Among the music makers, programmers and designers that I know, the vast majority still use Macs despite the annoyance of the 2016-19 laptop fiasco etc. I know one or two who have switched to Windows because they needed high performance machines and weren’t willing to pay Mac Pro prices, and a couple who tried and ended up switching back because they found the Windows experience inferior.
I don’t think I know anyone IRL who is worried about the Mac becoming locked down - iOS sure, but you can still basically do what you want on a Mac for most people.
The reality is that for most people the Mac is a relatively hassle free experience. You don’t need to worry about whether it has certain components that will affect audio performance etc. - my understanding is you still need to be careful with chipset etc. on PCs.
To be a little pedantic: He is not claiming that producers are never using PCs, he is claiming that live audio never runs on PC, because stability is the top priority there. Later he says in the studio you can tolerate a little instability if the other benefits of windows are worth it.
That no producers are using windows PCs is an obviously false claim. There are DAWs that don't even run on mac. There are also live production tools that don't, like Notch, so there must be someone running windows on stage, anyway.
That macs are more stable in day-to-day operation is not really a bold claim though.
I hear this a lot, somewhat-technical people inserting 'macs are for dum people that don't know computers'. Truth is, a lot of mac users do know computers (obviously), and it's not that we can't mess with drivers and tweaking, it's that WE DONT WANT TO.
I moved away from Windows/Linux 6 years ago, not sure how things have changed, but I have no intention on going back to that.
Here's the best argument against that pessimistic view: people at Apple, Steve Jobs very much included, use Macs. They obviously love their macs, and would be very unhappy to be forced to move to windows. Steve Jobs does not want to use Windows, so he'll continue making computers that he wants to use.
I use a Mac and I am not one of the "willing to lock themselves into Apple's" crowd. I use a Mac because it's reasonably fast, exceptionally well-built and has a reasonably good Unix OS (a very good one if you count MacPorts).
Your stereotype of "most Mac users" may be a bit dated. Lots of people own Macs for reasons that have nothing to do with being (or appearing) creative.
You're not wrong but there is a cachet with Macs that is undeniable. It's not unusual for the executives or creatives to use Macs in an otherwise fully Windows based organization.
As a long-time PC user, I remember going to CompUSA and seeing the Mac section of games which was laughable.
Back then you bought Apple if you were a sound engineer or into graphic/media design.
I used to tell people I’m a die-hard PC user simply: Mac sucks!
Fast forward to around 2009 and I’ve been a happy Apple user since then for all my software engineering needs.
Is the platform perfect? Nope! And nothing is.
Is it expensive? Yes, but the quality is fantastic and if one really wants to can get 5 years easy out of any Mac computer…I’ve got 11 years out of my family’s Mac mini that I was able to upgrade a few times.
Which brings me to my only real gripe: the lack of upgrade ability and the obsession with “thin” design.
Please address that because everything else I can mostly get over.
The majority of people do not care about the same things we (HN) do. My friends will by Macs regardless because they are scared of something different.
You'd be surprised. Macs for us are only half a percent of our userbase (yet still many hundreds), and are mainly used by app developers and graphical design roles.
Especially the app dev guys tend to have fairly nonstandard usecases. However most of it happens in labs firewalled off the company network.
Anyway, I'm glad I'm not the one having to figure out how to work around these things with very limited documentation from Apple, like I have before ;)
I'm the rare creative professional who never really made the move to Mac. Windows in general has always done everything I need at a better price (Ultrabooks aside). The benefits to getting a MacBook seem very superficial and easily fixed in Windows - definitely not enough to lock myself down to their ecosystem.
> There is nothing like Garageband if you're a hobbyist musician.
Also, a point of correction. If you are looking for Garageband on Windows, Mixcraft is an excellent option.
For a lot of normal people, Mac is what you buy if you want to work with your computer, but it is not what you buy if you want to work on your computer.
A group of people that already understand and take great advantage of locked down platforms and services. And we're talking about a product (Mac) that was specifically much more locked down than its predecessor when it was launched.
I don’t think I know anyone IRL who is worried about the Mac becoming locked down - iOS sure, but you can still basically do what you want on a Mac for most people.
The reality is that for most people the Mac is a relatively hassle free experience. You don’t need to worry about whether it has certain components that will affect audio performance etc. - my understanding is you still need to be careful with chipset etc. on PCs.
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