Apple IMAC VS Windows Notebooks

D

DoubleBlade

New member
As part of my poly course I have to buy a notebook...

I intend to use the notebook for my school work in addition to my sound engineering interest for home based recordings...

I know that the IMAC would be the obvious choice but I'm just using it to do some casual midi recordings and not for professional reasons....

Would the IMAC still be a better choice? Any recommendations for windows notebooks? If possible with the specs of the notebook as well

Thanks :)
 
What I will be looking for in a notebook is reliability and not so much about the specs as I do not require a huge amount of RAM and Hard Disk space as compared to professional sound engineers....
 
hey, if you are using it for solely your own stuff, then its better to get the ibook/powerbook etc. however, if you need to use it for school stuff too, sorry but ya gotta get a windows. i went NP and when i used apple to log into my school intranet or email account, there's always some stupid problem. much safer to get a windows.

buy from your school vendors if possible, it's more convenient as laptops spoil easily (depends on ya luck) so if you buy from school, they can fix is up for you. Plus, if you encounter any problem, your friends will be using the same as you.

im sure your sound engineering software got microsoft version?

good luck :)
 
yup I'm using Magix Music Studio 2004 Deluxe , not the best of recording softwares thou but I'm using it for my PC currently...

The reason why i was contemplating on a mac is because a lot of recording softwares run efficiently on a mac and another reason would be that a mac is said to be more "stable" than Windows...
 
Let's just mac needs lesser maintainence. Windows must keep maintaining and worry about countless viruses that popup.
I owe both a Mac and PC and the Mac never screwed up(except a common CD ejectionproblem )My PC wnet "siao" real soon. Which is probably due the the XP being targeted by hackers.
Browser wise, firefox and safari is pretty stable and is as good if not better than I.E. So no logging in problems for me.
 
ok being a mac user... i can tell you a mac ibook / powerbook is really very nice.
im not a heavy user , i dun see the need to customise everything... i dun play games.

If you enjoy simplicity.
If you are into listening to music / recording stuff...
If you want something that looks incredibly good.
If you ARENT a avid gamer
If you want close to 0 popups when you surf the internet.
If you dont want Virus attacks every week
If you dont want your laptop to "hang" when you open/run more then 5 programs
If you are sick of pressing Ctrl Alt Del

get a mac. 15" powerbook is 3.7k
A top of the line toshiba laptop is around 3.8k

but ofcourse saying this i must warn you of compatibility issues. wireless networks should not be a major problem. most places i go to , i can connect without a problem. i i cant print with my company's 5yr old Xerox printer.
Modern stuff shouldnt be a problem ... nowadays alot more stuff is mac/window compatible.
 
DoubleBlade said:
As part of my poly course I have to buy a notebook...
Click to expand...

ask your teacher, they will be able to tell you better. maybe you will need to use certain software?

btw, both are just as good. depending on the user only. 8)
 
hmmmm if I buy a mac , I won't be able to enjoy the 3 year warranty period provided by NP if my mac crashes...


But I think I should just get myself an Acer TravelMate 8104WLMi or the TravelMate 8120WLCi from NP but I personally feel that I should get the TravelMate 8104WLMi as it has 1024MB DDR 2 RAM and 80GB HDD which I think if I were to follow Cheez's idea of connecting a midi controller to a laptop during a performance , I would require a good notebook especially one with a huge amount of RAM... 8)
 
Your notebook may not come with a lot of RAM, but it has to be expandable. I would recommend (if possible) to have a notebook that is expandable to 2GB RAM - you don't need that amount now but at least you can expand later.

If you want hard-disk recording, you may have to get an external HD (preferably firewire). Just need one of those HD firewire casings and a fast 3.5" HD. Notebook drives (2.5", usually with low speed and slow seek/access times) are not recommended for recordings.

Whatever it is, just know that your recording/ synth notebook should be dedicated to that only. So repeating for the umpteenth time, make sure you dual boot your notebook. The Windows for recording should be barebone - all unnecessary drivers disabled including wireless if you have it, no other programs installed (no internet explorer) - just your recording software and softsynths. Do a few optimisations and you're ready.
 
