Mac-osx to win7-64 bit migration

papi61 · December 21, 2013, 8:13pm

Graham_Simmonds:

To answer the original question, things to look out for with Windows 7 64bit are:

Avoid Windows 8 - Windows 7 is much more stable as a music platform.

Firewire - if your audio interface is firewire then take care with the choice of motherboard. I have a MR816X and it has caused problems in the past with clicking and popping. I use Gigabyte motherboards as the firewire on those seem to be compatible.

Buy a PC not a laptop. If you are hellbent on a laptop then seek out the DPC Latency Checker app and test it before you buy. It could save you a lot of money. You can also overclock a PC.

64 bit plugs - make sure that you have the 64 bit version of every plug you need. 32 bit/64 bit mix does not work.

Noise - Some PCs are incredibly noisy when under load. If you build your own, look for a fanless graphics card, quiet CPU fan and power supply.

When you look at the list above, the MAC concept is quite appealing. No hardware compatibility issues for a start and as someone said, plug and go. MACs suit the non-tekky who just wants to get on with it. But that ease of use comes at the price of compromise. There is no MAC available that is custom built for audio like the PC that I have under my desk.

Good luck with your migration.

Not true. Actually Win 8.1 performs slightly better than 7 and it’s just as stable. But it’s true that it’s not “officially” supported by Steinberg yet. Anyhow, I’ve been using it for a while now, with zero issues.
All my desktops use ASUS mobos. No problem with FW. What you’re saying might have been true some years ago, but it no longer applies.
The tip here should be “buy a GOOD laptop and not a cheap one” ($500 laptops most likely will give you trouble.) My Elitebook has extremely low latency and works fine with FW. But yeah, good desktops with top-notch parts are still way better. Not to mention way more flexible because you can configure them as you please.
jBridge solves virtually all issues with 32-bit VST’s and it only costs 20 bucks.
Again, the tip here should be the same as above: don’t go for the cheap stuff and you’ll be fine.