If you can deal with the walled garden approach and the "Apple way" is acceptable to you, then Apple makes some fine machines. They certainly require far less tinkering if you will than Windows machines and that is true of audio as well.
Plug it in and it works. At least until Apple breaks it with an update like El Capitan. No BIOS tweaks, no C-States, No playing with turbo-boost, power profiles etc. You plug in your interface and it works.
 
But again, it's a walled garden approach. Apple is set up to sell you stuff from the Apple Store. It is all tightly coupled with iTunes. Try changing ring tones to free ones offered by say Zedge. It's easy on an Android. It's a nightmare on an iPhone.
I have an iPhone 5s and last time I checked Safari is still hard wired to be the default browser and while you can install Opera or Chrome, you cannot change the default browser to one of them.
That's how Apple works. Do it their way or else.
 
So it boils down to what's important to you.
 

ampfixer
The majority of windows updates are just definition files for the MS virus prg. They used to be silent but now they are announced by windows and it happens twice every 24 hrs for me. The windows OS has had very few actual updates.
 
I think jumping to a new platform will simply give you new issues, but it's your nickel. I love the demo of Logic at the music store but I wont support Apple just to access one program. The Apple business model is a much more expensive route. Updates to hardware seem to be a mandatory thing.
 
Whatever you do, I hope you continue to hang out here. We could call you Rain II

TANGENT WARNING:  Defender updates
I have auto update disabled for Windows, but I like to get the Defender updates at least daily.  To do this without having to remember or run the full Windows update, I have this set up in Task Scheduler to run each day at 7:00AM

 
It works great.  Running as SYSTEM keeps a Window from popping up

Thanks Bob, good tip.

jbow
I'm going to move to a MacBook ASAP, probably sometime in the spring. I've had it with Microsoft and their mandatory updates BUT before I jump, does Apple force you to update? I'll use the MacBook for regular computer stuff like email, surfing around places like here, probably give Logic a look but will stick with Studiocat and Sonar but offline and I may stay on 8.1, no email, no surfing, no antivirus on the DAW. I only use CCC and go to vendors like XLN, TT, IK, etc. I keep it as lean as possible.Jim makes a good machine, I don't want MS messing it up. If I move to W-10 on it I'm taking Jim's advice and making a drive image first (well, I'm doing that anyway but still).
I've really had it with MS and their arrogance. So, will I be in the same boat with a MacBook or will they let me decide when or if to update?
Also, is there anyway to run any version of Sonar on a Mac? I don't guess it matters, I can use Dropbox if I do anything on it that I want to move to my DAW. MS makes me feel like I am dealing with a government agency.
 
Any advice from Mac users is appreciated, I know a couple of people here who use a MacBook and like it a lot but I really know nothing about it. I know Apple does not force me to update my iPhone.
Been one of those days. Had to roll back 1511 and in the process I realized that W-10 had turned off Norton. It had not scanned since 9/29/15... that is a bridge too far. Yes, I should have paid closer attention but it has always worked. They are always changing things, they turn things back on I had turned off, this last update removed a program... too much for me.
 
Thanks,
J

Well it does sound like you are having a bad trot. Myself things couldn't be better with Windows 10, no issues whatsoever, haven't noticed any settings being altered, just checked the other week after the big 1511 update and all seemed as it was. The only thing is that I had to re auth Addictive Drums/Keys, Mercuriall and I think Trilian, not a big problem, and apart from the same being required when first switching over to Windows 10, that big update was the only other time this was necessary.
 
As to your Norton issue, I myself would have looked at that as a blessing, and the only thing Microsoft could have done better was to remove it altogether, IMO Norton is the biggest Virus going, wouldn't touch it with a 40 ft pole. YMMV however. Best of luck with whatever you choose.

+1 to Richard's post.  Other than reauthorizing AD2 which I don't consider a "problem",  and Roland dragging their feet getting Win 10 drivers out (which is not Microsoft's fault), I've had Zero problems with Win 10 or the recent 1511 update.
 
I use the built in Windows Defender and Malwarebytes (I have a paid version).

+1 to fireberd. 
 
@jbow - I purchased my StudioCat DAW right after you did. I think we have the same box. I added personnal apps to mine like Office, Camtasia, etc... 
I use Defender, Malywarbytes, and CCleaner ALL the time. 
I don't know what went wrong with your PC. Mine is performing great and so far the W10 updates have not messed me up. 
Have you run your issues by Jim Roseberry?

