though there's a warning about installing windows because of the security issues Windows has.

There is a way to have windows present and running without risking potential viral threats... by breaking the networking to the windows environment so it can't communicate with your internet connection. (This assumes you are using parallels to boot Windows from within the Mac OS.)

While this does also break your ability to share data between the Mac OS and Windows environments through networking, it may be possible to partition your harddrive with a small section formatted to use the FAT32 file system to act as a physical file sharing sharing point between your Mac OS and Windows environments, since both OSes can read and write to/from FAT32 (unlike NTFS, which only Windows can access).

The only catch to this, is that FAT32 partitions can only be a maximum of 4GB in size.

cribble · Post by **cribble** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:58 pm

Surely you could just set up windows to not detect an internet/network connection? Or is there still a threat? Because i only want to use the windows environment for live performances and possibly the odd game.... if i'm feeling sad enough

cribble · Post by **cribble** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:59 pm

Writing from my new macbook pro... mmm, it's so fast, my exports are much quicker than my 2ghz PC, yet this is 2ghz aswell and it runs faster!? I'll get used to it i guess.

Audio software wise, there's a new market to leap into now. Plus new speeds and flexiblity, can't wait to start a new song now.

Bones3D · Post by **Bones3D** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:55 pm

cribble wrote:Surely you could just set up windows to not detect an internet/network connection? Or is there still a threat? Because i only want to use the windows environment for live performances and possibly the odd game.... if i'm feeling sad enough

The problem in doing that, is it also breaks any viable link between your Mac OS X environment and your Windows environment. Without this link, you immediately lose the only option available for sharing files between the two environments.

On a side note, there's now a third option for running accessing Windows applications on your intel-based mac... CrossOver.

CrossOver implements open-source versions of commonly used Windows APIs in a format Mac OS X can use. As a result, your Windows apps can now run natively from within Mac OS X, all without the need for a true Windows installation. The apps, in turn, also become fully compatible with the Mac OS Extended filing system... eliminating the need for NTFS or FAT32 partitions.

cribble · Post by **cribble** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:06 pm

ooo, thanks.

Here comes the obvious, is there a free option?

EDIT
I read alot about these Vitrual PC emulators (Qemu), are they any good or am i better off sticking with a dual boot?

Thanks

Bones3D · Post by **Bones3D** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:13 pm

It's a bit tricky in terms of the pricing scheme. It's subscription based software. The beta is going for $39.95 and will be supported for 15 months worth of updates. After the beta period, the price will increase to $59.95 for 12 months of updates. (Of course, whatever version of CrossOver you have at the point the subscription runs out will continue to run just fine.)

The reason for this seems to be that the APIs need continuous updates in order to improve compatibility with current and future Windows-based applications.

I can certainly see this kind of pricing system might drive some people to use Parallels or Boot Camp instead. But CrossOver does have benefits the other options don't offer... such as completely removing the unnecessary overhead and annoyances that usually come with a Windows installation. (No activation, no "phoning home" and far less bloat that could slow the performance of your system.)

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:15 pm

Holy cow!

I remember reading about this technology a loooong time ago.

This is... not better than dual boot... but easier.

From what I recall about the original concept the software is running "native" so there is no performance hits. It is not "emulation" in the traditional sense. The Win apps are running at "full speed"... or close to it anyway.

Plus.. since you only need the application you don't have to buy a WinOS lisence. I do not want to deal with buying a copy of Windows... I would do that when I upgrade my PC.

Hoy cow!

By the way... it is in public beta so it is free... for now.

-vern

Bones3D · Post by **Bones3D** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:20 pm

Microsoft has already discontinued Virtual PC for the Mac, so there isn't going to be a version for the intel-based macs. VMWare had mentioned offering a Mac version of their virtual machine software for Mac OS X. But knowing their track record when it comes to pricing, Parallels would probably beat it hands down.

One other option I don't think anyone has tested, is the possibility of running Mac OS X under Windows using the Windows version of Virtual PC (now free) on an intel mac.

cribble · Post by **cribble** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 12:46 am

For now i've got a dual boot (using Boot Camp), just minus the internet, just in case. I'll see how that goes.

DaleG · Post by **DaleG** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:56 pm

I switched to mac 6 years ago for video editing.. and havent looked back. The new 24 inch imacs are incredible!