It's that time of year when new always seems "better". That new 8-core MacPro looks nice and shiny! Think of all the plugins I could run with an 8-core machine! It would stomp all over my dual G5, right?

Let's jump into a theoretical upgrade see what happens for a moment:

• 1: I spend a bunch of money on a new machine. Bank account feels the burn.
• 2: I get it home, unbox it, and then realize that I have to pull apart my current studio.
• 3: I rip out my old box and then setup my brand new shiny computer.
• 4: I spend 2 weeks solid of reinstalling my production software.
• 5: I spend another 2 weeks figuring out why half my plugins don't want to run on the new machine.
• 6: I finally get the new machine up to a "usable" state for music production and try loading an older song.
• 7: I experience a large dose of terror as I realize that my previous productions won't load!
• 8: I ask myself "why WHY!" did I have to upgrade my computer.
• 9: I moan and groan to all my music friends about the woes of running a production studio.
• 10: I blog about it.

Or, I could save the $4,000 - $5,000 on the new box and spend the 4 weeks of downtime on writing new music. Hmmmm. So why would I even upgrade?

It all depends on productivity. Shiny new toys are always appealing in the beginning. But in the end, it comes down to producing a song. Making a record! I don't think I've heard anybody say "sweet song ... I can really hear the quad-cores enhancing the song!"

I'm sorry if I'm sounding pissy about computer upgrades. There is always a time and place for upgrading. But I think it's very important analyze the reasons for upgrading. When should somebody upgrade? When you're computer cannot produce the music you are trying to create. That's a definite reason to upgrade. Otherwise, I always ask myself if I'm really ok with going through that 10 step list up above in this post. If I'm cool with it, then off to the Apple store!