Why Should I Get Mac Rather Than Pc? Options

[Righteous Bullet]

hey, im probably going to get a laptop and use it for recording sometime in the near future. I want to have tip top quality and easy enough to use. should i get a mac laptop or pc laptop? why is one better? and what kind of prices would be normal for what i want?

[Lord Pasty]

Well, I switched to Mac a while back when all my PC and sequencing equipment burned to the ground. I've stuck with the Mac ever since, and for basically one reason: reliability. The other thing is the OS. OSX is really powerful, and really, really easy to use. That frees up more time with just figuring out all your music equipment!

[dten]

For laptops, I prefer Macs. Laptops are such integrated systems, you want a machine that's got top quality hardware and design. Apple knows their machines inside and out, and knows how to build them solid, efficient, and pretty.

And like Pasty said, Macs are generally easier and more intuitive to configure and get music stuff working than on PCs.

However, there are two things you sacrifice with Macs:
1) Cost. They are always more expensive than the same thing in a PC. Although it's hard to find all the features that Macs pack in PC laptops.
2) There's currently more free/cheap audio software available for PCs than for Macs.

But man. When I see brand new PC laptops are coming out and they STILL have a parallel port, a serial port, and a PS/2 port, yet no firewire ports, no integrated wireless, no integrated bluetooth... I just gotta wonder what's going on with that.

[Righteous Bullet]

thanks for your advice. if i get a mac laptop this is a setup im considering:

1 GHz 12" combo drive iBook
512MB DDR26 sd RAM
40Gb hardrive

on the cheaper end but i think it will do fine, and for a sound card i think im going to get a Vxpocket V2. what do you think of that setup? what would you change? HELP THE N00B!!!

[hahaworld]

Hi Righteous Bullet!

Change the "If" in your sentence to "WHEN you get a Mac laptop." I'm going to give you some great advice that you'll thank me for later if you follow it:

Get the biggest, most expensive Mac laptop you can get. In the long run, you won't regret it. I bought my 17-incher back in November with my CompUsa credit card (which allows you to pay off the balance in 6 months with 0% interest) and it rocks my world! The 40G hard drive will fill up before you know it. Even if you get a hard drive twice that size, you still need an external hard drive if you're doing audio (LaCie makes a fabulous 200G external firewire drive that just blazes!). Get all the RAM you can get, too. In the world of Macs and audio, don't settle for a "cheaper end" laptop that will "do fine." You'll find out very quickly that "doing fine" is not what you want in the long run. Well, I've said, "In the long run" three times now, so I guess I'm starting to repeat myself. I'll stop now because it's 2:48 am and I'm just a little bit loopy. I reaaaaaaly hope you spring for the big honkin' Mac instead of the cheap-end "it'll do" Mac.

Yours Truly,
hahaworld

[aptmunich]

Well i just got the machine you're talking about and it really rawks!

i would generally agree with the 'get the best you can afford now' idea, but seriously - the difference between portable low-end macs and high-end ones isn't that huge.

my ibook will maybe be out of date a month or two quicker than your powerbook (1,33GHz?) but in 2 years current laptops will have a 3Ghz G5 processor anyway so what difference will a measly ,33 Ghz make?


Conclusion: Get a powerbook if you can afford it.
If not get a maxed out ibook (go for the 60GB hdd!)
But get a mac, i've just switched from 16 years in windows-world and it really is a very pleasing experience.

Everything just works, no hassle!

[stratology]

Very positve exerience with a 12" 1GHz PowerBook with 768 RAM and an 80 GB HD. Get as much RAM as you can afford, third party suppliers like crucial.com are cheaper than Apple.

A couple of years ago, I was doing work experience in a Windows based recording studio. On the Compac Presario laptop they used, with the regular Office software and WaveLab (which I think is quite good) they spent 30 -45 minutes EVERY DAY just troubleshooting.
The desktop machines had audio software only, because things like internet access would confuse them too much. And basic things like insering silence in a track in Nuendo still failed. They considered flying in a guy from Switzerland back then, who could set up the system, so it would actually work. The studio is closed down by now :-)

[lushbudget]

Well i just got the machine you're talking about and it really rawks!

i would generally agree with the 'get the best you can afford now' idea, but seriously - the difference between portable low-end macs and high-end ones isn't that huge.

my ibook will maybe be out of date a month or two quicker than your powerbook (1,33GHz?) but in 2 years current laptops will have a 3Ghz G5 processor anyway so what difference will a measly ,33 Ghz make?


Conclusion: Get a powerbook if you can afford it.
If not get a maxed out ibook (go for the 60GB hdd!)
But get a mac, i've just switched from 16 years in windows-world and it really is a very pleasing experience.

Everything just works, no hassle!

