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10K views 84 replies 14 participants last post by  tobe 
#1 ·
s it possible to get a Laptop that is aimed at musicians???

It would be really handy if my next Laptop had all the connections i need to go into a Mixer. Most Laptops only seem to have a small headphones output now which is not very handy for musicians.

Just a set of din plug stereo outs would be nice
 
#50 ·
MacBook really has a sh#tty display compared to MBP. Compared to other $1K laptops out there, though, it's pretty decent. :)

Also, I've checked the audio on my MBP and it says it can record at up to 24bit/96KHz. I think MacBook has the same audio chip.

Also, an interesting tidbit - Macs (under Mac OS X) have _separate_ volume controls for internal speakers and headphones. So if your speakers are muted, you can plug in headphones and when you unplug the headphones speakers will remain muted. Or if your laptop speakers are cranked, plugging in headphones won't destroy your eardrums.
 
#51 ·
To go back to the original thread topic, while the Mac Laptops are not specifically aimed only at musicians, Apple have really tried to make them as user friendly as possible in the musical environment. I can appreciate that people who love tinkering with PCs might find them a bit pedestrian, but for someone who wants a box that you just plug in and switch on, they are perfect.
 
#54 ·
10 minutes probably includes unpacking and entering registration info (which Mac OS X presents on the first boot). Macs boot faster than Windows these days.

You never actually shut a Mac down. Sleep mode works so well - there's no need to shut it down. It takes 4-5 seconds for it to "fall asleep" and 1.5-2 seconds to "wake up". And if your battery dies while it's asleep, your data is still not lost - it'll just boot up and all your apps will be there, running and with your data intact. Obviously, all of this is only true if you run Mac OS X.
 
#57 ·
Back to the original topic.

Depending on what you want to do recording wise a mac might even be overkill. If you just want to do some basic midi, few audio track demos a PC might be just for you with some basic software. If you like the convenience of having softeware pre installed (garagband-which is an okay entry program) built in digital ins and outs (some models) and built in Firewire (yeah!) and not having to upgrade your soundcard go with a MAC. Some programs I'd recommend are Pro tools, Digital Performer, a but more user friendly and all PT plug ins will work, and Logic. If you are planning on doing more "serious" recordings I would suggest either a firewire or USB interface, there are many to choose from, each with there own pros and cons, any where from 199 to thousands of dollars...Things to consider are what sample and bit rates do you want to record at, how many analog ins/outs, balanced unbalanced TRS or XLR, SPDIF inputs, etc....many choices! Good luck to you!
 
#66 ·
i have to do a video promo for my church. my sister is doing the videoing, i'm doing the production and sound. she just got Final Cut, and it has a ton of music production stuff on it. like i could create music with it. so that's what i'm going to be doing. we're gonna get paid big bux for this!!! well, the video has to be good, 6,000 are gonna see it at once
 
#69 ·
these types of comments are unnecessary.

mac isn't great obviously but even if it were protools would still want to market to 95% of the rest of PC users worldwide.

this is why iTunes runs on Windows also ROTFLMAO.

But really, don't we all know Apple should just abandon Mac hardware and stick to ipods, mobile & Windows software :lol: ...glen
 
#71 ·
Pro Tools is coming out on Vista to cater to the 95% of computer users out there on PCs. More money for them (do the math).

And Garageband isn't horrible, it's great for getting ideas down quickly. For all my pro stuff, I use Logic Express (I'm on a budget here).

iTunes runs on Windows because it did so well on Apple's hardware and was incredibly popular among macs, so they did iTunes for Windows too, that's why the 4th Gen iPods said "Mac and Windows".

People have stated Apple should just abandon hardware (everyone's read Jon Stewart's "America the book: A guide to Democracy Inaction", right?), but if some people are so gung-ho on PC World, they rated Mac hardware number one. Yes, PC World rated a Mac first in hardware.

And I have had extensive hands-on experience with both, I know what I'm doing here. In fact, a year and a half ago, I had nothing against Windows (still don't, XP-wise at least) and was not a Mac user. Now, after doing extensive testing on both, and having beaten the crap out of them (internally- I run my machines to the ground), the Mac has come out king (for me), so I know what I'm doing here.
 
#73 ·
Shucks, I gotta admit, with my new MacBookPro due in about a week I am almost more looking forward to tooling around with Garageband than the Digi003 that's coming with it!

