Pro Tools computer suggestions
# 1
Pro Tools works on PC's too... just check the digidesign website for the requirements.
# 2
# 3
Make sure you get the 'maximum' requirements too...especially the processor speed and Ram. Get a smaller, faster hard drive just for your song files too.
Large hard drives seem to have more trouble keeping up when the CPU gets busy.
If you get the minimum suggested you'll only be able to record a few tracks before it starts to get bogged down but you can get around that by removing any unrecorded sections from a track. For instance, if you record an acoustic guitar through an entire song, delete any parts of the track where there are silences and the guitar isn't playing. Same thing goes for other instruments too. This gives the hard drive time to catch up. You can also get away with recording a ton of tracks by keeping processor intensive tracks muted while you're recording, and then just unmuting them when you export the song.
... if none of that makes any sense, don't worry, it'll start to make sense after a couple of years :)
Large hard drives seem to have more trouble keeping up when the CPU gets busy.
If you get the minimum suggested you'll only be able to record a few tracks before it starts to get bogged down but you can get around that by removing any unrecorded sections from a track. For instance, if you record an acoustic guitar through an entire song, delete any parts of the track where there are silences and the guitar isn't playing. Same thing goes for other instruments too. This gives the hard drive time to catch up. You can also get away with recording a ton of tracks by keeping processor intensive tracks muted while you're recording, and then just unmuting them when you export the song.
... if none of that makes any sense, don't worry, it'll start to make sense after a couple of years :)
# 4