Rain - you've really got me thinking about mac's lately.  I get a new laptop every 3 years - and this fall is time for a new one.  I'm thinking about a MacBook Pro. 

But you've also got me thinking about Logic, which is scary.  Would I have enough patience and time to port over all my projects from Sonar to Logic?  Does Logic have everything that Sonar has and more?  Will Logic be around for the future?  Logic does look like a great product.

I think the prices of powerful computers, Windows or Mac is bound to rise. The format and OS of those computers is almost irrelevent. Its not a Windows v Mac debate.

Th emass market has kept the cost of computer hardware and operating systems down. The vast majority of computer buyers only want to do Facebook, email and entertainment. Cheap portable devices that can also take pictures etc. will dominate the consumer market. Most business applications do not need much in the way of power either and a tablet in a docking station with cloud based applications and storage could fill most of those needs.

As a result powerful computers which can be used for DAWs, serious video and photo editing, CAD and high end data processing will become neich products and be more expensive.

The recently acquired DAW in my signature may be the last high spec one I will be able to afford.

mmmmmm....microsoft is also into tablets and smartphones.....

I don't think Microsoft is under threat other than competition heating up.  IMO, competition is good news for the consumer and this will also continue to drive for greater development. 

Desktop components will get lighter and smaller but at the same time, cheaper and more powerful and easier to setup. 

Aleady there will be greatly enhance GUI workflows for starters; Leap Motion easily hooks up via USB and is cheap.

Several years from now there will be improvements in monitor technology available. Greater quality and larger display at a lower price.... Because new monitors will use new amazing technologies that will be more efficient to manufacture, lighter yet stonger (reducing costs)  Compare back to decades ago and Google around now for the latest, there are some very interesting devepments in the works. 

Apple vs PC, whatever floats ones boat, much the same in regards to DAW's. There are several really good hosts that can handle massive size projects and get the job done without a sweat. 

Overall great developments on both sides of the fence. 

Slight Con; technology is advancing at warp speed which means, 'upgrades' will be nessasary IF one wishes to keep up with the bleeding edge of technology.  And watch zombie movies on a 98" Air-Gesture display running Windows 13.sp2 or Mac Goliath 9.3 in full 3D surround holographic mode.... ARGHHHHH!! 

Rain


Speaking of motion, here's a little something I stumbled upon recently. No idea how this could be made into something actually useful for DAW, but, who knows... http://logicblog.info/logic-pro-blog/2013/01/06/leap-motion-controller-plus-bettertouchtool-equals-awesome.html

this looks like the solution that will give me access to a 128 channel mixing console - this thingy on a flat wood board ... plus photographic memory that allows me to remember where each fader was ...
 
just kidding, looks interesting at least; it is the proof that there will always be something new to supersede what's here.
 
as regards the debate whether windows will vanish from the face of the earth or not: well, probably not, definitely not with a bang and most likely not within a few years - it's just been around for too long with too many people / systems depending on it.
 
but - i believe that we will see dramatic changes in the home / project studio arena in the coming years (just think of all we got in the last 20 years that wasn't there before! sum that up and you call that a super dramatic change); one can safely assume further radical changes when thinking in terms of decades rather than software update cycles
 
anyway, the past years were driven by a rather uncontrolled (almost cancer like) growth of hardare / software tools and toys. now pretty much all you can imagine is available at affordable prices, but to get these gadget work together in a professional manner it takes an expert to set-up and huge amounts of time to build and maintain a proper system as the entire world around your DAW just keeps updating, updating, updating ...
 
with time being the most valuable asset there will be more room for "one shop solution" like e.g. buy your DAW fully set-up, ever functional and remotely maintained by service contract. whether or not this is all Cakewalk from hardware to software or 7 different brands combined by a smart reseller is not the point, but i'm sure if there'd such things available, quite a few would buy in (aren't we all sick of it working one day and all the sudden not the next day?) ... of course, all those not so commited or on a smaller budget are left to buy the iToys and Android apps or whatever and keep struggling with the latest and greatest technology while not being able to produce songs any more fluently and professionally than other did 10 years ago ...
 
enough said. it's all rubbish anyway ;-)
 

  If we are only a few generations away from the devolving of the DAW, then maybe keeping what we have is a good idea. If it works and works well why change it? Parts will still be available for some time to come.

  I see the gradual elimination of the DAW as ohgrant and others have mentioned.Things are already at the point where a part time musician/engineer can record enough tracks to be content on basic devices including ipad, Galaxy etc.. 8 or 12 tracks....that's a band. This probably puts a smile on the face of any large commercial studio owner because it will force small operators to come to them for more intense work on their tracks because their devices can't do the heavy stuff. 

 I can't get away from the feeling that in this transition we are giving up something on behalf of the majority light user. 