We've three Macs around the place, one being a MacBook Pro I'm running Logic on. As the DAW PC expired recently I'm considering either new PC or putting Windows on a Mac using bootcamp. Or to fully switch to Logic despite it being annoying in a few ways. Not sure which way to go yet.

I like Macs, but I'm not an Apple fanboi any more than I am a Windows one, an IBM OS2 one, a MSDOS one or an AmigaOS one. I just happen to know and have experience of those operating systems.

Macs are far easier to configure for audio production than a Windows PC. Full stop, end of story. No issues with things like cpu sleep states, core parking, wifi drivers fouling up latency and all the other things that need attention to try and force Windows to behave itself. Apple's Core Audio and Core MIDI simply "just work". Using Wifi and bluetooth while recording at low latencies are no issue at all. Setting up a complex hardware-based MIDI setup so that every application will see it the same way, no problem.

Though the Windows configuration issues may come back if running Windows on Mac hardware, don't know because I've yet to try it.

El Capitan is very solid indeed. The initial update from Yosemite saw some audio hardware not working. Not because of Apple but because manufacturers, even including MOTU, didn't start working on a compatible driver until around or even after the OS release date. Despite months of warnings and pre-release versions of El Cap being available for months. :-/ The hardware people finally got their act together pretty quickly though. The driver issue seems to have largely been connected with Apple changing the USB driver to make it more standards-compliant and fix a minor bug or two.

OS X in general is a full-blown GNU/Unix system with a very good graphical interface. From a user point of view it does some things in a similar way to Windows, others quite differently. It seems to require less in the way of computer resources than Windows and generally behaves itself.

Updates are not mandatory, and disastrous ones very uncommon indeed. Apple know exactly what every Mac contains hardware-wise so there are far fewer compatability issues and unexpected consequences to updates. Using the Time Machine backup app you can image the entire system before updating then roll back if necessary. I've never had to roll back, but that's how to do it.

Things to watch in OS X/Macs.

There were many reports of fusion drives fouling up pro audio a year or three ago, though that seems to have been fixed. Personally I'd just go for an SSD every time, they work fine.

The lack of internal expansion means relying on USB3 or Thunderbolt external drives. Both are plenty fast enough, but the TRIM command cannot be applied to any drive using a USB interface, only Thunderbolt. Many USB+Thunderbolt drives won't accept it either. That's because of the USB/SATA interface. To activate TRIM on an external or non-Apple drive requires using the 'trimforce' terminal command (very simple).

Any hardware with 'Thunderbolt' in its name tends to be expensive. As do external drives marked "for use with Mac". So just get an ordinary 'Windows' one and reformat it.

OS X can read MS FAT and NTFS formated drives, but only write to FAT.

Time Machine is the backup app. If activated it scans hourly for new versions of files then does an incremental backup. Hourly is a pest if working with audio, and I'd rather hundreds of MB size audio files backed up by me copying them where and when I want to anyway. There's a third-party app available for getting Time Machine under control which works OK. Backups can also be automated by shell scripts if you're so inclined.

If you need to use the computer for other things besides a DAW, Apple's equivalent of MS Office is good and it's free. Photoshop etc. run as well if not better as they do on a more powerful PC. Games (and viruses) are the area where OS X is really lacking.

The biggest downside to Apple is the price. The hardware is seriously good quality, but you do pay for it. Though Mac users tend to upgrade (which means replace) their computers far less often than Windows users.

If I were buying a new desktop Mac for DAW work I would look at the iMacs that can be upgraded at purchase to i7 processors. Probably a 27" Retina model (Retina displays are fantastic). For less money, the 21" Retina. Laptop choice really comes down to which MacBook Pro you want to use. The Air is fine in it's way but not powerful enough to handle big projects and the MacBook, while powerful enough, has only one USB socket to talk to the world through. A 256GB internal drive is ample for OS and applications.

The Mac Pro is ridiculously expensive and looking a bit long in the tooth as well.

It's worth keeping an eye on Apple's website for factory reconditioned Macs. They're usually current production ones that get sent back from the Apple shops then thoroughly cleaned, checked over, parts replaced as required and sold at a 15% discount with the same warranty etc. as a brand new one.

FWIW, Using O&O ShutUp10, you can take control of Win10...

gustabo
FWIW, Using O&O ShutUp10, you can take control of Win10...

Bookmarked FFR