…not out of choice but I’ve had a lot of decent work this year and continually came unstuck with clients sending me Apple drives and all sorts that I have to convert. So…
what am I best off getting in the way of lap tops, processor speeds and hard drive sizes. I really don’t want to spend all the profit so I’m looking for best minimum spec… 
Hello Trevor,
What kind of work are you doing and specifically your workflow? The five form factors are -
MacPro
MacBookPro
iMac
MacMini
Hackintosh, if you want to work that hard. (no disrespect for those doing it, it’s more than many clients are willing to mess with).
We use MacPros, MacBookPros, and MacMinis with Nuendo, it all depends on what you need to do. We’re currently testing some MacMinis in the Sonnet thunderbolt chassis with a MadiFX card and an eSata card for 1RU of quite interesting acquisition/playout chasing code.
As you mentioned the reason to use a Mac is for workflow, that’s why we use them. We have a load of Win7 and XP machines for various tasks but our audio and video production tasks work easier on a Mac. So you need to decide what your workflow is with an eye toward your form factor, then you can narrow down to a price/performance point.
Hugh
I have a software installed on my pc (that came with protools le) with which you can read and write mac formated drives, i believe it’s called mac drive.
That solves the issues for me, cubase projects are compatible between pc and mac.
I also use my MacBook for location recording, back in the studio I use a usb harddrive to transfer the data from the MacBook to the pc, no problems whatsoever.
Shouldn’t be the main reason to switch to mac!?
Same here, never had an issue and I’m mixing a lot of stuff that comes to me from logic. Last project just came in on a 32 gig usb stick.As broadcast wav is now the default industry standard swapping between platforms and different programs is now easier than ever.
Only time this can be an issue is if you have single files larger than 4 gig, if this is the case then Mac drive works great and, if you have pro tools then it installs automatically when you install.
MC