Laptop vs desktop

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spiveyjoe20

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Im using cubase i have all my equipment except studio monitors.my budget is tight so i can't afford a desktop so i wanted to know is it possible to run a home studio efficiently with a mac laptop instead of a desktop
 
Yes. It depends upon certain variables, however.
And do your best to snag some monitors.
 
I use a laptop and everything runs very smoothly, but then again we have 8GB's of RAM and 2TB worth of storage haha. The only difference between laptops and desktops is size and sometimes some specs. But agreeing with grimtraveller, a bigger monitor will definitely help you a lot, you can get a cheap used one and get a VGA-DVI adapter so that it's compatible with a Mac. But yeah, moniter size and RAM are probably the two things you're gonna wanna look out for, 2GB minimum I'd say.
 
I think GT was talking about monitors = speakers, but having a "f** off" size external screen monitor is also a really good idea with a laptop... very poky on a laptop screen with multiple tracks, mixers, effects buses etc etc. etc.
 
What interface are you using?
Any recording interface would have monitor outs. So Laptop or Desktop shouldn't matter for sound quality. Performance is all about whats inside.

Moneys tight, you say... monitors would be my vote and go with the Laptop.

I see KRK RP5 around $175-$150 at times, lately some interesting passives on CL...but you'd need an amp. I'd go 6" woofers with 100watts or more if you can swing it.
6" just sits nicely between 5" and 8"...for the bass.you can learn any of them overtime.
What kind of money you putting out?
 
Have you looked into the Mac mini's? Portability of a laptop and the power of your standard desktop, and the new ones are very easy to mod, every thing can be easily reached and upgraded. They also come with the new thunderbolt connection, 4 usb drives, firewire, hdmi, ethernet, etc. And they are dead quiet. Only real down side is there is no cd drive on the new ones, which really isn't a big deal to me because i have a separate cd drive I use, and you can pick up the apple outboard drive for $60.
 
It's also worth mentioning that my laptop is 5 years old - I've only ever upgraded the RAM (to 2GB) and Hard Drive.
 
Capt Hair said:
Have you looked into the Mac mini's? Portability of a laptop and the power of your standard desktop, and the new ones are very easy to mod, every thing can be easily reached and upgraded. They also come with the new thunderbolt connection, 4 usb drives, firewire, hdmi, ethernet, etc. And they are dead quiet. Only real down side is there is no cd drive on the new ones, which really isn't a big deal to me because i have a separate cd drive I use, and you can pick up the apple outboard drive for $60.
Click to expand...

Have to say, I bought one for my Dad and I'm very very impressed with it.

When i bought my mbp (i5 2.3ghz) I was very tempted to sell of my desktop and just buy a little docking station for it.

The only thing that stopped me is that i currently use three screens, but it's certainly powerful enough.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Have to say, I bought one for my Dad and I'm very very impressed with it.

When i bought my mbp (i5 2.3ghz) I was very tempted to sell of my desktop and just buy a little docking station for it.

The only thing that stopped me is that i currently use three screens, but it's certainly powerful enough.
Click to expand...

They're awesome little computers for the price.
 
You are thinking of getting a Mac laptop, but saying you can't afford a desktop?... are you kidding? You could get the same specs for half the price if you built it yourself on a desktop.
 
I was given some numark npm5 monitors I'm using the tascam us600 interface because I'm recording live drums along with my Mac laptop.Is this a good setup
 
Being that I'm using an interface do I really need a mixer
 
Are you going to do mobile tracking or something? Why a laptop vs a desktop? Like Geezer says, you can totally deck out a desktop with double or triple the horsepower for the same $$. If you also want a laptop to take to school or some other unrelated purpose, then there's your answer.
 
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