Macbook Pros / PC Laptops

[dirigibles8]

Hey, I'm buying a laptop with the intention of running Ableton Live 8 with some controllers: I pretty much just want someone to say "buy this kind of computer...." but, here are some specific questions
1. will Ableton Live 8, being 32 bit, still run properly on a 64 bit machine?
2. my budget is about $1500, are there any particular computer specs I should be looking at for that price?
3. is it really worth saving for a Macbook Pro?
Thanks!

[bosonHavoc]

i'll take a crack

1) yes
2) i'd say get at least 2 gigs of ram.. ram make me happy
3) yes and no.. i love macs but i also use pc's
if you only have to wait till next pay check
i'd consider waiting for a mac (check the refurbished)
if you have to wait a while just get a pc

one thing i do suggest is plan your audio interface
and verify that it will work with the machine your going to buy.
also if you go the PC route i'm sure some people here will recommended
a good PC lappy to buy... (ignore the mac fan boys )

edit.. by the way we use a mac book pro onstage but i use a pc at home

[DJHiKe]

I say go with a PC. To get into more specifics get a Intel I5 I would say I7 but right now its way over prices and not worth the money. Plus I5 is plenty to do what you wish. Most good laptops will come with 4 gigs of ram and if you have a nice budget like that I would def. suggest going with 4 gigs of ram. Keep an eye on your hard drive I know most come with 5400RPM hard drives but maybe you'll find a 7200 one. Hard drive speed/rate min of 5400, I5 Intel quad core processor, 4 gigs of ram and you will have one beast of a machine. $1500 is a nice budget point I would stick to those specs. Also no matter what you are going to need an external audio card. So leave about 100-200 for that in mind. Hope that helps.

[Tarekith]

Get a MacBook Pro off the Apple refurb site. Basically brand new laptops with full warranty for hundreds less sometimes.

[magic_joel]

not to hijack, but I too am looking for a Windows based laptop for performing live with, although with a smaller budget and have been looking at the Lenevo L series thinkpads and the Dell XPS 15's, although It'd be good to hear what people thought about those around here, both of those have i3 / i5 processors and the possibility of 7200rpm hard drives, and i've heard good things about lenevo thinkpads from around here in the past, but wanted to make sure that was still the case!

[reeloy]

....what about interface and controler....?

Go for the best you can do and get, as said before, a small mac pro refurbished.....these have the aluminium body which is best choice for rugged stage use....
Give it an ssd drive, a small akai controler and somehing like a presonus interface....

Should not be much more than your 1500 dollars you have....
And yeah, worst case is, you wait a few weeks to get the missing money....but then you have the best solution running....

[DJHiKe]

As far as controller not sure what your budget is? I got my hands on a APC 40 and this baby has limitless possibilities. You get 8 channels, cross fader, and a top of trigger buttons and knobs to satisfy every need. As far as audio interface I heard many good things about Native Instruments Audio 2 DJ and am looking into the Numark. I haven't bought one yet as I am still trying to perfect my warping skills

[AceLuby]

I went through this about a year and a half ago and settled on something similar to this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=4965

- Intel Core i5 430M 2.26GHz processor and 4GB of DDR3 memory
- NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M graphics with 1GB of DDR5 VRAM
- 16-inch widescreen display
- HDMI, USB 2.0, FireWire and eSATA connections
- Wireless 802.11b/g/n
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit operating system

I also use this firewire interface:

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=701364

You can get both for under $1000 and then use the extra $500 to get a few other toys.