Laptop Users...

ebon · Post by **ebon** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 2:27 pm

I'm about to buy a new laptop, that I will be using exclusively with Reason 2.5 and Ableton 2. I want to know what you all have and what works the best?

I don't have a ton of money at the moment, but obviously want something that will be a work horse and run Ableton flawlessly...

any reccomendations?

The Hulk · Post by **The Hulk** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 3:12 pm

you know you're about to start another mac vs. pc debate right? I could tell you to get a Tibook because I think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, but for every mac vote, you're going to get 10 pc votes on this forum.

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 4:08 pm

Hulk - I agree that a Mac will give a better computer, err, 'experience' and be a better investment, as a top of the range G4 will not be obsolete for a long time. It looks better, too.

HOWEVER, in this case, I'd advise ebon to get a PC laptop of a sort. Reason doesn't really care what computer it runs on, it's just a rock solid and processor efficient app. Live, however, seems to prefer PCs. End of.

-Paws

The Hulk · Post by **The Hulk** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 5:00 pm

I haven't run into any issues except CPU shortages when using too many effects running Live on OS X. And I'm pretty careful how I use my sends, and my Reason, Live combination runs beautifully!

quandry · Post by **quandry** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 6:30 pm

ebon wrote:I'm about to buy a new laptop, that I will be using exclusively with Reason 2.5 and Ableton 2. I want to know what you all have and what works the best?

I don't have a ton of money at the moment, but obviously want something that will be a work horse and run Ableton flawlessly...

any reccomendations?

PCs preform substantially better with Live--you can have like twice or more the amount of tracks and effects on a pc laptop than you can on the nicest mac laptop--even the mac guys can't deny that currently pc's have greater track and effect counts than macs. So pcs perform with Live better (and I use Live and reason together all the time on my toshiba laptop 2430 P4 2.4 g, 1 gig RAM) and reason probably about the same. I've had no problems gigging out a lot, so as far as I'm concerned it runs flawlessly. we're up to two out of three. Now to the price--once again the pc wins hands down, for $1500 or maybe a bit more you can get a smoking hot pc: I think toshiba and sony are the best overall price/performance/quality buys, with gateway then dell coming in next. Given you care about price,having a "work horse", and which "works the best" looks like a pc is for you. Less money, better performance in terms of higher effect and track counts, looks like its a pc.

connie chung · Post by **connie chung** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 7:09 pm

I think the hulks laptop is the best for running reason and Live hands down
his laptop runs way more tracks and efx than any other mac laptop and all
the pc laptops put together, in addition to that it scrambles eggs and makes toast you can't beat that, I'd make him an offer right away if I were
you as his laptop is a limitied edition. they only made one, but if the hulks price is too high for you then you should get the next best thing. A PC

ebon · Post by **ebon** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 9:17 pm

Hulk ~ Do you build laptops?

Thanks everyone for such great advice... I should pull money together soon...

on another note... how exactly does everyone use LIVE & REASON together??? If possible, be explicit...

The Hulk · Post by **The Hulk** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 10:14 pm

I do appreciate Ms. Chung's sarcasm. But I've been a user of both macs and pcs for many years, and I've never been more comfortable than working on OS X (although I'd take PC over OS 9).

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 11:03 pm

Get a Mac so that you can piss off the Windows trolls here. They deserve the aggravation.

trietnam · Post by **trietnam** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 11:58 pm

ebon wrote:Hulk ~ Do you build laptops?

Thanks everyone for such great advice... I should pull money together soon...

on another note... how exactly does everyone use LIVE & REASON together??? If possible, be explicit...

Hi there,

You can use Live and Reason together via the Rewire technology. Some users seem to be recording Reason's outputs into Live., too. Ignore the uppity platform pundits...get whatever tool that suits you the best. It's merely a pissing match between little nerdy boys.

And there's a truckload of dorks on this forum.

Kidding aside, you find that currently PCs will have higher track counts and lower CPU usage than Mac portables. That's just a fact. But the Mac does have many advantages (great OS in X), so don't discount those machines either. If you're platform ambidextrous, why not get both?

BTW for what it's worth, I'm using Live on a Thinkpad r40, Motu 828 audio interface and it's solid.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 12:18 am

If you want to use Reason with Live using Rewire that's another point in favour of PC. Rewire in Live on OSX doesn't work. Having software/hardware that does what you need to do NOW should be pretty high up on the list imo regardless of platform.

guest · Post by **guest** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 12:28 am

rewiring live and reason work just great in osx. It is logic and cubase that doesn't rewire to live.

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 1:30 pm

Anonymous wrote:If you want to use Reason with Live using Rewire that's another point in favour of PC. Rewire in Live on OSX doesn't work. Having software/hardware that does what you need to do NOW should be pretty high up on the list imo regardless of platform.

Not true. I (and many others) use Live & Reason rewired together every day with no problems.

nosuch · Post by **nosuch** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 1:53 pm

I second this!

by the way, i just tried it on my office pc (win 2000) yesterday and rewire did not work. no reason as input source in the dropdown menues. can anyone give me a hand?

I don't know for pcs - but on my TiBook I can use the internal soundcard just fine if I want to - no more latency than with an external interface (6 ms). that may be an advantage as you don't always have to carry an external box. If you want to use a piano-sample or something in reason you can't go above 6 ms.

stew · Post by **stew** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 2:53 pm

ebon -

don't let yourself be dragged in a religous Mac vs PC fight. I have both a Mac and a PC notebook and guess what - I don't hear any difference when making music. After all, it's the music what counts and operating systems all sound the same.

I'd recommend using the OS you're familiar with now, if you have a Mac, get a Powerbook or an iBook, if you're using Windows get a decent PC notebook. My general advice on notebooks would be

a) Screw MHz. Any computer you can buy today is freaking fast. Save a few bucks and get the one with 100MHz less and spend the money you saved on software or a sound card
b) Never buy a notebook you haven't seen in reality. Not only do you want to know how good the screen is, you also want to know if the keyboard is comfortable, if the fan is loud or if the overall quality is right.
c) Decide what you will be using it for: If you're on the road a lot, get a lightweight notebook with long battery life - e.g. a Pentium M powered computer or an iBook. If you're using it to replace a desktop computer, better take a larger notebook with a really good screen.
d) If you're using it on stage, get something stable. Live performances are unpredictable, you can't completely prevent spilling some beer or a tilting table. IME, Apple's iBooks can take a lot, and IBM Thinkpads appear to be very stable too.
e) Don't go without FireWire.
f) When checking out the notebook, take a headphone with you and listen if you hear background noises.
g) PCMCIA slots are cool if you want to use some higher-end soundcards.
h) For music usage, the graphics card doesn't mean anything. Don't let someone sell you a more expensive notebook just because it has a better graphics card.
i) You want expandability. Try to get one where it's easy and cheap to upgrade RAM and hard drive.
j) Never buy RAM at Apple.
k) Take into account that there's more costs involved than just the notebook. You'll want a notebook bag too, maybe another battery or an extra power supply and a mouse.
l) Have fun.

Laptop Users...

Laptop Users...

Re: Laptop Users...

rewire works in osx