Mac or Windows for Renoise

Help, Support & Bugs Beginners Questions - Renoise
1

In serious need of a new Laptop.

Trying to stream and record with OBS and run Renoise and my little HP just can’t handle it sadly :pensive: Even converting my plugins to samples and using the lowest settings on OBS.

So any experienced users who stream/record and use Renoise? I’m exclusively Renoise with a few plugins that are pretty hungry(Phase Plant, Arcade, Kontakt)

My budget is about $800. Let the old war continue. I’d like to hear pros and cons of both

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I don’t stream, but let me tell you something obvious and self-explanatory:
If your budget is only 800 $ there’s no question whether Window or Mac, of course it’s Windows! You don’t expect to get something serious with an Apple logo on it for 800 $, do you? Besides of that Apple has some serious compatibility problems in general. Many VSTs don’t work on Apple, not to mention all the programs exclusive for Windows. And you can upgrade your Windows computer anytime if necessary, but there’s no way to upgrade an Apple product. So it’s clear: Windows!

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Really I didn’t know Apple had compatibility issues. I always heard Mac’s were more stable overall. That’s one of the main reasons I was willing to sacrifice pure cpu power

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Yes, Apple is stable, but it’s only suitable for daily use if you’re using Apple only. Apple products only work properly with other Apple products. For example, just try to copy a track from your iPhone to another media or whatever, it won’t work. And Apple is overpriced as fuck, the price-performance ratio is the worst you can imagine. You don’t even get a proper phone from that company for 800 $, so don’t even think to buy a computer for that “low” price, there’s simply no way. But if you’re up for used or refurbished stuff that you cannot upgrade, go for it… :wink:

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5

Since I am a fanboy at least of macos, I need to disagree here. Here is a list of subjective pro/cons of an Apple ARM notebook:

CONS

  • Vendor/Apple lock-in. If you don’t know how to circumvent some stupid protection on the system, you will end up as a apple store slave (well, this seems to be similar on Windows, too)
  • Every wearing parts are soldered on the board, like the SSD. Once it is done, the whole computer is done (or you have to pay almost 1000€ for Apple repair. Also you data will be lost/stolen/nsa’ed (no idea why EU allows that, also a horror for the environment).
  • USB-C connectors only, welcome to the docking adapter hell
  • It’s way more expensive, and for a lot products simply overpriced AF
  • Not all plugins are ported to ARM yet, so those will run in Rosetta translation
  • Do not ever buy an intel Mac, piece of garbage. It’s hell. Totally under-cooled, fan turns on like a vacuum cleaner even on minimal processing tasks. Due the too small form factor. This is not the case anymore with ARM macbooks though. I guess Apple did that by purpose…
  • Really annoying macos update politics. Apple does not care at all for backwards compatibility and instead expects the world to adapt to them. Which says a lot about their attitude. Maybe that is similar lately on Windows? But I guess not, Windows still can run win 98 apps, I think.

PROS

  • Apple macOS still is way better than Windows and is made for audio/video
  • macOS also is way more stable, than Windows and even Ubuntu
  • It’s way cleaner structured than the other ones
  • It also comes with a proper terminal like Linux, really good for coding, too
  • Display is way better, resolution much higher
  • Touchpad is outstandingly good, nowhere near this in Windows world. You actually do not need a mouse anymore
  • Renoise seems to be more performant than under Windows
  • All plugins are available for macos, too (except some outdated or discontinued)
  • M1/M1pro… ARM performance is a killer. M1pro is similar to the fastest mobile intel cpu available. But almost without fan spin…

Best price seems to be still an M1 macbook air (~1000?) or a m1pro macbook pro 14 (if you find one, for around 1950€). I am not so convinced by M2 line. Little improvements, but already more heat. Still way better than any intel/amd cpu. But the advantage over M1 line doesn’t justify the even higher pricing.

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6

Mac of all trades is usually the way I go when in need of a new laptop

Good refurbished gear at a much better price point than new, certainly

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I do agree that the m1 chip is powerful but for 800 you will only get the 8g ram and 250gb mac mini and maybe a mac air 8g also unless you find a used one, but then again no upgradability and everything is soldered on the motherboard so its a no-go for me.For your power hungry plugins and streaming you will need at least 16g of ram.Do you want to game?Do you want all of your plugins and every new plugin that comes out to work instantly?Then windows is the answer.In my experience at that price point laptops are not that good and overheat quickly.I cant stand the noise the fans make and overheating will impact performance.The m1 air wins this one i guess its powerful and quiet.All comes down to what you need .

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Yeah, maybe a good windows notebook is the better choice. Since the os is not that important, and you will get much more value for the money. Just find a really good model maybe.

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Part of me wants to be in the cool kids club and get a MacBook but budget wise it just makes more sense to stick with Windows.

Those track pads are hard to beat though. I’ve got till Friday to make my final decision so sniff around on Amazon and ebay to see what I can find

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Good luck! Nice new avatar pic, btw :wink:

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You know it :smiling_imp:

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12

Ok so I’m gonna shell out a bit more and get a Mac Mini Pro.

Now with these M2’s should I be concerned with Renoise’s compatibility or any of the plugins that I mentioned? Thanks for all the help btw

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Check out some of Lenovo’s ThinkPad laptops. The keyboards are sick! Some of the new ones don’t have as good of keys, but some have the good stuff. My old ThinkPad E455 has a fantastic keyboard. Very upgradeable, durable, quiet, and dependable machines.

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