Ableton Forum

I've got both.

Judging by the criteria you've set yourself I'd recommend the iMac.You don't state that running on battery power is crucial to you and that, to me at least, is the major advantage of my Blackbook.

The iMac is an awesome/way underrated computer for audio.You can use it standalone using the built in speakers for arranging/programming.I move mine around the house when I need a change of scenery without having to move my monitoring system.It may not be as portable as a laptop but it's way more portable than a desktop system.Rather than an iLugger why not try something like this....http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-QUALITY-L ... dZViewItem

Just buy some foam and cut it to suit !

There's a good chance the small Macbook screen will eventually get on your tits.People state how awesome a 17" laptop screen is but not a 17" iMac screen.Strange.

The possibility of using 3gb of RAM over 2gb shouldn't be overlooked and the price of 2gb RAM chips is dropping like a stone.It might be out of your reach at the moment but give it six months and it might be affordable ?

I'm not saying the iMac is a better computer per se but given your list of criteria and priorities I'd recommend it.

Oops.Just checked the Apple store, didn't realise you can't put 3gb of RAM in the cheapest iMac.It's an option if you can afford the next one up.

Well anywhere where I would want to use the iMac would have power points. So the battery isn't important to me.

Basically I can afford about £800. So I may even be able to get the next iMac up from the 1.83ghz, I'll find out soon.

Amberience wrote:

rbmonosylabik wrote:...
So, I'm happy with my USB 2.0 HD

Even though I'm fairly sure I'll go iMac.. do you get an audio drop outs or any issues whatsoever with your USB2 hd?

Haven't had any at all. I have the buffer size set to 148 (or so), and I sometimes get the Live's disk overload light, but so far haven't had any clicks or clips not playing. Disk overload seems to happen less often than with only the internal HD.

Before getting it I was working off the internal HD (75 GB, partitioned for system and files). Live seemed to start choking from the moment you went above 50%. Now it seems to run lighter and I can push it to 60% until it starts to say "no more".

I don't understand how they can say installing a third party HD in a Macbook voids the warranty. It isn't as if Apple actually makes and sells HDs. That salesman had shit in his head if he said that.

it makes perfect sense.

b0unce wrote:it makes perfect sense.

What do you mean? They show you how to change the HD, don't sell any themselves, and then say, oooops you voided the warranty by doing something we told you you could do.

That makes absolute logical sense.

Yep.

If I make computers, I'm not going to fix it if your suck-ass thirdparty HD (which you bought off ebay, lol) fried the motherboard.

which isnt just hypothetical, the poster was considering installing a 7200rpm...even if its well made, its hotter.

really, this isnt rocket science.

b0unce wrote:If I make computers, I'm not going to fix it if your suck-ass thirdparty HD (which you bought off ebay, lol) fried the motherboard.

which isnt just hypothetical, the poster was considering installing a 7200rpm...even if its well made, its hotter.

really, this isnt rocket science.

Well I would fix it, but not for free. Which is the point of having an extended warranty. But if a hard drive voids that extension, there would be no need to buy the extended warranty in the first place.

Moot point anyway as I'm going iMac. I think I might be able to afford the 2.0ghz 17inch iMac now that I know I'm not going to be forking out for an external hard drive.

Amberience wrote: Well I would fix it, but not for free.

well ya, thats essentially what I meant. Warranty void.

so it makes sense to you too. kool.

I'm going to be using Windows XP for a brief period, just until my university show is over.

Would it make sense to have a 160GB hd partitioned:

40GB for WinXP
40GB for MacOSX
80GB for audio files, samples, projects, all the stuff I want to keep.

Both Windows XP and MacOSX can access FAT32, would I lose much performance quality if I used FAT32?

b0unce wrote:If I make computers, I'm not going to fix it if your suck-ass thirdparty HD (which you bought off ebay, lol) fried the motherboard.

which isnt just hypothetical, the poster was considering installing a 7200rpm...even if its well made, its hotter.

really, this isnt rocket science.

Dude,
Get off. I have read the Warranty, and many posts over on the Apple discussion board.

I believe it is as follows: 1) If you do something to screw up your computer while you are putting the drive in, that is your fault and won't be fixed

2) If the drive causes the computer to malfunction, than that will also void the warranty.

3) If something happens to the computer, and it is not the drives fault, I believe that you are still covered for whatever. Probably at that point, better to put the old drive back in.

I still don't think the act of opening your computer and putting in a third-party drive is going to void the warranty, unless you do something to screw up your computer in the process, or the drive screws up the computer in some way.

Further, I wouldn't call a Seagate, or Hitachi a suck-ass third party Hard drive.

So.......

my .02

Amberience wrote:I just called Apple. The guy said that a 3rd party hard drive would invalidate the warranty, and he didn't even say that only if it caused a problem, he said it would invalidate it outright.

who to believe...

b0unce wrote:

Amberience wrote:I just called Apple. The guy said that a 3rd party hard drive would invalidate the warranty, and he didn't even say that only if it caused a problem, he said it would invalidate it outright.

who to believe...

Unless the guy was full of shit. Maybe someone could phone Apple on their continent and ask the same question?

Amberience wrote:

b0unce wrote:

Amberience wrote:I just called Apple. The guy said that a 3rd party hard drive would invalidate the warranty, and he didn't even say that only if it caused a problem, he said it would invalidate it outright.

who to believe...

Unless the guy was full of shit. Maybe someone could phone Apple on their continent and ask the same question?

Replacing the hd in a macbook doesn't void the warranty.

My mate's hd has been replaced (by him) and the machine been back to apple a few times since then for warranty covered repairs (it's a CD macbook, what can i say?).