Ableton Forum

hi.... ive been using a g3 ibook, os9, for music making for the last few years. ive been well happy with it but recently ive been considering upgrading to a g4 powerbook. i use live almost exlusively, in combination with logic, peak etc. but id like to get to grips with the likes of reaktor (better with a g4 i believe) in conjunction with live.
so....what do you know about the new alu powerbooks? ive seen some negative reports on this forum so id like to know peoples experiences using them with live, especially plus panther.
any comments would be much apreciated. thanks!

I've been using an 867 AluBook G4, 640 MB ram, 10.3.3. It's a great little machine, the fan runs a bit much for my tastes, but battery life is great and three thumbs up.

I just recently switched to a 1.25 GHz G4 AluBook, 512 MB ram, 10.3.3 (refurbs through the apple store, when available, have been $1999). Wow! Much smoother overall when compared to the 12" 867.

Might not be the fastest laptop, but I'm very excited and glad I jumped up. Don't expect it to run like a desktop, but I can guarantee that once you get used to the OS X gui (which isn't instantly snappy like OS 9 was) it's a fantastic tool and work environment.

Hope that helps,
Logicat

I also have a refurb 1.25ghz, 1gig ram, 15" powerbook. I love it. I am running Live, with Bidule running some vsti's (usualy a synth and a sampler/drum machine of some sort) controled by a Korg microKontrol. I also have my baritone guitar going through the line-in to loop little parts in live. all of that and it runs just fine. I want to get a firewire 410 (or another firewire I/O) to run the baritone through soon.
go for the refurbished powerbook. It's a good deal with the same everything.

map~map

I am also using a al 1.25 15" powerbook. I'd like to mention that if you are a student you can get them for a couple of hundred dollars less. I paid $1999.00 before taxes.

I think a lot of the complaints were from people who got the early generation al powerbooks. One of the ram slots in my unit is defective so I am only running with 256 megs of ram, as opposed to the 512 it is supposed to ship with. I got it in January and didn't even notice it untill almost a month later. as soon as the semester is over I am sending it out for repair. But other then that I have no complaints whatsoever and even on 256 megs of ram I am extremely happy with my powerbook.

thanks for the replies. i was hoping id hear something positive about the alu powerbooks as id heard so many negative points when theyre compared to the tibooks. thanks again!

I´m thinking of buying a 12" powerbook, but I have doubts about its tiny screen. Would it be "big" enough to use it with Live?

Sure it would, if you make it. I think it depends on wether or not you'd be comfortable working on a 12" screen. On my 15" powerbook I can fit the master, two sends and 10 tracks with the file browser open, 13 tracks with the file browser closed. I would imagine the 12" would probably fit like 7 or 8 tracks with the browser open and 9 or 10 with it closed.

Also, I just got my powerbook in January, four months ago, and it was the high end 15" powerbook at 1.25 ghz, now the low end powerbooks are clocking in at 1.33 ghz! Damn! F@@king technology man, I think they need to stop making new products, atleast for a year after I buy something!

Whoops, forgot to log in.

Thanks!

Anyone know how the Alu Books compare to TiBooks? There was some talk of some of them being slower than old Ti!

Would be prepared to do a test on my Ti, and of course this ? refers to audio use (logic, live)

I got a 867mhz TiBook and my wife got the 17" 1 Ghz. I have never do a comparison in operating audio apps as I assume shouldn't be too big of a difference. I could do some test sometime. But one thing always bother me about the Aluminum is the heat on the surface. I use my Tibook almost everyday for 10-15 hours. The surface is actually quite cool. I can comfortably resting my palms on the laptop for hours and hours. The only time the surface will get warm is playing a DVD so the right side will get slightly warmer. But the Aluminum is like resting your palms on a warm stovetop even just after startuping shortly. I cannot believe how hot it can get! It is annoying for me in extensive usage. I am planning to upgrade to a faster laptop (867mhz choke sometime with a few plugs). Because of the heat reason, I have absolutely no desire in getting the latest and greatest G4 powerbook. After 13 years being a Mac hardcore fan (between me and my wife, we got 6 mac from G5 dual to G3 B/W), I decided it's time to get a Sony Vaio Z1 (hey, it still fit my fashion statement!!!javascript:emoticon('').

Hope this would help from a practical point of view.

I'm running Live 3 on a 12" alu powerbook, with 1ghz, 512k ram, terratec phase 26, and an external lacie 7200rpm hardrive. very pleased with the results. i use it live for theatre work, and it's a rock solid setup. Panther works smoothly and effortlessly for this type of work.

Screensize is fine, if you're prepared to setup your workspace properly, using function keys and the browser window etc. You can always add an another monitor by way of the port on the powerbook. I was used to a 14" screen before, and the 12" is fine. Its also REALLY portable, and it goes everywhere with me, so i can work whenever it suits.

Recommended!

ACR

i have an 867 12". it's decent. RAM is a big help. only thing i don't like is 12 days after i bought it they dropped the price by $200 and now the iBook is more powerful, which also costs $700 less. at this point i would go for a 12" iBook. so damn cheap. anyway, i give up on laptops for music.