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another laptop thread.

FrigginChris

FrigginChris

Feb 6, 2006
1,405
5
illinois
#1
I've decided that i want to pick up a laptop to do some recording. It'll mostly bedroom stuff, band practices and possibly recording some demos for friend's bands.

I've looked into getting a macbook as that's been pretty well recommended around here after doing a little searching on here.

what i'm looking for is some advice on what to look into for a windows based machine to compare against it so i could try and save some cash

I have $1300 I can spend for this laptop without diping into my interface budget.

specific models of laptops would be great but if that's not possible what should i look for hardware wise?

thanks:D
 
#2
First, decide what software you will be working with. Then search the forums specific to that software and ask what laptops the people are using . This will be your best bet to getting a usable system. Don't forget to also cross-reference with what interface you will be using.
 
#6
mingustoo said:
First, decide what software you will be working with. Then search the forums specific to that software and ask what laptops the people are using . This will be your best bet to getting a usable system. Don't forget to also cross-reference with what interface you will be using.
Click to expand...

Yes. Decide on what software you want first but also what external soundcard interface. I have a Firewire 410 that my old PC kept deactivating. If you are colaberating with other musicians it helps to have compatible set ups.

If you go PC, get it with XP professional NOT VISTA. some pro audio stuff dislikes Vista.

You might even consider having a PC laptop built for you. It might cost less then you think. Talk to Morgan at East Coast Music Mall in Danbury CT for Free advice on this. Tell him Art sent you.
 
#7
if i go pc i'll deffinitely be running xp.
software wise i'll be going with cubase, audacity, or acid


if i go mac I'll start off with garage band and later upgrading to logic express

as for interfaces i was thinking something along the lines of the m-audio firewire 410 or presonus firebox to start off with.

and if i can spring for a little more cash maybe even go with the firepod or this m-audio interface that has an integrated midi controller

Link Removed
 
#8
A dual platform Mac is cool but why do it? It's not like there is a lack of great software for it. Much of the stuff that people stray away from Mac for is actually available for it. I was reluctant just because my work uses Windows and I wasn't aware of Office being available for Mac. Look into it. I doubt you'll find a need to go dual platform.

Do it.....Just do it.... You know you want to>>>>>;) :D :hyper:
 
#9
Get the Macbook - buy the low end one and add as much ram as you can afford. Save some money and buy ram from http://ramseeker.com/

You won't reget it. And Garageband is quite featured and can record 8 tracks simultaneously. It's the same engine as Logic Pro/Express. And in fact, most of the AU plugins that work with Logic you can coax to work in Garageband too.
 
#10
fishstix said:
A dual platform Mac is cool but why do it? It's not like there is a lack of great software for it. Much of the stuff that people stray away from Mac for is actually available for it. I was reluctant just because my work uses Windows and I wasn't aware of Office being available for Mac. Look into it. I doubt you'll find a need to go dual platform.

Do it.....Just do it.... You know you want to>>>>>;) :D :hyper:
Click to expand...

true it's just a thought in case i need a program that isn't availablefor a mac, I'm not necessarily going to do it, it's just nice having the option there.

I am leaning towards making the switch and getting the macbook, I just want something to compare it against to see if it's really the best for me, and maybe saving a few bucks while still being able to fill my needs.
 
#13
I have just made the jump from PC to Mac and it has been a lot less painful that I would have thought.

I have BootCamp on my Macbook Pro which allows me to boot into XP (NOT going Vista) and use Cakewalk Sonar, Mobius, etc. You can access your Windows partition from the Mac side and download / drop files from one OS into the other. This helps since you can switch off networking for the Windows partition and save having to have a virus checker running all the time. If you also get Parallels you can boot up and use the Windows Bootcamp partition from the Mac side. Parallels comes with a virus checker for use when you're doing this kind of thing.

NOTE:
Parallels doesn't support Firewire interfaces (yet) but they update the software pretty regularly.

Some people have had problems with Presonus Firewire interfaces on the Mac. I've had no worries with my M-Audio FW1814. Works beautifully and is bus-powered directly from the Mac (no more wall-wart! HURRAH!).

Garageband is actually quite useful starter software.

If you have anything like Ableton Live licensed for Windows you can pay a small fee to crossgrade to Mac and download the Universal Binary (native Intel version).

I'm loving it... as a certain burger chain might say.
 
#15
I think youve gotten some really good advice so far but also some bad advice also. The main thing is what program are you gonna be running, my favs are logic and pro tools. Pro tools runs better on PC from my experience since 7 came out. Logic will only run on macs. The advice to get the cheapest mac book then max it out is a bad idea IMO. Thats a good idea if your gonna have something else doing your track processing for you, but unless your using some sort of PCI chassis for it then your gonna want as fast a processor as you can afford for a native system. You def will need as much memory as you can get, but that will only help with plugins, not simultaneous track processing. My degree was in recording and we started out on mac, and every year more and more pcs started showing up. Mainly because nuendo and sonar became more popular. Before you get one go to the program manufacturers website and check out what they reccomend. I dont care what mac says if your running windows through mac you have to be slowing things down alot. Both are great options. I run a sony vaio. I dropped 2 grand on it. Could i have gotten a mac laptop, shure could have. Macs are becomming less and less the obvious choice.
 
#16
hyperlitem said:
I think youve gotten some really good advice so far but also some bad advice also. The main thing is what program are you gonna be running, my favs are logic and pro tools. Pro tools runs better on PC from my experience since 7 came out. Logic will only run on macs. The advice to get the cheapest mac book then max it out is a bad idea IMO. Thats a good idea if your gonna have something else doing your track processing for you, but unless your using some sort of PCI chassis for it then your gonna want as fast a processor as you can afford for a native system. You def will need as much memory as you can get, but that will only help with plugins, not simultaneous track processing. My degree was in recording and we started out on mac, and every year more and more pcs started showing up. Mainly because nuendo and sonar became more popular. Before you get one go to the program manufacturers website and check out what they reccomend. I dont care what mac says if your running windows through mac you have to be slowing things down alot. Both are great options. I run a sony vaio. I dropped 2 grand on it. Could i have gotten a mac laptop, shure could have. Macs are becomming less and less the obvious choice.
Click to expand...

thanks for the input

out of any of the programs i've checked out I've liked logic the best so far so i'll be going with that, and that's my main reason for being set on the macbook.

I'm not going to get the bottom of the line macbook, I'll be getting the middle of the road one that has the slightly faster cpu and the 80 gig hard drive (i know i'll be needing an external drive later on) the macbook pro doesn't seem to be woth the cost and I prefer smaller 12-14 inch screens on laptops anyways.

I will be upgrading the ram to 2 gigs asap but i should be ok with just the 1 gig for the time being right? to start off i don't see myself recording more than 1 or 2 tracks at once anyways. until i get something better i'll be using a line 6 toneport as my interface.

looking at the logic page there isn't a specific brand of interface mentioned, but looking around it seems M-audio and MOTU interfaces seem to be recommended alot.
 
#17
hyperlitem said:
I dont care what mac says if your running windows through mac you have to be slowing things down alot.
Click to expand...
Sorry, but to counter that, I have to say running Windows XP (dual boot using Bootcamp) runs every bit as smoothly on my Macbook Pro as it did on my Sony Vaio A117S. I haven't drunk the full draught of the Mac cool-aid yet, but to have the option of running both Mac OS X, Logic etc. and Windows XP + Sonar etc. is getting the best of both worlds in my book.

Has to be said I haven't got the hang of Logic Express yet, but Sonar Pro 6 kicks some serious booty.

Check me out at Link Removed
 

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