Nessa,

I have always tried to gp Mac but yes the price was the biggest ad first trunm off. The ridiculous OS nonsense is second. My last PC a full on gaming computer cost half for what the equivalent Mac did. I did a side by side component vs component comparison. Personally I have no favorite as I don't have any love lost at MS.

Your second thought just about kills Dorico or Sibelius. Dorico has it own language and is quite confusing. I've completed three scores in it now and I could use it but I am very slow. Most of it doesn't stick because of the thermology. And, Sibelius is almost a sold as Finale and is run by a company almost as bad as MM is. This means legacy code and little support. LilyPond is a joke. That leaves MuseScore 5 which is supposed to come out soon. It is supposed to be more Finale like so we'll see.

Bottom line any of these can do a basic score as long as you let the app do it as it wants to. Best part about Dorico is they listen and they respond if MM was as good I doubt Finale would be dead.

No extra charge tip:.....................

Always make an XML of your work along with a PDF and print out a hard copy. That's the only safe way.

Take care,

EB

Hi Ernie,

As always, thank you for your insights.

One of my other concerns that I should have mentioned, and about which I have seen little discussion, is the use of sound libraries.

These days I mostly use NotePerformer, though I also use my set of libraries from Garritan.

How compatible are these with the other programs, and do they have their own set of libraries?

:-)
Nessa

Both Dorico and Sibelius can use NotePerformer 4. Dorico can use Garritan but I have not tried to use Garritan in Sibelius. The native sounds in either is poor so I always use NP4. For supplied sounds the very best is MuseScore 4. Plus the MuseScore 4 mixer is the best of the three.

I urge you to d/l the demos and try them. MuseScore is free. Sibelius is of the same generation as Finale and is most like Finale. It uses the mouse a lot.  Dorico hates the mouse and wants you to use keyboard hot keys. That's fine but I find myself right clicking all the time and of course nothing happens. The Dorico Quick Reference Card (which is a must) is three pages lone so much for "quick" reference. And the Popover Reference sheet is 15 pages long.

Ernie, the PC equivalent to my M2 Ultra Mac costs between $36,000 — $85,000 depending on exactly how it is set up. Of course, either platform is way overkill for Finale but for some of my work, such hardware is absolutely necessary. When I bought its predecessor, the equivalent PCs went for up to $150,000.

https://boxx.com/solutions/ai-workstations#tagForProducts  

If you want me to stop criticising your Mac posts, it's easy. Stop posting what you do not know. Problem solved. You do not understand the hardware, its capabilities nor what people can do with it and by your own admission haven't owned one in years.

We're here to help people get through Finale best we can. Your ignorant Mac bashing and made up statistics help no one.

Please stick to notation apps.

Well I don't know who made you the forum police but I know what I know. I have to deal with Mac's a lot. I really don't care how smart you think you are I am still going to tell people exactly what I see and how I work. Now whether they take that advice or not is up to them and is worth every cent they paid for it. I am not impressed with you credentials and if you don't like my posts  stop reading them.

This "spitting" contest is getting boring. Please stop or take it private.