Used to - Need a laptop... and still not a Mactop...

[H20nly]

wow. awesome replies. thanks everyone.

@ adventurepants great post. your success with Dell is good to hear about. There was a time when I would say Dell without blinking an eye... It would be nice to think they're acting right again. - other than the latency issue capo-wear-i mentioned below which of course affects us in a major way.

Having said that, laptops are another type of pony. Thats why a Macbook is appealing because having confidence enough in that product is fairly easy... if you can afford it. What I mean is hidden costs i.e. software...

aren't most music apps MAC compatible.. i mean besides fruity loops and some random vst plugs..

I looked on my box for Live 7 Suite. It seems like it is cross platform, but I don't know if I'm ready to enter the rabbit hole. I do have more software and don't want to end up disappointed because I lost the use of _______ - whatever _______ is...

if the software is your concern... i don't see the problem companies issuing you a second license for your products as OSX instead of Windows...

nor do i.

I was thinking hard about Toshiba... and I currently am going through one of those build your shit and add more cuz the stock won't do wizards on the HP site....

Is Lennovo what happened to IBM? I always liked the ThinkPad that IBM made... in fact its the only laptop that I ever really enjoyed my experience using. It was the way they set up the mouse pad and buttons. It worked for me. I'll be looking there. plus everything in pip's post is inspiration with Android Bishop & starving student icing the cake.

[H20nly]

I just got a new Asus machine and REALLY like it. Very fast, no latency, under a grand w/ an external firewire soundcard.

When building a PC I pretty much won't buy a motherboard that doesn't say ASUS on it... Tell me more...

[mojofunk]

I managed to snag a used Alienware off of craigslist for 300$! It has the ever important Texas Instruments firewire chipset, which matters if you wish to use firewire interfaces. Even Macs no longer guarantee that TI will be in the box . . . looking at best buy and a few other places, I saw no brand at all that was using TI, so I was pretty psyched when the CL used one had it. With music apps only, stripped down xp sp3, the thing works great and is absolutely stable! Even a slightly off the curve older machine can do a great job, if it is properly set up.

Shopping for music stuff is rather fun, eh?

[capo-wear-i]

wow. awesome replies. thanks everyone.

@ adventurepants great post. your success with Dell is good to hear about. There was a time when I would say Dell without blinking an eye... It would be nice to think they're acting right again. - other than the latency issue capo-wear-i mentioned below which of course affects us in a major way.

Yeah - I wasn't trying to bash Dell in particular, it's just because so many people buy Dell machines assuming that they'll just work for music - then end up on various internet forums shouting the odds. I've heard nightmare stories from other brands (Toshiba, Asus, Sony). The situation seems to change from model to model, so it makes choosing a laptop pretty tough. My HP Business machine is OK, but it's old now - not sure about the new ones. The price would probably put most people off..

My friend has a Lenovo T61 for music production (15.4" - 7200rpm drive - 2.4Ghz C2D) , and it's built like a tank (but ugly!). Well designed (but heavy) Seems to work pretty well with Ableton as well.
I'd definitely be looking in that direction if I needed a replacement laptop.

[starving student]

wow. awesome replies. thanks everyone.

@ adventurepants great post. your success with Dell is good to hear about. There was a time when I would say Dell without blinking an eye... It would be nice to think they're acting right again. - other than the latency issue capo-wear-i mentioned below which of course affects us in a major way.

Yeah - I wasn't trying to bash Dell in particular, it's just because so many people buy Dell machines assuming that they'll just work for music - then end up on various internet forums shouting the odds. I've heard nightmare stories from other brands (Toshiba, Asus, Sony). The situation seems to change from model to model, so it makes choosing a laptop pretty tough. My HP Business machine is OK, but it's old now - not sure about the new ones. The price would probably put most people off..

My friend has a Lenovo T61 for music production (15.4" - 7200rpm drive - 2.4Ghz C2D) , and it's built like a tank (but ugly!). Well designed (but heavy) Seems to work pretty well with Ableton as well.
I'd definitely be looking in that direction if I needed a replacement laptop.

they were kind of ugly a while back but imo they've turned that corner too, now days they have some of the lightest and attractive feature rich notebooks around, lots of options too

[H20nly]

^

Dell or Lenovo?

[Earwax69]

He was talking Lenonvo I think... Dell are doing nice laptop too now. Love the Studio XPS 13 and 16 shape.
http://justplaintech.com/blog/wp-conten ... 3eng11.jpg

As for the design, just stick a big cool sticker with your artist name on the cover, people will see it when you play. Way better than the standard fruit if you ask me.

[kcp]

TBH I wouldn't mind a Mac book, but I'm not replacing all my software to go that route. I don't want one that bad.

What's stopping you from running your Windows software on a Macbook?

[outershpongolia]

The only thing I can think of is those warez cracks that are usually PC only

[H20nly]

TBH I wouldn't mind a Mac book, but I'm not replacing all my software to go that route. I don't want one that bad.

What's stopping you from running your Windows software on a Macbook?

You can even run windows only software in OSX e.g. with Parallels (there are others too)

emulation... yeah
its seems so efficient.
"Oh hold on guys, I'm gonna need you to re-record that after I switch to Windows"

Why would I want a Mac to run Windows?
Why not get an equally spec'ed machine and just run Windows on it and save a bunch of money?

The love child thing is cool, but I'm sure it has its draw backs...

[nebulae]

I absolutely love the Dell Latitude D630 or any D6xx notebook. They are business class workhorses, so they don't cut corners. Everything works. Mine has been running flawlessly for a year. I'd buy another in a heartbeat over other brands. Including Apple.

[nebulae]

emulation... yeah
its seems so efficient.
"Oh hold on guys, I'm gonna need you to re-record that after I switch to Windows"

Why would I want a Mac to run Windows?
Why not get an equally spec'ed machine and just run Windows on it and save a bunch of money?

The love child thing is cool, but I'm sure it has its draw backs...

You are just demonstrating your ignorance and blinkered view there fella.

There is no point discussing it until you actually know what you are talking about e.g. you don't have to switch OS to run a windows only app in OSX.
Read exactly what i said, you have not understood.

At the end of day all i was doing was informing you of stuff you don't know. Its up to you to make the decision but there's no need to be rude to someone trying to help you. It just makes you look like a total kunt.

well, not the mad props I was hoping to see for your 3000th post, but that's cool...give 'em hell Ravey!!

[H20nly]

@ Rave

I didn't think I was being a "total kunt" and I wasn't trying to be rude.

I actually really don't think that it would be that efficient.

Obviously I don't own a Mac, but it seems to me that additional layers of complexity to perform tasks that I'm already performing.. is well... less efficient.

[nebulae]

^ If Rave says you're a total kunt, then you're a total kunt. Not a partial kunt. Not a half-kunt. But a total kunt. Got it?!?!

(But otherwise, I agree with you completely.)

(You fucking kunt.)

[H20nly]

^ okay then...

I just got my T.K. T-shirt order put in. on the back, in small font, below the neckline it says "cuz Rave said so" and there's a diamond.