Laptop opinion

[trak660]

its not glitchy if u know how to use it. thats it

totally!

Plus, there are a million more software options!

I'm switching to a notebook soon. I'd like to get a new Lenovo ThinkPad with as much processor speed and ram as I can afford.

What about Windows Vista? Will it run XP music apps?
It will be out by the time I'm ready to shop.

[ri]

Dell inspiron 6400 has been rated best value for money for a while, and I've not heard anyone with problems running music production software, or any live crashes.

But yeah, just make sure that there's at least a couple of people happy with the EXACT computer you're buying who are doing similar things to you (ie. any hardware or warz).
Also no matter what you see, the actual performance of Laptops, even with similar shop specs, will be different. People got into a headspaec in the '90s that build quality wasn't so important with computers, and to some extent that was true, but now we're pushing the limits of size and heat in laptops, you do want something that's using good parts and put together well.

As for the apple vs windows debate...
You will/should have to streamline your operating system at some point, no matter what. There are forums to ask, and I'm sure if you ask nicely people will show you how to do it. This helps free resources for music. Conflicts, or slow speeds can result if you've not done this. So doesn't matter what platform you choose. However saying that, I know that Mac OS is a lot more music friendly for the majority of major studios and project studios I've come across. It's just a lot more forgiving. That's opinion, but you'll see that opinion quite a lot.

Mac packs a punch and is stable. The other thing is the material the make the units in is specially designed to be knocked around with state of the art absorbant material, and from what I've seen it seems a LOT more durable if you're on the move or touring.

I'd just go with something safe and reliable, even if you're getting a 5% drop in speed or whatever, because you won't give a DAMN about how fast your computer is if it won't start!

But the main thing I'd recomend is if you're going to get a laptop, either use it for music solely, or make sure you've got some tight security and partitions. It's just NOT worth having the whole thing crash. Mac will be more stable if you're using it to browse the web. Use Mac OS for your business/personal applications and tasks, and boot up Windows for music. Will run nice and fast.

[::BLM::]

what about for final scratch purposes. Do you think a mac along the lines as 'Apple PowerBook G4 15.2" / 1.25Ghz / 512MB / 80GB' would be enough to run traktor etc.. ??

[peter f spiess]

Do you think a mac along the lines as 'Apple PowerBook G4 15.2" / 1.25Ghz / 512MB / 80GB' would be enough to run traktor etc.. ??

I'd say so yes. But you should definitely think about upgrading the mem to more than a 1gb. I'm using a 1.33Ghz PB with 1,2 GB of ram and it runs almost anything I could dream of in live situations. (I'm using ableton live and a bunch of cpu hungry plugins like reaktor (in plugin mode) for example and it runs smooth, but I have no experience with traktor yet)
I think that a state of the art windows notebook or one of the intel macs might offer a lot more power for your workflow...
But I never wasted a thought on trading in my PB for a win-notebook, I really got used to it ;-).

[theclockstrucktwelve]

its not glitchy if u know how to use it. thats it

That is BULLSHIT.

Why should someone "know how to use it?"
You shouldn't have to do anything special to use a computer. Computers are just meant to work. Microsoft and PCs have never worked properly. Not once in history since the introduction of windows, and ESPECIALLY when it comes to anything involving media (sound/music and video).


This is a one sided debate. On one hand you have PC owners who are angry and defensive because they spent thousands of dollars for a crappy computer that doesn't work. They will tell you that you are ignorant and that all the shitty computers aren't shitty... that you just "don't know what you're doing".

On the other hand you have people who bought a good computer. One that just works. And they spend all the time they would have spent getting angry at crashing computers finishing tracks in the studio instead. Almost all professionals use a mac and it isn't anything to do with it being "pretty." If you're going to spend money at all, do not be a moron and throw money down the toilet. Because that's what you'll end up doing with your computer if you buy a pc.


Also along the same lines... if you ever play live..... NEVER bring a pc on stage. That's screaming potential embarassment... imagine you've been playing for 20 minutes and BAM, your computer perminately stops working.

[Red Kite]

OK, didn't wanna make a new thread for this so I just take this one:

I seriously need a new computer (you wouldn't wanna know what I make my music on at the moment). I want to get a pc laptop for music production and live performance, but priority is on producing. It needs to run ableton as well as reason rewired and some vst plug-ins smoothly, of course.

I'm actually a bit, ehm, computer-dyslexic or whatever. Anyway, I have no idea what's best to get and what I should pay attention to. All in all I have about 1500€ to spent. I want to get the most out of it and it should last a while.

Any recommendartions ans experiences? You can't get too much into detail! Sorry for keeping you busy with stupid n00b questions but that's what this forum's made for, right?

Oh btw, Microsoft bashing on principle wouldn't be much help...

[svenlito]

its not glitchy if u know how to use it. thats it

That is BULLSHIT.

Why should someone "know how to use it?"
You shouldn't have to do anything special to use a computer. Computers are just meant to work. Microsoft and PCs have never worked properly. Not once in history since the introduction of windows, and ESPECIALLY when it comes to anything involving media (sound/music and video).


This is a one sided debate. On one hand you have PC owners who are angry and defensive because they spent thousands of dollars for a crappy computer that doesn't work. They will tell you that you are ignorant and that all the shitty computers aren't shitty... that you just "don't know what you're doing".

On the other hand you have people who bought a good computer. One that just works. And they spend all the time they would have spent getting angry at crashing computers finishing tracks in the studio instead. Almost all professionals use a mac and it isn't anything to do with it being "pretty." If you're going to spend money at all, do not be a moron and throw money down the toilet. Because that's what you'll end up doing with your computer if you buy a pc.


Also along the same lines... if you ever play live..... NEVER bring a pc on stage. That's screaming potential embarassment... imagine you've been playing for 20 minutes and BAM, your computer perminately stops working.

I totally agree with that!!
200 %

period

[olivia_arthur]

i have am IBM Lenovo machine too, a t42 ...
i love it!
i use serato as well make tracks on it . i really could go on for days about how rad these lappys are.
i got mine on ebay cheap too.