Mac Creative Tools For Use On Windows
Download the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool for Mac: click the link to download the file - AdobeCreativeCloudCleanerTool.dmg. If you see a download or save file prompt, click Save File to download it on your computer. Meanwhile on a Mac, you can easily install Windows or Linux using a virtual environment. If you want to developer iOS or OS X software at any point, then you need to own a Mac.
Hi I have been fortunate enough over the last couple of years to be studying audio engineering and post production at a Digi ProScool and am currently sitting my 2.10M and P. Autocad lt 2013 windows 10. Although the studios we have are predominately based around Macs we do have 2 PC based studios running the D-Control surfaces.
Now normally I would say there should be no difference crossing platforms, as I do quite regularly for the Adobe products and have both a Power Mac G5 and a custom built PC. But these 2 studios seem to struggle a little and have thrown up numerous problems when trying to run sessions however I will say that the system is connected to ISIS and is used by some students who know nothing or should I say neglect to take on board the information they're taught about using the 2nd drive for saving sessions and letting the 1st run the OS and ProTools. Mac's seem to handle this ok even though its a no no in the ProTools documentatiion. Personally I have to confess before going back to study I was an avid PC user and would have sworn by them but the stability of the Mac for ProTools qwas what persuaded me to buy a 2nd hand G5 and I've not looked back, saying that though if you do operate you PC properly and keep it tidy / uniformely indexed I cannot see why ProTools would have any issues running it. When it comes to short cuts and general operation of ProTools I have to suggest Mac again, my lecturer Rob Magoolagan have influenced this and rightly so, the Mac shortcuts seem to be more logical, when you want to select something to the end or nudge right you have the CMD key and to go left or earlier in the time line its OPT, PC seems to jump between CTRL and WIN keys, so for the exams I have learnt only the Mac shortcuts purely for ease of remembering, although saying that the set breakpoint value to next and previous on a Mac baffles me and definately came from a PC.
Thats my few pennies worth and hope that it helps your decision Dave. I'm platform agnostic, and I think the whole debate is pretty pointless. You could easily get a PC that runs as well as a Mac, but you'd be paying about the same price. Most who go out and buy a PC don't shell out the kind of money you do on a Mac. Of course Pro Tools is going to run poorly on a lower quality machine. I'll admit that OS maintenance on a PC is a little more difficult, as it doesn't have as many user-friendly tools as a Mac does; but as Alexander mentioned as well, the more you dedicate a machine to one task, the better it will run. Whatever choice you make, be ready to dish out the money for a good system.
I will add a +10 for mac here. I have been a 'PC' guy and even 'anti-mac' for most of my life. To make a long story short. I fought and fought with many PCs when starting my career in post audio. I lost months and months of work due to faulty software, drivers and hardware. Some may thing it was human error but I beg to differ. The mac is just so easy to use and is rock solid.
When you have clients counting on you to deliver a product and there are tens of thousands of dollars on the line what would you rather? It really comes down to can you deliver with the tools you choose. I would also like to add that there is not much in terms pro level audio software from third parties available on the mac. It also has nice integration of metadata searching in finder where as explorer will leave you crying.
Pro Tools has always run much better on the mac than on PC and I have seen, experienced and heard too many horror stories about trying to deliver and create using a PC. It just does not make any sense to use one from what I have seen.
Your clients will also know you care and have invested a nice chunk of money up front however you are probably saving more in the long run. Think of how many PCs one has to replace during the life span of lets say the G5, probably 3-6 different PC systems. Mac is just cleaner and way more pro IMHO.