Machine Opinion, Will a power book have enough power? Options

[cmoody29]

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.

[lepetitmartien]

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?

[MacMaui]

The first thing to think about between desktop and laptop is the the former is usually more expensive and a bit less powerfull.

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

[gidfiddler]

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 .

[lepetitmartien]

Thanks Macmaui spot on!

Methink it was time to bo to bed

[gdoubleyou]

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.

[cmoody29]

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

Chris

[rickenbacker]

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.