Macbook advice needed, not the "pro" version

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Soulgolem

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Well, my pc just died, and I've always felt the need for a laptop, now that the macbook is out, and fits my price range, i'm thinking about it, good opportunity to learn protool while still being able to use Cubase and the occasional Sonar for midi. The "pro" version is too expensive for me though. Would the 2ghz macbook work well for recording ? kinda wished it came with 1gb RAM though...

Francis.
 
you'll do just fine with the "basic" version..it still packs a lot of power! And the upgrade to 1 gig, you can just order it.


And if you decide to go for it...

welcome to the mac club :D
 
Mo-Kay said:
you'll do just fine with the "basic" version..it still packs a lot of power! And the upgrade to 1 gig, you can just order it.


And if you decide to go for it...

welcome to the mac club :D
Click to expand...

Honestly (and I can't believe I'm saying this), I'd just buy the upgrade to a gig from Apple unless you have a use for two 256MB SO-DIMMs in some other machine. You'll have to pull out the factory RAM to upgrade anyway, and it's only about $20 more for Apple to do the upgrade than for the most dirt cheap compatible bargain RAM on PriceWatch. Thus, you might as well spend the extra $20 and save the compatibility worries (and be confident that if the RAM fails, it will be covered under your warranty). :D
 
Bear in mind that none of the software you mention will run on a Macbook at this time. PT is slated for this month and Sonar and Cubase have not announced a date
 
Thanks for the support. Two more questions if you don't mind :

Is it worth it to go for the 2ghz version over the 1.83ghz for this application ?

Also, Dell is selling the Inspiron 6400 in my area, comes with similar features to the mac (same power and 1gb ram) and a bigger screen. and is 50$ less, is it worth considering ? or is mac a better recording route to start with ? I kinda like the smaller screen on the mac as it makes the whole thing a bit smaller, and probably lighter, although a bigger screen is always easier to work with, can I have some input for this ?

Thanks.
 
Soulgolem said:
Thanks for the support. Two more questions if you don't mind :

Is it worth it to go for the 2ghz version over the 1.83ghz for this application ?

Also, Dell is selling the Inspiron 6400 in my area, comes with similar features to the mac (same power and 1gb ram) and a bigger screen. and is 50$ less, is it worth considering ? or is mac a better recording route to start with ? I kinda like the smaller screen on the mac as it makes the whole thing a bit smaller, and probably lighter, although a bigger screen is always easier to work with, can I have some input for this ?
Click to expand...

2GHz vs. 1.8... no idea. I've never done audio on anything with an Intel CPU. My usual thoughts are "Buy the most you can afford so you can keep using it 'til it dies," but maybe that's just me.

As for the comparison, there are a few things in the Mac's favor:

1. With an Intel-based Mac, you can always buy Windows and run it if you decide to use Windows software, while the reverse isn't true.

2. Re: the larger screen... I have a pair of 15" panels. I've never seen the use of buying a bigger single panel. In my experience, the width is what matters more often than the height, and bigger panels add to both. If it were a choice between a 15" standard and a 17" widescreen, the 17" widescreen would be an obvious choice, but since you're comparing two with the same aspect ratio, it's not such an easy call.

My laptop (which I don't use for recording) is a 12". Gives you an idea of what I value in terms of laptop screen size. :D

3. In a quick check, the Dell doesn't quite match feature-for-feature. I calculate $70 less for the Dell after adding most of the feature (Glossy screen: similar to TrueLife™ screen: add $29. 2 DIMM version for better performance with Core Duo: add $50. Intel 802.11 a/b/g card and bluetooth card: add $49.). The Dell has a media slot (if you care). The MacBook has gigabit Ethernet (if you care). That's about as close as I could get.
 
Definitely upgrade to the 1 gig ram and you shouldn't have any problems. As for programs, just make sure they are compatible witht he intel macs.

I got the black macbook with 1 gig of ram, and installed Ableton Live! BEFORE they came out with the universal binary, and it totally sucked! The same with Reason 3.0. As soon as they came out with the patches, both programs worked phenominally. Now all I need is Amplitube for the Mac and I'll be all set.

I don't know how worried you are about screen size, but the macbook screen actually looks a lot bigger than it sounds (only 13"). Its a joy to work with and has caused me no problems
 
If you think you will be able to run Sonar successfully with Boot Camp, you will be in for a big dissapointment.

Several benchmarks on the Internet clearly demonstrate a degradation in HD performance on IntelMacs using Boot Camp and XP.

The loss in performance will be too much for apps which are HD intensive (DAWs, NLEs).
 
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