 I agree though with the ideas on cloud based software and maybe even a "Sonar Lite" that can get most of the job done on a portable.No telling whats in the making as I type this.

 Adobe is already into cloud based software. For 19.95 a month I can have cloud based app access to all of their large programs. That's the problem though, it's a monthly program...miss a payment and no more cloud. If you pay a monthly fee to the Sonar cloud and it has your music files then you can't miss. I don't necessarily like this but this is where its headed IMO. This is good for software companies though because they have a more regular cash flow....not as much guessing their cash flow from month to month and quarter to quarter.
 

 Microsoft is never out of the game. They might play catch up but they can afford to wait and get it right.
 

 @ Guitartrek

The good thing about a Mac is that you can always run Windows and Sonar on it. That could make the transition easier. Fellow forumite Scott Lee has also been working on a self-contained solution which should allow to run Sonar directly under OSX, w/o the need for Bootcamp and Windows. Not entirely done yet, but that's one thing to keep an eye on.

Granted, if you want the most raw power for your money, PC is a no-brainer. For me, I prefer a machine that meets my realistic needs while offering some overhead AND offers a more consistent and finite experience. 

And that's what my Mac does - as much of a paradox as it can be considering the ridiculous cult around the Apple brand, the best thing I can tell you about my Mac is that the computer erases itself behind its purpose. When I bought my first PC in the late 90s, I only wanted to record and mix music. That's ALL I wanted. But I've had to learn an awful lot - so much that I ended up putting my own machines together. My Mac brought me to my starting point - I power it on and I make music - literally.

Does Logic do all the Sonar does? Well, current version doesn't handle 32 Bit FP wave files, so that's one thing to consider. Freeze doesn't work like in Sonar - a frozen track is frozen solid - you can't edit it. But there are other different options that you get used to. It doesn't have the wave preview on the output or busses. No X-Ray view. And probably other similar things. BUT, it also does tons of things which Sonar doesn't, things, which, to me, are much more useful than any of the above features. That being said, we all have different needs and expectations.
 

There was a big debate at the economist about this a bit ago, and I will say the same thing here that I did there.  The PC isn't going anywhere for a very long, long time (probably until they figure out how to do neural nets.).

For any given state of technology, you will always be able to do more with a desktop than a laptop, and a laptop than a tablet.  For people that actually do work, and not surf just surf the internet a tablet is not a very good solution.  And even laptop aren't as good as a desktop (a mouse is much superior to a track pad IMO).

So for all the people actually doing work (or are serious about their play), desktops are here to stay.  And it's not just graphic design,
it's all your gamers, your music people, EVERYONE working in an office.    Could you imagine trying to write a proposal on a freaken tablet?  Shoot when I use excel I prefer two large monitors, and you'd better believe I'm using those hotkeys,.   And when I had to use a laptop because  I was traveling then I got a docking station, because laptops hamper your productivity (screen to small, keyboard off etc).

Mathew - You can hook up a mouse to a laptop. And a monitor. ;)



FWIW, I rarely touch the mouse. And for some purpose, the Mac's trackpad is far superior to the mouse. Especially w/ Logic. 

And the sweet thing is, when we want to record drums or vocals, I can book time in a studio somewhere and finish my edits while we're on the plane on our way there... 

Though the laptop isn't the most powerful machine around, it certainly is powerful enough to pull it off in many serious scenarios. Nowadays, every body talks like they need every possible options and the ability to run gazillions of tracks w/o ever bouncing anything ever... 

One think we must keep in mind is that a tablet may not be adequate to accomplish what we want as of today. But the way we interact w/ software is likely to change - when I mix music, my ultimate goal is not to draw automation curves using a mouse - that's the METHOD. My goal is to have some passages played back louder or quieter. 

Just like typing a report on a tablet isn't ideal. But whoever said that typing was the ultimate way of entering data... It's just a method, not the goal. And we often don't really make a distinction between the end itself and the means to get there.

Kroneborge

So for all the people actually doing work (or are serious about their play), desktops are here to stay.  And it's not just graphic design,
it's all your gamers, your music people, EVERYONE working in an office.    Could you imagine trying to write a proposal on a freaken tablet?  Shoot when I use excel I prefer two large monitors, and you'd better believe I'm using those hotkeys,.   And when I had to use a laptop because  I was traveling then I got a docking station, because laptops hamper your productivity (screen to small, keyboard off etc).

At work my laptop is in a docking station, closed and out of the way at the side of my desk, I use a mouse and a full size keyboard and two 24" monitors. It not inconceivable that in the near future tablet could be used in such a setup with applications and storage cloud based.
 
Its not a scenario I am looking forward too but I am sure it will happen for office applications. Some of my software is more techenical and demanding on resources so I think I will be laptop based for quite a while.