How much better is a mac vs. pc for audio editing?

Well you probably will get better answers in the A/V section, but at any rate.

By themselves Macs are PCs. They are a tool, just like a PC is. The primary difference is the OS, and the software tools. The Mac OS comes out of the box ready for fairly low latency recording, is in my experience much more stable under a variety of circumstances than Windows, and generally a nice easy experience. Also of note is the ability to get a powered firewire port on some(If not all) of the laptops they offer, and finally two major things.

One is quality, with PCs you can get good quality, or there is much more bad quality out there. With a Mac it is a known quality and in my experience a good quality.

The other is noise. Macs under normal useage tend to run quieter than most PCs in my experience. This kind of falls under quality to an extent but is worth mentioning on its own when dealing with audio, as the quieter the better in most cases.

Windows as an OS requires tweaking to get to work well for audio(XP) or at all in some cases(Vista, drivers, no good mix). I don't have much experience with Vista but I haven't heard much good come from it thus far. I recently had to purchase Windows for a job I do, and XP is my choice between them, I don't like Vista, I don't like what I have heard on it, and don't like the amount of tie down and restriction, and DRM, involved in it. If those don't bother you, then it may work well for oyu, but between them I would say XP, and if it hadn't been EOL'd I believe 2000(Which in my opinion was better than XP)

Now all that being said, I have my MBP and before that my PB for mobile work, but primarily for day to day life. My primary audio workstation is Linux, running on what most people would term a PC. It all comes down to two things in the end, to a certain extent the tools, but past a basic level in tools it comes down to your talent much moreso than anything.

Seablade

Well, you're likely to get a lot of differing responses with that question. The real answer is probably not what you want to hear...it depends. I've been recording on a PC using Cubase for about 4 years. Before that I was on a standalone Roland 1680. There are powerful PC's out there and the audio production programs available for PC are just as powerful as the ones available for mac. In fact, they're pretty much all available for either platform. So the decision is not so much about Mac vs. PC as it is which program you want to use.

With that said, I've been a cubase user for a long time, but I'm getting ready to buy a Macbook Pro and move to Logic Pro. If you're just getting started in this journey, a true benefit to the Mac is that it comes with Garageband pre-installed. Garageband is a great program for sparking creativity and getting your feet wet in audio production. With some of the recent updates it's getting more powerful all the time.

Another beautiful thing about the mac is everything else it does well besides audio production. When you buy a mac you get a ton of great software and an OS that just kicks ass. When you buy a PC you get a few apps that are ok, but nothing like what comes pre-loaded on a Mac. That means that you'll have to purchase whatever software you're going to run on the PC, adding to the cost. If you take into account everything that comes pre-loaded on a Mac, they're priced about the same as a comparably equipped PC. A Macbook will have plenty of power to do multi-track recording for the home recordist; a Macbook Pro, even more so. If you're not needing the mobile aspect, I'd probably shoot for the 20" imac coupled with a Presonus or MOTU interface. That would get you started for the price range you're looking at.

Here's a tip, make sure you check www.dealmac.com for great mac deals on Macbooks and iMacs. Good luck in your quest!

Jonathan