In a recent survey of around 1000 Pro Tools users we asked the question 'What Do You Use For Pro Tools PC Or Mac? The results are shown below.

We also asked the Studio One community 'What Do You Use For Studio One PC Or Mac? and got the results shown below.

In this survey Pro Tools users indicated they are more likely to choose a Mac as their Pro Tools computer, whereas Studio One users indicated they are more likely to use a Windows PC as their Studio One computer.

Taking a look at the number of comparative threads on the Avid DUC seems to indicate the same kind of split amongst Pro Tools users, with most threads on the official Avid Pro Tools forums showing a greater amount of Mac activity than Windows.

We asked our Pro Tools for Windows specialist Alan Sallabank why he thought this was the case;

"Resellers find Macs much easier to bundle into "complete" ProTools systems. There is a lot less fiddling involved to buy an Apple Mac approved by Avid for Pro Tools,  and one single point of support for the hardware. There is also admittedly the fact that Windows software and hardware developers are still playing catchup to a certain extent. This doesn't mean that Windows-based systems are less capable, but that resellers find Macs less hassle, despite making less margin."

We also asked Pro Tools Expert and die-hard Apple Mac user Russ Hughes what he thought of this;

"I'm not sure about the reseller argument, for one thing, margins for Apple resellers are tiny and give very little room for any after-sales support for the Mac. It may be more historical in that for many years Macs were considered the computer for creative applications whereas a Windows PC was the thing you did your accounts on. Whilst that is less the case these days I still think there's a perception issue. Alan's theory also doesn't address the comparative difference between the Pro Tools and Studio One results, I think that maybe to do with the markets both brands have been selling to."

So why do you think more Pro Tools users are making the choice they are for their Pro Tools computer?

Have Things Changed Over The Years?

In 2019 we repeated a poll from 2015 in which we wanted to learn more about what type and format of Pro Tools computer you use now. In the article What Type And Style Of Pro Tools Computer Do You Use? - We Have The Results From 2015 And 2019, we compared the results from the two polls and see how the choice of which computer you use for Pro Tools has changed over four years.