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[radiohead]

I am about to buy a new mac. My budget is under $2000 for the computer itself. Ive found the 400 G4 powerbook and the 733 G4 tower to be priced about the same. Obviously, the 733 tower is alot faster than the powerbook im looking at. But it seems that bjork, radiohead, etc... all talk about using powerbooks all the time. I know that having a portable unit would be great ease for transportation. But I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on which i should get. Are there any advantages to the powerbook (other than portability, which is quite limited with the tower) over the tower? Also, i know that ill need some audio input..which ive seen is discussed on this site quite alot. Im just wondering if this would play into which computer i get. Im interested in getting a soundinput thats pretty cheap but still decent. Do these come on the towers? Or do you always have to buy a sound input seperate? FUrthermore...i would like to use my computer as a sampler...any suggestions on this? what software is good or would one be wise to just buy a separate sampler? any info contributed would be greatly appreciated. thanks so much. justin

This is something I'm deliberating on, among many things for my initial studio purchases...

I'd recommend, first, doing as much research as possible. The best resources I've found, so far, for computer music-related information is in the trade journals - Keyboard, EQ, Home Recording, Sound on Sound (the absolute best). Read them, then set them aside. Go online and search the forums. Formulate your best-case scenario. Then let it settle. Then go back and do another round of research, with some more mags, asking around at music shops, whatever. Get the information about HOW the equipment works. Get some hands on experience. Download demos, whatever. I've had a lot of experience with music recording equipment, so I know a little about what I'm looking for. I've found that over time, my initial impulses to buy certain types of gear change as I find out more about what's available.

The problem with the laptops is that you might be limited. I'm not even sure if they have a PCI card slot on them? Maybe one? You're stuck with that and the Firewire. OK, FireWire you can go with the MOTU 828 to get in digital audio and external hard drives, though I'm not sure how well ext. hard drives work on FireWire yet. Tascam has a USB interface for dig. audio & MIDI, but since it's USB, I doubt you can punch much through that all at the same time. If there is a PCI card, what kind of audio input cards can you get with that? Check all that out. You definitely need ext. gear for audio input whether you get the laptop or tower. The other limit is processing power, RAM expandability, and general expandability. Depends on how much digital audio you are talking about. From my observations, it looks like the Titanium can handle a good load of digital audio, but obviously not as much as the towers when you start to load on plug-ins, multi-application use, etc. The question is how far you want to go. The laptops may be good for toting around and recording, editing, mixing, etc. but may not have the power to mix/master at the pro level with dozens of tracks, MIDI, plug-ins all at the same time. So do your homework and see. I think for medium-level recording projects (not studio level engineering mixes) the Titanium will probably work out.

Basically, just figure out what you need and what can get you there in terms of RAM, processor speed, expandability, ports, external gear, compatability. Sounds like a lot, but there are many suitable options you can go with depending on your needs.