Cheez said:
If you want hard-disk recording, you may have to get an external HD (preferably firewire). Just need one of those HD firewire casings and a fast 3.5" HD. Notebook drives (2.5", usually with low speed and slow seek/access times) are not recommended for recordings.
Click to expand...

So Cheez what you're implying is that is create 2 separate accounts on Windows XP right? one for my school work and one for my audio recording...

How much does an external firewire 3.5" HD cost by the way?
 
Yes. You will have to use 2 different versions of Windows XP (ie one Home and one Professional). The other way is to use Partition Magic (then you can use only one version) - but that will cost you. Hopefully your notebook will come installed with Windows XP Pro so you only have to buy an OEM Windows XP Home.

An IDE Seagate 7200rpm 120GB is about $120 - but I doubt you will need that kind of storage unless you are intending to record in 24bit 96kHz. 80GB may be enough - maybe less than $100? Seagate is a good brand to get. Maxtor is also fast but noisy - a little too noisy for recording purposes. Firewire hard drive casing is a little more than $100 I think. A USB 2.0 casing will be cheaper since Firewire casings also comes with USB 2.0 so you are paying for both. Don't forget you will also need a soundcard.

Before you jump into it to buy, make sure you know what you really want to do with it. You really don't want to spend your money on an expensive toy that you seldom use for your original intended purpose. A wiser way is to prioritise - what you want first (and very sure of). If it is recording, then don't forget the mics. You don't need a midi interface. You will need the HD. If it is for synth purposes, you don't need the external HD; you'll need midi interface and RAM. Don't get everything in one go. Do it in stages.

Coming to the important question - do you REALLY need a notebook for studies? You've got computer labs in school; you probably got a desktop at home. What can you do with your notebook that you can't do now? If your answer is something like "wireless surfing", then you want your notebook not for studies but for entertainment. If you can justify that (and your parents agree), then OK. Don't get it because it looks good to have one or everyone else has one.
 
actually now Ngee Ann poly makes it compulsory for all it's students with the exception of a few courses to own their own notebook for effective learning...welcome to the IT age 8)

Since i need to get a laptop , i though i could might as well kill 2 birds with one stone by using the notebook for school work and at the same time for audio recording...

Basically i want to use my laptop for MIDI recordings and vocals only as i don't intend to do some live recording yet...
So my pirority is to record MIDI and vocals...

Sorry but is a firewire interface something connected via USB 2.0 to your laptop which in it has a MIDI interface?
 
Firewire is just another interface between your computer and hardware. It connects by a firewire port (IEEE 1394). Most notebooks should have it. Although USB 2.0 is supposed to be a tad faster in transfer rate than firewire 400 in theory, many real life situations had shown that firewire is still faster.

If you're only going to record vocals (and not too many tracks - perhaps only one track of vocal at a time), you may want to try out using the internal drive first and see if you get any pops and clicks. If you start doing multi-track recording, an external hard drive is a must. So you save some money - get the external HD only if you encounter problems. The most important thing is the soundcard - the Echo Indigo IO (PCMCIA) is the one to go for (with stereo in and out). If you're not connecting too many external midi hardware, the Midiman 1x1 (USB) is sufficient. But if you think you'll expand in the future, then maybe a 2x2 depending on your budget.
 
Why not iBook or Powerbook? iBook is relatively affordable for doing casual stuff. I used to do video editing on a G3 700mhz iBook and it did the job pretty well. So I think the current G4 ibook can do the same job remarkably.

Not much experience with Powerbook. But it's a real workhorse so far I've witnessed.
 
But the main thing is that If i buy an ibook or any mac , the 3 year warranty period given by my poly does not extend to mac notebooks as it is not one of the authorised dealers listed...

So that means I can only buy certain brand of notebooks offered by my poly in order to receive the 3 year warranty period during my entire course of study which i think is a really good deal!!!! 3 year warranty inclusive of all parts and labour???? where to get right?! 8)
 
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