Ableton Forum

I'm selling my robust gaming desktop in favor of a laptop solely for the purpose of word processing (college) and music production (Live 7 only).

I have about $1350 to spend after I sell it. I had an Intel e6600 2.4 Core 2 Duo and 2GB of 800mhz Ram in my desktop.

This laptop (I'm looking into Dells since they are overall cheaper than Macs and I'm used to Windows) would have 2-3 GB of 667mhz ram, and an intel core 2 duo at 2.2ghz

Would I see a significant decrease in performance when compared to my desktop?

I don't usually have a lot of tracks... just like 10 or so, mainly audio from mics (recording a band).

Compared to the desktop it seems you're unlikely to see a decrease in performance, not a noticeable one anyway.

With the track counts you're talking about, I doubt you'd see any difference. Feel free to check this thread for hard numbers though:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... erformance

^ i agree. but don't cuss us if it is worse. blame dell

Well, what I want is a Mac. I've never used one, but that's all I see are Macs on stage. They look so neat. But they cost more for worse specs compared to a Dell machine... so it's a toss-up: get a cool-looking Mac, or a better-performance (hopefully) Mac?

EDIT: What if instead of buying a a 2.2 GHz Dell, I got a 2.0 GHz Mac? Big performance difference? Or what if I got 2gb or 1gb of ram instead of 3?

nobody here seems to like the current range of mac books/pro. my music mac is an older mbp, and i love it, but i like this latest model macbook, too, just haven't done any serious audio work with it. o keep a copy of live lite on it, for checking features while on line, and if i'm out and about, and need to do something quicklike. i'm sure they will tell you to wait if you go the mac route... that seems to be a fairly common sentiment. so maybe you sould get the dell, as apple decided to release a couple of years worth of good laptops, now, not so much. apparently the mac book air is their portable focus now

I'd hate to think that you got a mac because "they look cool on stage". Get a mac because it's right for you. If you get a quality Dell, it'll stand by you just as well as a mac. My two cents are that if you know windows, and you can get a cheaper faster dell, then stick with dell. If you like what OSX does for you, then go get a mac.

As for track count and performance, no, you shouldn't notice a big difference, but get the 7200 rpm drive so that you don't get any hickups with multi-channel audio recording.

Definitely. Thanks chaps. Dell it is. And I was planning on the 7200rpm drive anyway, and 3GB of RAM. I guess that's my LAST question:

Is there a big difference (music production-wise) between 2 and 3 GB of 667mhz ram? I think I know a lot about computers, but only when it comes to gaming. 2-3 GB in gaming could be a huge diff in performance, but in music, I don't know.

thanks a lot for all of your help.

I've been at 2gb of Ram for a year and no real issues. If you use a lot of samples, then 3gb will make a difference by offloading samples from disk streaming, which will help in reducing hickups for critical recording. If you can afford it, then do it. However, 3gb is a lot of ram. Another consideration is that in about 2 years, Vista will likely be fixed, so 3gb will future proof you for a reasonably fixed vista OS. So my recommendation is to get it. However, if you want to cut a corner for money, 2gb is plenty of ram for XP and music production.

As for the mac v. dell thing, really, get what you're most comfortable with. Don't let anyone sway you, especially a PC-lover like me. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm biased and opinionated. Good luck.

Seems to be working for me.

I have 2.2 macbook pro stuffed with 3 gb ram, therefore I have all my samplers / audio tracks in RAM mode. I've never seen Live occupying more than ~500mb in my ram.

Don't know how well memory management works in XP and VISTA...

well, from every report I've read, Vista's memory management is buggy. I'd stick with XP.

The money you save with a Dell you will spend in aspirin for your headaches. Get a Macbook, it is less than $1350!

dysanfel wrote:The money you save with a Dell you will spend in headaches. Get a Macbook, it is less than $1350!

Santa Rosa CPUs aren't any headache at all.

/end sarcasm

nebulae wrote:

dysanfel wrote:The money you save with a Dell you will spend in headaches. Get a Macbook, it is less than $1350!

Santa Rosa CPUs aren't any headache at all.

/end sarcasm

Good luck with the Dell!