Computer / Software

The Mac Mini joins the iMac and the new Mac Book Pro as the latest Apple computer to make the move to Intel processors. We also have the latest news on Universal Binaries, including a look at whether the developer tools used to create these new applications will have a negative effect on performance for Power PC users.

With another major transition occurring in the Mac world this year, it's time to consider the real ramifications of moving from Power PC to Intel-based Macs for musicians and audio engineers.

If 2003 was Apple's 'year of the notebook', 2006 is set to be the 'year of Intel', with the prospect that every Mac computer in the company's range will use an Intel processor by the end of it.

With the rumour mills already grinding away in preparation for Macworld 2006 show, we make a brief survey of 2005, as well as taking a look at using Apple's DVD Studio Pro application to distribute surround mixes.

With the new single-processor, dual-core Power Macs shipping, we continue to investigate the impact of PCI Express on the Mac audio and music world.

Christmas came slightly early this year for Mac enthusiasts, with significant product announcements, including new dual-core, dual-processor Power Mac G5s. But just what do the new high-spec computers mean for musicians?

We round up a month of small, yet interesting, product releases from Apple, as well as looking at how the company is making it easy for Linux developers to port audio software to Mac OS X.

We explore a powerful Audio Units plug-in host application you might not realise you already own, called AU Lab. Plus news of the multi-button Apple mouse and Intel architecture changes...

As the Mac community looks to Pentium M-based Powerbooks to deliver high-performance, low-power mobile solutions, what if you can't wait until next year and need to purchase a Powerbook right now?

Apple users are used to transitions, having moved from 68k-based Macs to Power PC processors, and the classic Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X. Now it's time for the third and most shocking transition of all: the move to Macs with Intel processors.

As Apple's Tiger finds its way around the jungle of Mac users, there's also some new hardware to consider this month, with faster G5 machines hitting the shelves.

The latest version of Apple's Mac OS contains some excellent new features aimed at musicians and audio engineers. Is this one OS upgrade you won't mind performing on your studio computer?

We offer a brief preview of the features musicians can look forward to in Mac OS X Tiger, take a first look at a major new version of Soundtrack, and examine why the iPod Shuffle is hard to resist.

Although intended as an entry-level application to introduce new people to computer-based music making, Apple's GarageBand has received acclaim from beginners and professionals alike. We look at version 2, which adds score editing, multitrack audio recording, and more...

We've discussed Logic's distributed audio processing in past Apple Notes columns, but this month we offer some tips on setting up Logic Node to run on a network of headless Macs, along with some advice on Firewire-based networking.

Apple kicked off a potentially exciting year for their customers at the 2005 Macworld show in San Francisco with a host of new and updated products, including the most affordable Macintosh computer the company has ever brought to market.

In an extended Apple Notes column we take an exclusive look at the 30-inch Cinema display from a musician and audio engineer's perspective, and evaluate the performance of the new dual-2.5GHz Power Mac G5 with our usual series of performance tests.

Another crop of news, advice and tips is presented in the latest instalment of our essential Apple users' column.

There's no shortage of Apple news this month, including the release of new versions of Logic, a revision to the iBook line and a new, cheaper G5 model.

We discuss Apple's brand-new iMac, investigate how much power a musician can really expect from the latest Powerbooks, and explain how to save some hard disk space when installing Mac OS X.

In recent months, SOS's online Mac Music forum has highlighted the difficulty with achieving the same number of channels of audio I/O under Mac OS X and Logic that were possible under OS 9. We investigate the problems and provide some solutions.