Hey everyone. Ive been slowly collecting some gear over the past year. I currently have a Tascam Us1800 and I picked up a Apex Mic kit along with some Presonus monitors. Nothing high end as you can see but I wanted something to get me started and I think that will do the trick. So im at the point now where im going to get my DAW and I need to know what I should get. Im thinking of getting a laptop because I travel a lot for work so it would be nice If I could bring the DAW on the road and do some editing and drum programming.
Im debating on Mac or PC. Ive always owned PC but I am not against buying a Mac and trying new things . Im in Canada and ive been looking on Best Buy and other sites online and it seems like a PC Laptop is with the specs id want is gonna be around $1000 - $1200. I was told Id want atleast 8gb of Ram, a Intel i5 or i7 processor and a SSD Hard drive. Its hard to find all those specs in one. Usually the laptops that have solid state drive seem to only have 4gb of ram and vise versa. I was also told to get a good gaming laptop which again is gonna be around the $1200 - $1500 range and I dont see why I need the dedicated graphics card.
I also looked at macs. I dont know much about Macs. I do have an iPhone though Im looking again around $1500 for a MacBook Pro. The Macbook air is a bit cheaper. Both version I seem to look at come with Intel i5 processor, 4gb, and a SSD.
One thing I like abotu Mac is that it comes pre loaded with alot of software. Theres video editing and Garageband right out of the box. I feel this would save me money and balance out the cost somewhat. Im not rich and when I drop $1500+ for either laptop Im really not gonna have much if any to spend on recording software. My Tascam did come with a free version of Cubase but I assume since Cubase is about $300-$500 alone, my version probably is not very good and would lack alot of key components I may want when I finally do start recording. Im not sure if garage band is a good platform for making music or not. Ive used it on my Ipad and it seems pretty good but im fairly new to this stuff so I really dont know whats good and whats not. If it is a descent program than I think a Mac may be the obvious choice for me because the money id save for not having to buy recording software I can purchase EZdrummer and use that for programming drums, and maybe a guitar effects program. Although I think guitar effects are built into garageband to some degree as well.
Anyway, I hope this post isnt to confusing and that some of you can help me out and steer me into the right direction. I really do understand the whole Mac Vs PC thing and that neither is better. It all comes down to preference. Im all about ease of use here. I dont have much time and what time I do have id like not to be wasting it on troubleshooting
Im debating on Mac or PC. Ive always owned PC but I am not against buying a Mac and trying new things . Im in Canada and ive been looking on Best Buy and other sites online and it seems like a PC Laptop is with the specs id want is gonna be around $1000 - $1200. I was told Id want atleast 8gb of Ram, a Intel i5 or i7 processor and a SSD Hard drive. Its hard to find all those specs in one. Usually the laptops that have solid state drive seem to only have 4gb of ram and vise versa. I was also told to get a good gaming laptop which again is gonna be around the $1200 - $1500 range and I dont see why I need the dedicated graphics card.
I also looked at macs. I dont know much about Macs. I do have an iPhone though Im looking again around $1500 for a MacBook Pro. The Macbook air is a bit cheaper. Both version I seem to look at come with Intel i5 processor, 4gb, and a SSD.
One thing I like abotu Mac is that it comes pre loaded with alot of software. Theres video editing and Garageband right out of the box. I feel this would save me money and balance out the cost somewhat. Im not rich and when I drop $1500+ for either laptop Im really not gonna have much if any to spend on recording software. My Tascam did come with a free version of Cubase but I assume since Cubase is about $300-$500 alone, my version probably is not very good and would lack alot of key components I may want when I finally do start recording. Im not sure if garage band is a good platform for making music or not. Ive used it on my Ipad and it seems pretty good but im fairly new to this stuff so I really dont know whats good and whats not. If it is a descent program than I think a Mac may be the obvious choice for me because the money id save for not having to buy recording software I can purchase EZdrummer and use that for programming drums, and maybe a guitar effects program. Although I think guitar effects are built into garageband to some degree as well.
Anyway, I hope this post isnt to confusing and that some of you can help me out and steer me into the right direction. I really do understand the whole Mac Vs PC thing and that neither is better. It all comes down to preference. Im all about ease of use here. I dont have much time and what time I do have id like not to be wasting it on troubleshooting