Notebook XP or Mac?

Kap Zuul · Post by **Kap Zuul** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:59 am

I want to get an new computer this days.
As my Budget is limited I´m not to sure what to buy. I need at least the possibility to play 8 Tracks simultaneously (with effects) and use 2 Tracks as EffectTracks for Vocals or else. (Live 5) Please suggest a machine I should buy.
I´m using an M-Audio FW 410
Thx

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:36 am

well the mac drivers for the fw410 suck, and macs are still relatively expensive compared to pc laptops...
what's your budget?

Kap Zuul · Post by **Kap Zuul** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:42 am

500-600€s

forgie · Post by **forgie** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 4:49 pm

From what I've heard, FW410 drivers suck on all platforms at the moment. For the money, you will nearly always get more raw horsepower on a PC. That's not to say it's money better spent....

If you want to run soft synths for that money, get a PC. An iBook will be in your budget range but will struggle with 8 soft-synths. That said, the new Intel iBooks are said to be released in March. That should put them in the same league as similar priced PC laptops. Note that if you have already bought Live 5, you will have to pay a small upgrade fee to get the 'Universal Binary' that is compiled for the Intel iBook. Then again, the drivers for your FW410 may (I don't know, can someone fill us in here?) not be Universal yet, which means you will have to wait until you use it.

With all that said, for the same price you could probably get a more powerful (and more poorly built) PC laptop. The choice is yours.

Kap Zuul · Post by **Kap Zuul** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 7:07 pm

Yes I bought 5 already. So u say theres no possibility to run a mac and a PC without paying more? Cause I thought about using my Desktop for the main sequencing and the Notebook/ibook for the Stage. And I#m more into using audio Sources (instruments, Voices) and just getting into using MidiSynths live as I updated from 3.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 7:13 pm

if you've only got 600€ to spend I'd get a used centrino/pentium M machine with as much ram as possible - go for a minimum of 1.5ghz, if you can find an affordable unit - but 600€ doesn't buy you a lot of laptop!!!

Kap Zuul · Post by **Kap Zuul** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 7:15 pm

thx machinate - I Know but I need it for an upcoming Gig and its more a one time thing- after that Im going to invest into a "real" Notebook. It should be as stable as possible for this single event.

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 2:37 am

Kap Zuul wrote:thx machinate - I Know but I need it for an upcoming Gig and its more a one time thing- after that Im going to invest into a "real" Notebook. It should be as stable as possible for this single event.

Rent a good laptop if you can then. There are companies that will do that for you.

I'm all for the idea of having a roll your own PC desktop, and a macbook laptop in the end though. This to me is the best of both worlds now that Apple is using Intel chips their laptops should be basically hard to beat in every respect. Generally speaking, Apple laptops are miles above PC equivalents in pure aesthetic value. Plus they useually come with features that while not necessary, make total sense. For instance the powerbook I'm typing this on has backlit keys, which for using Live on stage is just tits!

Hard to beat PC's when it comes to desktops though, for about one third the cost of a mac, you can build a total killing machine! Plus then you get to use all the PC VSTi's that aren't available on mac.