I’ve been a Windows/Cubase user for a while (left Logic and Apple a long time ago for main DAW, but still dabble in Apple when needed), but I know a large number of studios and producers and filmmakers that still use Macs as primary machines, some who are very devoted to them.
Anyway, I work with a producer that finally decided to make a jump to Windows yesterday, and it got me thinking how many of Cubase users might be considering a similar move? This is not a platform debate, and I don’t intend to incite platform bashing, but I’m now wondering if the recent news that Apple has not released an update to the Mac Pro line has any impact on other Mac/Cubase users here?
The latest I heard was that Tim Cook had emailed someone mentioning that the next Mac Pros would be coming out next year… seems a long time for people who have been waiting patiently for a big upgrade. Tim Cook said, “Our Pro customers like you are really important to us. Although we didn’t have a chance to talk about a new Mac Pro at today’s event, don’t worry as we’re working on something really great for later next year.” – Tim Cook Reveals Secret Mac Pro in an Email to Random Apple Fan
Anyway, curious as to the state of Mac/Cubase users here and if they have lost patience or are just perfectly happy continuing on the Mac platform? If so, I’d love to hear why?
If OWC didn’t have the Mercury Accelsior PCIe SSD, I would be pissed! All I wanted was a 6G SATA connection. Also Thunderbolt would’ve been nice too, but since I have so many internal expansion options it’s not that big a deal. But I will continue with the Mac, because I love Mac OS X.
Well it’s obvious that they put most of their effort into that stuff, but if Apple weren’t in the computer and software business they wouldn’t be pushing out the next major version of OS X. It’s a disgrace they basically did nothing to upgrade the Mac Pro after so long, but I’m sure by early next year they will give us something to drool over.
We creative professionals supported Apple during its darkest hours and sadly this is how they repay us. Unprecedentedly uncool. It’s like technology has been un-invented, in some small way.
I predicted this several months ago and couldn’t wait as my Mac Pro died and paying premium prices for 2010 technology was just not an option. I left Logic, bought Cubase (also, to hedge my bets as it’s dual platform) and built a screamingly fast Ivy Bridge rackmount for super cheap.
I am so glad I switched to PC for my easy-to-keep-modern workstation and also super glad I switched to Cubase. Logic is yet another once-great app that has lost its shine (it’s a crash monger).
The bonus to switching to PC is that Cubase and most VSTs are more performant on Windows vs. their OS X counterparts, all things being equal – so you get a double bump in performance. I detail my findings in another post on here.
I still have a Macbook Pro / Lion and love it, but even there I bootcamp into Windows to run Cubase rather than run the OS X version of Cubase.
That said, I applaud Steinberg for giving us the option and sincerely hope they continue the dual-platform status. Who knows, someday, if Apple allows OS X to be run on home-built PCs without hackintosh gymnastics, I’ll switch back (and if the performance issues between platforms are mostly sussed out).
I was die hard mac,till… Power Mac G5’s became turtles. Then plugins started to slowly but surely fade away (Carbon,UB and now Intel).Then OSX Lion says, no more PPC. Logic is so outdated( I miss the EMAGIC days). And personally, I believe Cubase just runs better on Win 7.
Not to pull teeth, but that slight bump in CPU frequency, etc., can hardly be considered a minor update. Or even an update at all. I don’t mean to get testy, but let’s have a slight dose of reality here. No offense intended.
There was nothing worth writing home about with this “minor update”, and every serious Mac Pro user I know, knows it. The platform is almost antiquated by current standards – no major workstation vendor would be caught dead selling that platform now as current-gen, let alone “NEW” as Apple had briefly marked them on their website (which was promptly removed after some big bloggers called “foul”).
The Xeons they use in the “new” Mac Pro line are the OLD line of Xeons of the old i7 family… before Sandy Bridge, before Ivy Bridge, etc. The Xeon W3565 they are now using in the base model is a good chip, for sure, but it’s a prior-gen Bloomfield LGA1366 (X58!) chip. Basically, it is the workstation version of the i7 960! How can they get away with charging $2500 for the base model of Mac Pro that uses that CPU is beyond me. The same can be said of the higher models and relative chips used and prices. And the point is that the more I hear from my Mac friends about this, the more upset they are. They were ready to upgrade. One of them considered this the do-or-die moment for Apple and “pro” users. Even Dell, which has been dragging their feet with their own “pro” workstation line (Precision line, etc), launched the new latest-gen Intel platform, and it’s quite impressive. Apple users will have to wait until 2013.
Anyway, not a big deal, but let’s just be honest that the “new” Mac Pros are officially behind the times. They didn’t even bother including USB3, Thunderbolt, etc. According to some of my Mac buddies, this alone was insulting.
On the other hand, I will hand it to Apple that the new Retina Macbook Pro looks fantastic. I’d love to see how Bootcamp works on it and how good the DPC latency is. That’s one beautiful laptop. If they keep it up, that might be my next Windows laptop.
Although, what they’ll do about the Xeon variants, I have no idea… maybe keep producing them for a little while longer?
On top of that, the W3565 is a 45nm part, originally launched in 2009! That surprised me… I thought it was at least a 32nm shrink released a little later. Nope, it’s 45nm. Sorry guys, but that part does NOT belong in a “new” PRO computer launched in June 2012. Especially not for $2500.
