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i've got a choice of either getting a dell latitude d400 (1.4ghz pentium m, 512m ram, xp home) or a mac ibook (700mhz g3, 640m ram, os 10.4 tiger) for $450. they both have onboard firewire and usb, although the ibook comes with an internal dvd/cdrw while the dell has only an external cdrom. i've never owned a mac before, so i imagine there would be some sort of learning curve.

i've already got an external 5.25 oxford 911 enclosure with a couple of 80 gig 7200rpm 8mb cache western digital hard drives on the way. i've also got a firepod en route, so basically i want a laptop that will be able to handle recording of up to 8 tracks at once at 24/96. i'll mainly be recording metal, punk, and rock bands with little to no midi involved, but i've thought about getting into soft synths and sequencing for my own stuff.

i'm looking for advice for if it would be worth it to get the mac, even though it has a slower processor and i'm unfamiliar with the os. i've just heard so many people say how much more reliable they are, but i'm not sure if in this case the specs would be up to snuff compared to the dell. i appreciate any comments

nathan

without a doubt, the ibook. really, it's not even worth pondering. i was shocked when i made the switch from windows to os how easy the transition was, and i'm sure you'll find the same to be true.

no question, get the ibook.

the processor speeds of pc's and macs don't exactly match up. meanwhile, the ibook has more ram, which is a spec that does match up between the platforms.

having an internal cd burner will be beneficial as well, and mac OS is WAY better than windoze

also, with 10.4, your learning curve will be quicker than, say, os 9 or even 10.1 or 2 (though not much quicker than earlier versions of 10)

i'm skeptical as to whether you'll be able to track 8 at a time on either machine, but i'd put my bet on the ibook before the dell any day. i suppose it also depends on what program you're running, but if you're always doing it to the external drive, you'll probably be fine.

You'd probably be able to track 8 tracks at a time with the Dell. I'd imagine the Mac would probably be ok too.

If you are mainly using music software, then I don't think the OS matters so much these days - gone are the days of endless compatibility problems and interruptions. Having said that, Mac OS probably wins here as people tend to install tonnes of shitty programs that run in the background on Windows.

For audio processing power, I'd put my money on the Dell. IIRC, a 1.4 P4M is roughly the same speed as a 2.6 P4.... I personally think Apple exaggerated the relative speed difference.

If you don't want to use (gasp!) plugins, then this wouldn't matter so much.

When buying second-hand, I'd inspect the quality of the screens (looking for dead pixels), listen for noise and generally look over the hardware for wear, etc. Also, you didn't mention the size of the screens.

as much as i might not want to, i imagine i'll be using some plugins until i get my all analog ultra badass studio built. i'm thinking that it makes more sense to go with the dell for now and get a powerbook in the future.

dragnalus wrote:i've got a choice of either getting a dell latitude d400 (1.4ghz pentium m, 512m ram, xp home) or a mac ibook (700mhz g3, 640m ram, os 10.4 tiger) for $450. they both have onboard firewire and usb, although the ibook comes with an internal dvd/cdrw while the dell has only an external cdrom.

The dell only has an external cdrom? That sounds kind of odd, but anyway.. I don't think a 700mhz G3 would be ideal for audio. However, a 1.25GHz G4 Mac Mini for $500 would work fine. You could buy a cheapo LCD monitor, small keyboard and it would fit into a large briefcase.

But personally I would go with the Dell, because I'm cheap. And give it a clean install of windows xp (not the dell version) with service pack 2, then follow these directions:
http://www.digitalproducer.com/2002/11_nov/features/11_04/optimize_pcaudio.htm

And keep it away from an internet connection, because if you have virus/adware/spyware protection software, it will really slow down your computer.

jason smith wrote:However, a 1.25GHz G4 Mac Mini for $500 would work fine. You could buy a cheapo LCD monitor, small keyboard and it would fit into a large briefcase.

this is actually a very good idea, but unfortunately only 512mb ram, and with lcd, keyboard and briefcase, perhaps about $100-$150 over his budget ($200 if he goes for a ram upgrade)?

hands down, the mac iBook G3 would be the best purchase. 512MB of ram on a dell with XP is going to suck something bad compared to 640MB on this Mac. now the caveat might be you'll get fewer tracks with the mac if you are using something extremely processor intesive (like protools with plug-ins). the learning curve is not that difficult to overcome. and the Mac OS is stellar in comparison to Windows XP, which is OK, but nothing spectacular..

mr.arrison wrote:hands down, the mac iBook G3 would be the best purchase. 512MB of ram on a dell with XP is going to suck something bad compared to 640MB on this Mac. now the caveat might be you'll get fewer tracks with the mac if you are using something extremely processor intesive (like protools with plug-ins).

Hands down??? Then you say that he should beware using processor intensive apps on the G3 (such as AUDIO APPLICATIONS?)

If you're going to be comparing performance with regard to memory, you should look at the front side bus speed, not the fact that there is a 128MB difference. (Which is not very significant anyway)

Yes, 512mb on a dell with XP will "suck something bad" if you are computer illiterate.

I ran my laptop on 256MB with no problems and had Cubase SX, several tracks and tonnes of plugins going before it started to pop.

Of course, I added another 512MB, but that's relatively cheap for PCs.