I spent some time looking at the excellent The Unofficial Windows 10 Audio Workstation Build And Tweak Guide by Pete Brown at Microsoft.

The content is thorough and gives anyone wanting to use a Windows PC for audio production a wealth of information, plenty to help avoid the pitfalls of setting up a PC.

Having read it, it confirmed to me all the reasons I choose to use Apple Macs. It left me thinking, who has either the time or inclination to do all this stuff in order to use a computer for recording? Plenty of people, in fact far more than those using Macs.

I think of my computer like my car, I just want it to start every time I get in it and keep going with little intervention. I know how to put fuel in it and where to fill up the screen fluid, after that I’ve got nothing! I remember in the early years of owning cars, cheap, used bangers that seemed like a bargain until I drove off the forecourt. Then I found myself in front of a mechanic who would tell me the trans-diff had gone, or the choking multiplier needed a new splergal blinker on it. Yes, I’m making words up, but they could have said anything. Every time I took my car in, it was easier just to hand over my credit card and pray.

Again, there are plenty of people who can happily open the bonnet up on their car and and an hour and a pair of oil-soaked hands later have the thing purring like a kitten.

The problem with the Mac versus Windows debate in audio is that we soon reduce the argument to caricatures as we move into our tribes. I’m put in the Apple fanboy tribe. We’re dumb, we pay too much for machines that have almost zero ports on them. We’d buy anything with an Apple logo on it. We’re mad to buy anything that can’t be upgraded at a later date. Those are some of the charges laid at our door.

On the other hand, there’s the Windows fanboys. Always tinkering around with stuff. Obsessed with detail. Wanting to buy cheap computers that they spend their lives upgrading.

What’s most interesting about the debate is that we try and dress it up with facts, data, or science. The truth is, the debate is about belief.

What’s even more interesting is that our preferences for either simplicity or complexity don’t extend across all areas of our lives. So it’s too much of a generalisation to suggest that because I don’t want to mess around with cars or computers, that’s the same for all parts of my life.

For example, I love to cook. We rarely eat ready meals or takeaways in our home. We buy all out fruit and vegetables locally. Our vegetables arrive on our doorstep every Friday from the local organic farm. We have no idea what they are going to send. Then we have to cook meals based on the delivery. You might be reading this and thinking, who has either the time or inclination to do this? Me. But I don’t have the time or inclination to do it with computers or cars.

The Mac v Windows debate is about value, but not a monetary one. It’s about what we each value as important to us. For some it’s a Mac and for others a Windows PC. Like many things in life it’s often hard to understand how someone could hold the opposing position. So we start to use facts, rhetoric or humour to make our case. However we’re not dealing with science but belief, in many cases deeply held belief.

Belief is a powerful thing. It’s rarely shaken by argument or even ridicule.

It’s the same for our DAW of choice, subscriptions or not, iLok, and a host of other things that fuel debate in forums and on social media. We try and debate with facts, but we’re often not dealing with facts. Here’s a way to test this. Next time you find yourself debating with someone about any of these things ask them this genuine question, “what could I say to change your mind?” The answer is usually nothing.

It’s worth remembering this the next time we’re in a forum or on social media and someone states their belief in something we find difficult to comprehend, they are thinking the same about us.

It might be Mac or Windows. Pro Tools or Logic. Plugins or Hardware. Universal Audio or Focusrite. All tribes with passionate believers.

In reality it rarely matters and our attempts to change each other’s mind are a poor use of our time. I know I’ve said some dumb things over the years when I forget this lesson. Perhaps a better use of our time is to find common ground. For many of us our common bond is our creativity around music and film, and isn’t that the reason we do this?