Zippy

Saving cash and avoiding frustration is exactly what I want to do. Because for the caliber of machine I'm looking for right now (nothing too fancy), I think it will be cheaper to buy the whole thing instead of the parts. I'll doublecheck before I actually do it, though. That sounds like a plan. Thanks!

Exactly. The only other things I might do with this computer where my choice of OS would matter are gaming, where I'd want Windows, and graphic / video editing, where I'd want a Mac. If I go with a Windows box, I'll dual-boot Linux anyway, and if I get a Mac I can always put Windows on it. My question isn't really about where I can go; it's more about where I should start. The only software I ever used was Cakewalk Pro 5, so that's where all of my baggage is going to be. It was also so long ago that I'll have to relearn most of it anyway, but I remember liking the interface and what I could do with it. In other news, I just actually spec'd out a Mac Pro, and the difference in price between one of those and a comparable Windows box is ridiculous. ($500 for 2GB of DDR2 RAM? $200 per hard drive? $800 for a RAID controller? $600 EACH for 20" monitors? They can't be serious.) Even if I were to buy all of that stuff at more reasonable rates and install it myself, the base configuration I want is already around $2.5k, and that's not even for a usable system. So, based on that plus all of the advice from you guys, I'll just place an order for a Dell or something as soon as I see a good after-Christmas sale. You can look forward to more newbish posts from me in the future.

Thanks for all of the advice so far. I don't have anything at the moment, but I'll count your post as a firm endorsement of Windows. I mostly use a computer for web browsing, word processing, lightweight image editing, email / IM / Skype, and programming. Linux suits me just fine for all of those things, and I'm spoiled on how easily I can find and install new software with Debian's package management. It looks like you're recommending against Linux, since all of the programs you mentioned are either Windows exclusive (Sonar, FL Studio), OSX exclusive (Logic), or Windows / OSX (Ableton, Cubase). I'm not sure, though, why you say the choice of operating system isn't a starting point, since it's the first piece of software I'm going to put on the computer. My main goal is to do what's going to be as easy as possible, so Windows sounds like my best option based on what I've heard so far. I don't mind putting effort into something, but I'd prefer that the effort went into my actual music instead of things like just making my setup work in the first place.

Hey. I searched the forums, but all of the answers and advice I saw assume that the person asking the question already has a computer. Anyway, here's my situation. I'm looking to do some remixing / composing. I have a decent synth ( Yamaha S08 ), but that's it. I plan to buy / build a computer, and I'm trying to decide what OS I should use for musical things. My inclination is to run Linux, and then to either go with something like Muse or else Reason through WINE. In your opinion, will that work out well for me (especially using WINE), or am I setting myself up for a bunch of headaches? If you would recommend either Win XP or Mac OSX over Linux, why? My budget is a couple thousdand dollars, give or take, but I don't have to spend all of it. My experience is limited to a couple of years of messing around with Cakewalk, and I didn't have to set up the hardware or software. So, based on this information, what should I do?