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Comment by rev12 | Hacker News Reader

>>> "Meanwhile, the audio/video-engineer types still seem to like the MBP"

I can't speak to the professional video world, but that's absolutely false in the professional audio world.

My experience is in the world of composition and sound design; the attitude towards using Mac for that shifted a while back, due to the lackluster and non-existent upgrades to the Mac Pro.

No one in the professional audio world that I know, or anything that I have read, has suggested they are liking the new laptop (which wouldn't get much use from them anyway).

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>I can't speak to the professional video world, but that's absolutely false in the professional audio world.

Depends on what you mean "professional audio world". If you mean heavy old style studios, the kind Led Zeppelin might have recorded on back in the day, yes, but these are on the go (profits and usage wise) anyway, as the industry shifts.

Musicians, producers, DJs, etc most carry laptops and have home studios based around them, and most use MacBook Pro's for their stuff (as evident in all kinds of interviews and live scenarios).

That's more a case of the MacBook Pro being "good enough" and Apple, and PC manufacturers too for that matter, have successfully segmented the market (with things like ports). Even Macworld will tell you these days that "whether you choose a Mac or PC for music production is largely down to the platform you prefer and who you’re collaborating with. There’s little inherent advantage to using Macs, beyond familiarity with the system, and the general robustness of the hardware" [1].

[1] http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac-software/best-mac-maki...

I was referring to the composition and post production (sound design, engineering) world. Mostly because that is the industry I worked in for many years and still continue to work in (much more sporadically these days).

That's a world that was dominated by Mac Pros around 2010. Around 2013 I started seeing a shift, myself included, to custom built PC workstations and that trend is just increasing now. The initial switch, I believe, started with the lackluster cylinder Mac Pro, but continued due to the obvious failings in the Mac desktop market.

You speak of home based studios using MacBook pros, but anyone doing that is obviously not a professional. I will give you the fact that many DJs are using MacBooks for the mobile rigs, but at home, anyone actually doing professional audio work is likely using a massive powerful workstation or a number of PCs (master/slaves).

This notion that MacBooks (or even laptops in general) are super popular in the professional audio world is fiction made for advertising.

>You speak of home based studios using MacBook pros, but anyone doing that is obviously not a professional.

Tons of musicians/producers/etc have those, while making more money than professional studios from their productions -- and not just in EDM.

Lots of the work that studios did for even superstar musicians (pop, etc), nowadays happens in the box, and not just demos and early sketches.

>This notion that MacBooks (or even laptops in general) are super popular in the professional audio world is fiction made for advertising.

Rather the professional audio world is not what it used to be.

I'd consider million-making Bjork or whatever working on their laptop, as equally (or more) professional than some struggling studio or post-processing facility.

Well if we're sharing annecdata: literally everyone I know who works in audio would give up their Mac only on death.

That covers several DJs, Producers, VO Artists, Audio Editors, and quite a few Sound Designers...

If we're sharing annecdata: Almost every programmer I know owns a Mac and loves it, and prefers working on them.

Except me. My employer doesn't let me use my own computer and refuses to buy me one.

> My employer doesn't let me use my own computer and refuses to buy me one.

? Then what are you using?

Refuses to buy them a Mac obviously. As in "doesn't let me use my own mac and refuses to buy me a mac of his own".

So, parent is using the computer the employer doesn't refuse to buy them, a PC.

Now it makes sense. I really wondered.

Here in my little corner in Europe, I hardly know anyone, other than management and colleagues doing iOS/Appstore projects, having one.

At my company they belong to a pool for iOS projects.

What would be the alternative anyway? Imagine a DJ playing a set and suddenly having Windows force an update on them. Linux during some periods barely played audio for regular use cases.

If you want good hardware and a reliable operating system, you go with a Mac. A few annoyances with adapters it might require won't change that at all.

Anecdotally the surprising answer might be rather old BeOS based systems. At least that's what I saw once and apparently some people still use some old tools that are BeOS only for audio (from talking to the DJ) :D

I'm sure you'll find 2 or even 20. I doubt you'll find 100 of those people.

I recall senior players (ie work at Air 1, Abby Road etc) in the audio world saying this 5 years ago in sound on sound

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