WHOA THERE! FIRST OFF the PowerBook is going to have a faster system bus (167mhz Vs 133mhz), thereby increasing throughput and cutting down on the infamous latency! The PBook's processors are faster, too. iBooks max at 1Ghz whereas a PBook will fire at 1.5Ghz That is 500Mhz faster! That is a BIG difference!
Secondly iBooks RAM max out a 1.2gb and only one model (the 14" 1ghz) can be had with a SuperDrive (using a DVD drive for project archiving is A LOT cheaper than CD's since you get 4.7Gb per DVD) The PowerBooks can house up to 2Gb of faster RAM (333mhz PC2700 vs 266Mhz PC2100) and all models come with the SuperDrive option.
The largest HD available for an iBook is 60gb; the PowerBook is sold with up to 80gb.
The PowerBook has a faster L2 cache (512k of SRAM on-chip) where the OS stores often used instructions for the G4 and that speeds things up, too.
Another thing to think about is the increased VRAM that PowerBooks come with: a PowerBook will push an external monitor, even one of Apple's flat panel displays (with a $99 converter) doubling your workspace or mirroring your display.
iBooks can push external monitors too, but they can only mirror, NOT double the desktop.
Having that second display to double you workspace on your PBook is awesome when you have a big project up. PowerBooks can have up to 128Mb of VRAM - iBooks are sold with only 32mb.
AND finally, NO iBooks come with the new, amazingly fast FireWire 800 ports that are on every new PowerBook. New FW800 drives and coming audio interfaces are lightning fast and if you buy an iBook, you are outta luck.
There is more: Bluetooth, Gigabit ethernet, backlit keyboards, etc. THERE IS NO ARGUING THAT THE POWERBOOK IS A FAR, FAR SUPERIOR MACHINE TO ANY OF THE IBOOKS CURRENTLY BEING SOLD.
All in all, the PowerBook machines are faster, thinner, more capable. Don't fool yourself - the iBook is fantastic, but there is a reason they are caled 'Power' books. They are Apple's finest, and well worth the investment for the serious musician.

I own a Titanium 1ghz, 1Gb of RAM, 80GB hard drive, running OS 10.3.4, ProTools LE 6.4, Deck 3.5, Peak LE, Live 3, SampleTank 2, Reason 2.5, T-Racks, AmpliTube LE - MOST of this software came bundled with my MBox, some of it I upgraded from the MBox versions.
I have a Lacie 250GB USB2 HDD and a Lacie 120GB Firewire 400 HDD. I also have an Edirol PCR-30 keyboard controller and some outboard efx gear, and some MA-20D near field monitors. The cherry on top is my 20Gb iPod, perfect for reviewing my work on home stereos and the like, as well as listening to at the coffee shop.

Get a PowerBook if you can afford one. You won't regret it, and you won't be wanting a new machine after 6 months. Mine was new in September of '03 and it still has a lot of life left in it. Too bad they don't still offer the Titanium case - these Macs are so pretty. Ok, enough stroking on the PowerBook. I get kinda weird about Apples.

Peace,
lushbudget

[aptmunich]

Ok i'm going to have to explain my terribly unjust post which dumped on the powerbook i see...

Ok here goes, i'll try to put my words a bit more careful this time:

I'm not saying that the powerbook isn't a lot more powerful machine than the ibook, it obviously is (l2 chache size, bus speed, harddrive size, etc etc)

And since most people agree that you need an external harddrive i don't think that should really factor, and if you need an external harddrive you might as well get an external dvd burner (that supports more formats than the superdrive and is faster? Ok that was a cheap shot, i take it back...)


I'm saying that a machine bought now will be obsolete within max. 3-4 years no matter which type you buy. I think that's not unreasonable right? At least for cutting edge users...

So looking at the differnece in price and performance i'm just saying that the powerbook will last longer than the ibook but not much. a few years ago we'd be agrueing about 300&500 Mhz Computers saying that 300 is slow and 500 will "just fly" and what-not.


I just want to put things into perspective. Get a powerbook if you can afford it, if not be glad you saved the cash (that you couldn't afford anyway;)) and just update your machine a few months earlier than the powerbook you could've had...


Oh no, i think this'll just piss people off more...

Another example: I've just switched from a Pentium 3 -866 Mhz Desktop PC, my friend bought his 1Ghz Mhz machine around the same time and paid a whole lot more for it...

Chickenshit, they both pale in comparison with current models and his gain in performance has perhaps cost me 10 minutes of my life but earned me approximately 300€

AS LONG AS IT'S A NEW APPLE LAPTOP I'M SURE IT'LL BE FINE!

This post has been edited by aptmunich: Thu 3 Jun 2004, 16:01

[dten]

Agree. Get the best you can afford, but don't overextend your budget out of temptation for extra features. They'll all be obsolete soon anyway; in the grand scheme of things, they're comparable. On the other hand, if cash isn't an issue and/or you're a power user who has a demonstrated need (not just lust) for the extra features, by all means, go for it.