About to spend £1000 - Help me out please - Mac or PC

[yup yup]

2

[MacGuffin]

I'm a PC guy, but if you're going to spend £1000 on a computer you might as well get a Mac. The only reason I got a PC laptop is because I could get something reasonable to perform live sets for $700 (which is something like £350 if I'm not mistaking).

[Piplodocus]

2

[Khazul]

As it is a 2011 MBP - no contest - get the mac.

We already know that live works well on OSX and in particular on these 2011 MBPs. A windows laptop is nearly always a huge risk for audio production even if you can get a faster machine for the money.

[rosti]

If you like to geek around with computers = 1

If you want something that works right out of the box = 2

Your call

[djadonis206]

2

[Ryanmf]

If you like to geek around with computers = 1

If you want something that works right out of the box = 2

Your call

I love to geek around with computers. OS X is Unix.

2.

[Angstrom]

I'm a PC guy mainly, but when considering laptops like this, at that pricepoint - get the mac.
Not because of the OS, but physically it's a solid item and there are other things to consider, like the resale value on those 'puters is much better (than some PC laptop).

[rosti]

If you like to geek around with computers = 1

If you want something that works right out of the box = 2

Your call

I love to geek around with computers. OS X is Unix.

2.

Well.. You can geek around with macs if you want to. But thats my point. You don't have to

[trevox]

The rain machine is the quad core too. At the moment I am scanning the net for places to buy the MBP in the UK.

Presuming the processor is the one in the description (Intel 2620M), it is NOT quad core. And you did ask us to compare specs based on that!

[matthews]

Lenovo

If the OP decides to go PC.....absolutely.

[Ryanmf]

Sort of OT: Anyone have any experience with the Lenovo Ideapad line? I've really only used the Thinkpads (since long before they said "Lenovo" on them), which to this point would be the only PC laptops I'd consider buying (even then, I'd be wiping Windows off that motherfucker as quickly as possible).

Anyway, right now I'm working with an old white MacBook, and my next upgrade will be likely be a Mac Mini, so I was looking into the current range of Thinkpads as a Linux portable for tasks my iPad is poorly suited for, when I came across some interestingly spec'd, generally cheaper Ideapads. Thoughts?

[adam_mc]

Hey, apologies. You're right, Rain machine is not Quad core.

Have spent the weekend looking for MBP for the best price. £1189 refurb on the Apple site. Some second hand on Ebay for around £1000.

All the excitement got me trying to use Live yesterday and turning it off in the end due to the lagging and painfully slow way my machine works with it. Ended up using NI Maschine and doing everything in that which can be a little restricting.

Hopefully MBP will allow me to use both in a heavenly, joyful experience.

[matthews]

Sort of OT: Anyone have any experience with the Lenovo Ideapad line? I've really only used the Thinkpads (since long before they said "Lenovo" on them), which to this point would be the only PC laptops I'd consider buying (even then, I'd be wiping Windows off that motherfucker as quickly as possible).

I'm currently using an Ideapad Y560P. Quadcore i7 Sandybridge 2630QM, 8GB ram, 1GB Radeon 6570 and I swapped the stock drive for a 300GB SSD. Cost around $2100 CDN all in. Couldn't be happier. My only complaint is that it comes with a shitload of Lenovo bloatware on Windows outta the box, so a fresh install is necessary. Other then that, the performance has been incredible.

[Machinesworking]

Hey, apologies. You're right, Rain machine is not Quad core.

Have spent the weekend looking for MBP for the best price. £1189 refurb on the Apple site. Some second hand on Ebay for around £1000.

All the excitement got me trying to use Live yesterday and turning it off in the end due to the lagging and painfully slow way my machine works with it. Ended up using NI Maschine and doing everything in that which can be a little restricting.

Hopefully MBP will allow me to use both in a heavenly, joyful experience.

Go with the refurbished one. I've never had issues with them and it will have a one year warranty, just double check that though, because Apple don't "extend" the warranty of iphones (the original date of purchase is considered the warranty date which is BS), so it's possible their policy has changed in regards to laptops as well.

I used to not be a big fan of Apple Care, but I bought it for my current machine and I've gone through three chargers, a battery, and a logic board. The chargers are around $100, battery around $75 and the Logic board would have been around $1200. Well worth it if you overuse your laptop like I do.