I'm getting ready to upgrade from a B/W G3 350. I would like to run Reason 2.0 and Cubase SX w/ Rewire (OS X). I'm debating between a dual 1.25 Mac and an 876 mhz or 1 gig Powerbook. Has anyone worked with either of these setups? I'm thinking about going portable because we have a baby on the way and I don't want to be making a lot of noise at home (I have about 3 hours to kill between shows on my gig and it would be great to get some work done.)

Thanks for any input.

The first thing to think about between desktop and laptop is the the former is usually more expensive and a bit less powerfull. So the choice for a Powerbook needs to be motivated only if you know that you need to be really mobile.
The dual 1,25 will be way more powerfull, expandable.

Now for a Reason/SX setup it depend also of what kind of things you do with.

Do you want to run loads of plugins? VSTis?

I'm pretty sure that you mean the "latter" (the laptop), don't you?

I tried a dual 1.2 with a 20" monitor in a shop . it only had 256 megs ram . I have to say it was the fastest most responsive machine I have tried . really slick .
there wasn't much background noise in the shop it seemed really quite to me . this was a big problem with old desktops .
unless you require portablility I would go with something like this . they are just much more powerful versatile machines and will serve you for longer time .

the other thing is only buy when you have the time to use , because if you buy it later you will get cheaper or more powerful machine for same money .

if you need portability buy 2nd hand laptop and have good desktop as well .

good luck .

Thanks Macmaui spot on!

Methink it was time to bo to bed

I think gidfiddler is on track, if you are a business I'd suggest a desktop first.
If you encounter common hardware problems, with a desktop, parts may be available at any computer shop.
The components in laptops are more specialized or proprietary, and your only repair option may be a return to Apple, or an authorized dealer.

If a hardrive fails in my desktop, in ten minutes I can go to CompUSA and be up and running in less than an hour. But if your hardrive dies on a laptop it's a trip to the shop.

For my business, I would use a laptop as a secondary machine.

I'm in the decision making process now for a laptop.

Thanks for all the useful input. I think I've settled on the dual 1.25.

Chris

I'll just mention that you can still get 1.25 DP Macs that boot into OS 9. They cost a little more, but if you think you might want the safety net of being able to boot into OS 9 sometimes they might be worth a look.

Not that Apple make them easy to find: you have to go to the Apple Store and select the PowerMacs link, so you get the page with the four latest models on. Then in the top-right-hand corner is a link that says "OS 9 systems". Click that and you get a choice of two machines: the devil is in the detail, but in some respects they're better specced than the equivalent OS X-only machines.