With the advent of the expansion announcement of UAD plugs for MAC only and Thunderbolt... I have a dilemma..... this is probably the last straw of WINTEL machines being left behind with new technology... it isn't our bakers and others that is at fault here, rather than the arrogant company known as Microsoft.... INTEL invents Thunderbolt, APPLE OS embraces it, and MS ignores it....
 
So, without debating, I only seek a solution to migrate over to APPLE.  I am thinking that if I make this move (yes, I know the computer to run this isn't going to be cheap), I might as well move to PRO TOOLs after all these years.  I am not liking abandoning all the knowledge of using SONAR and having to relearn how to use a new DAW (and after all, I hear people complaining about PTs too).
 
So, does anyone have a solution wherein I can run SONAR on a MAC with TB2 so I can take advantage of all the TB stuff that is available (including the UAD expansion stuff, fast external HDs, etc)?
 
I am all ears and have a pretty good budget to make this happen.  I found a way to own PT Full for like $284 including a small audio interface that apparently is needed to run PTs (I forget which one I purchased)....
 
So, I will have the software, want to use the UAD Apollo as my main audio platform and would prefer to keep using SONAR vs PT... what MAC do I need, a newer PRO, an older PRO, a MAC PRO Laptop with external monitor and hard drives?
 
Please advise or help me find a path to a solution here.
 
Thanks in advance, 
jim
 

Why do you have to abandon a PC to get Thunderbolt? There seems to be DIY  PCIe solutions and a slow progress towards mobo manufactures buying in. My z97x came close but I guess they opted out at the last minute.  
http://www.anandtech.com/...-is-thunderbolt-headed   read this part :
 
In conclusion, Thunderbolt is making great progress and PC users can expect things to get better in the future. In addition to Apple, lots of other vendors are also throwing in support for Thunderbolt in their workstations and notebooks. It would have been great to have a new version of Thunderbolt with PCIe 3.0 along with the X99 launch. But, we already know it is not going to be the case till Skylake launches. That said, it will be a priority for Intel and Microsoft to get the performance and experience right with current silicon for now.

 Thunderbolt exists on some higher end PC boards.  I guess USB audio rules the market tho.

Apple paid Intel a wad of cash to have exclusive rights to Thunderbolt for a couple of years, locking every other manufacturer out of the technology.
 
You are blaming the wrong people for the slow and late uptake of Thunderbolt to the wider technology community.  If Thunderbolt had been available to the PC market from the start, it would be ubiquitous on all platforms by now.  In some ways, Apple shot themselves in the foot, as the uptake of Thunderbolt has been damaged by their aggressive business practices.  It's worth doing a bit of research before blackening the name of a company that wasn't at fault.

Thunderbolt 2 for PC:
 
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2687971/belkins-pricey-thunderbolt-2-dock-embodies-pc-users-apathy-toward-thunderbolt.html
 

That statement is not accurate.  Microsoft has nothing to do with supporting Thunderbolt, that is up to the individual hardware vendors.  Most of the PC vendors have determined that Thunderbolt is not a consumer grade product, and that USB 3.0 has won out in that market.
 
That being said Thunderbolt ports are on EVERY HP Z series workstation, and laptop.  Other vendors like ASUS also support Thunderbolt.
 
The only vendor to my knowledge that has dropped it has been ACER.  This has nothing to do with Microsoft it has to do with the licensing fees that Intel requires for adding Thunderbolt, that are not there with USB 3.0 because, the USB standard is jointly owned by a commission with nearly all the hardware vendors.
 
Windows supported Thunderbolt from day 1.  There were TB drivers are fully supported in Windows 7 and Windows 8.
 

I just built a 4790K system.  TB was available on alot of boards.

Sorry, I probably didn't describe the issue clear enough even though some of you got the point.... I have a TB motherboard and I use it with my UAD stuff however, it really is FW over TB since UAD hasn't released WINDOWS TB drivers.  
 
The reason they and other vendors haven't released TB drivers for their audio interfaces is that MS hasn't come up with one standard on how the OS will handle them... so until that happens, they don't want to invest in creating drivers that become a nightmare if MS changes how they are implemented within their OS.
 
My beef is partly with the OEM audio guys, but I understand their dilemma so I have been waiting for real TB supported UAD stuff for over 2 years now (I had a working TB system for over 2 years now and no drivers).
 
I was thinking of just getting a MAC PRO or something and running SONAR on windows if possible of just move to PT on a MAC.... looking for alternative ideas on how to run SONAR on a MAC PRO (if that is even possible)?
 
Thanks and sorry for the confusion,
Jim
 

BRuys
Apple paid Intel a wad of cash to have exclusive rights to Thunderbolt for a couple of years, locking every other manufacturer out of the technology.
 
You are blaming the wrong people for the slow and late uptake of Thunderbolt to the wider technology community.  If Thunderbolt had been available to the PC market from the start, it would be ubiquitous on all platforms by now.  In some ways, Apple shot themselves in the foot, as the uptake of Thunderbolt has been damaged by their aggressive business practices.  It's worth doing a bit of research before blackening the name of a company that wasn't at fault.

What is funny is how that backfired on them, because PC's went to USB 3.0, which for the vast majority of consumers is a better solution, and on the originial Thunderbolt macs they didn't have a USB 3.0 port.  Thunderbolt devices on average are much, much more expensive than USB 3.0, and for things like mechanical hard drives, there was minimal performance boost with Thunderbolt because the drives couldn't handle the higher data transfer speeds.
 
I've been more upset at how the Audio world hasn't supported USB 3.0, which is a more economical solution for most people and far surpasses Fire Wire, which was the gold standard for a long time.
 

jkleban
Sorry, I probably didn't describe the issue clear enough even though some of you got the point.... I have a TB motherboard and I use it with my UAD stuff however, it really is FW over TB since UAD hasn't released WINDOWS TB drivers.  
 
The reason they and other vendors haven't released TB drivers for their audio interfaces is that MS hasn't come up with one standard on how the OS will handle them... so until that happens, they don't want to invest in creating drivers that become a nightmare if MS changes how they are implemented within their OS.
 
My beef is partly with the OEM audio guys, but I understand their dilemma so I have been waiting for real TB supported UAD stuff for over 2 years now (I had a working TB system for over 2 years now and no drivers).
 
I was thinking of just getting a MAC PRO or something and running SONAR on windows if possible of just move to PT on a MAC.... looking for alternative ideas on how to run SONAR on a MAC PRO (if that is even possible)?
 
Thanks and sorry for the confusion,
Jim
 

 
Buy an HP Z820, it's cheaper than a Mac Pro and performance wise it blows it out of the water.  Plus it's fully upgradable and expandable.
 
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/workstations/mac-to-z.html