I AM biased, not afraid to admit it - I use a state of the art Dell Workstation here at work for both CAD and increasingly Photoshop for graphic presentation - one evening, at about three in the morning, after watching Photoshop crash on the Dell for about the twenty fifth time (I was colouring up drawings for an external client meeting the next day) I finally cracked, ripped the mouse out of the machine, stamped it into tiny fragments and mailed them to our IT guys. Went home, picked up my seven year old G4 Mac, took it to work and did all the Photoshop work on the Mac, which of course performed flawlessly.

At least in my case, the Cult of Mac survives for very good reasons!

Digidesign will release ProTools for Vista, as a few people have said, because they would be mad to shut out the 95% or so of people who use Windows boxes, and I totally agree with them! Same as Apple releasing iTunes for Windows - they would be stark raving bonkers not to, not to mention not acting in the best interests of their shareholders - I think it would be pretty cool of Apple to actually ship their new machines with both MacOSX and Vista, but somehow or other, I can't see that happening!
 
#76 ·
stanford or not that is not good reading comprehension ;)

gotta love the "it's dell's fault" and "apple #1 hardware". if apple actually sold numbers worth reporting and got an actualy diverse customer base their problems would be insurmountable and make dell look fantastic in regards to support and all. as it stands noone really cares (5% is 5% not even worth writing spyware for).

http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/04/18/apple.share.grows.by.30/

Q1 dell sold almost more PCs in a day than Apple did in week (5.5x more units). maybe you got a lemon, maybe it was user error, maybe you bought the wrong PC or maybe a mix of all ingredients...glen

ps - of course you had no probs on Mac, you can't run most software (and no games).
 
#77 ·
stanford or not that is not good reading comprehension ;)

gotta love the "it's dell's fault" and "apple #1 hardware". if apple actually sold numbers worth reporting and got an actualy diverse customer base their problems would be insurmountable and make dell look fantastic in regards to support and all. as it stands noone really cares (5% is 5% not even worth writing spyware for).
Well Glen , I did point out that I am biased; for my own personal use, I have always used Macs, for the various companies I have worked for, it's always PCs, DECs, Compaqs and more recently Dell PCs - I really can't understand why a Dell Workstation with a gig of RAM in it can't run Photoshop 7 properly, and I'm not going to get into a PC vs Mac slagging match (even though they are always fun!), but I will give you another personal experience with Dell.

When our office first migrated from AutoCad to ArchiCad, we had to upgrade our high end workstations, and the server they run from - we got four fully optioned up, top of the line Dell Workstations, and an absolutely kickass server to run the network.

Straight out of the box, the server did not work, wouldn't even switch on, one of the workstations likewise, dead on arrival, of the remaining three machines, on the very first day they were used, when it's operator finished for the day, it went into sleep mode.... and never woke up - nothing we could do could revive it! So, three duds out of five machines - not a good batting average.

Of course my wife's MacBook had to have its motherboard replaced shortly after she bought it, so maybe Macs are just as bad!

Macs are extremely prevalent in the design/creative industries, where their percentage market share is much higher than Macs average market share, so maybe Adobe do put more effort into their Mac Software than Windows, dunno. And I totally agree that there is more PC software than Mac, but, really, would you want to use any of it?????? I'm not a gamer by the way - maybe if I was I'd have a different view ;^)
 
#78 ·
adobe apps are pretty much all littered with legacy mac code. even new stuff like Lightroom is essentially written for Mac then ported to windows. bad bunch of coders there (the anti-google if you will).

to corporate, it's not worth the rewrite as you can just blame MS/Windows and get away with it. :lol:

but lets get real... ALL COMPUTERS & systems are a PITA to some degree :) ...glen

ps - i bought a dell refurb that didn't even boot windows. phoning tech was a time waster so inserting the system restore CD and letting it reinstall did the trick. ran great since. i can't blame dell or intel or microsoft.... just an incompetent worker that day who didn't boot it before shipping it. of course if i were a mac zombie i'd buy a domain like "macsnevercbecomefubar.com and spam with world ;)
 
#82 ·
LOL. once you reboot to windows you defeated your own purpose being a mac owner. if you're talkin' parallels that is even sillier

here's a brilliant idea...

1. overpay 40% for a Mac in the first place

2. buy new Windows XP/Vista license for $200

2a. optionally pay $79 for parallels and be frustrated to no end.

3. install Windows and gobble up 20Gb space from the Mac

4. be super special and boot to either Windows or Mac

;) ...glen
 
#83 ·
Glen,

have you ever used parallels or boot camp? I use both of them on a daily basis, and PCs on a daily basis. I have YET to have any issues with either parallels or boot camp. I stated the pros and cons of both in an above post :wink: I have no problem with any ones preference, as I said before who cares, but is seems like you have the PC zombie disease...lol
Take care
 
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