Yo, so I wanna buy a laptop for music production

Funk Docta Bombay · Post by **Funk Docta Bombay** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:16 am

Yo Soundlab, wassup from Commie (not really) China.

I'll cut to the chase, I'm accepting a job in Asia next year which will give me plenty of free time to work on music and (for the first time) enough money to afford some decent equipment. First on the list is a laptop (since I'll need one anyways) and I was wondering if any of y'all had tips/suggestions/experiences/whatever that could help me out in the purchase. I'm leaning towards a Macbook, but I'm not sure about the specifics yet.

Peaces, thanks in advance, hope the beats have been jamming

blessingindisguise · Post by **blessingindisguise** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:58 am

I'm interested in hearing answers too. I'm getting into it slowly but from what i heard a Dell laptop or G4 or G5 by Apple are great laptops for beats.

cornsnake · Post by **cornsnake** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:42 pm

i've got a Dell that crushes. Ugly but so fast.
an Hp Pavillion with big big screen but the dual core takes forever to bootup

I think if you weigh in with over 2gigs processor and over 2gigs ram you'll be at fast to screaming.

ardamus · Post by **ardamus** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:01 pm

Macbook Pro with Logic may be your best bet.

Or, you could try out the Rain Livebook if your looking for something PC-based. Heard it was dope to use.

http://www.rainrecording.com/products/livebook/

Funk Docta Bombay · Post by **Funk Docta Bombay** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:41 am

I'm leaning towards that Macbook pro option. I've never used Logic though and I'm wondering if it's worth splurging on (as opposed to pirating).

Really looking forward to getting back into music. I'm going to be moving away from hardcore rap beats towards something different and I've been writing all sorts of crazy ideas down. Gonna be dope testing em out.

The Red Scare · Post by **The Red Scare** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:25 pm

You can't go wrong with a MacBook Pro, it's a very nice if very expensive machine. But a regular MacBook has enough horsepower for music production as well, and is quite a bit cheaper. From my experience, music equipment is generally easier to get set up and running with a Mac than a PC. Plus OSX is very nice.

However I bought an Acer Extensa 5420 laptop from Best Buy a couple months ago for $500. It has a 1.9ghz dual core processor, 2 gigs of RAM, 160gb HD, DVD burner, 4 USB and 1 Firewire port, and a 15.4" screen. It's a great machine for music production, especially considering the price. The cheapest Macbooks cost more than twice as much as that and have a smaller hard drive and half the memory, though the processor is slightly faster in the MacBook. Granted, I would still prefer to use OSX over Vista, but I don't think the price difference is worth it.

blessingindisguise wrote:I'm interested in hearing answers too. I'm getting into it slowly but from what i heard a Dell laptop or G4 or G5 by Apple are great laptops for beats.

Apple's G4 laptops were discontinued a couple years ago. There was never a G5 Apple Laptop. All the new Apple computers use Intel Core-Duo processors which are much faster.

---

Anyway basically I don't think it is worth it to pay 1 or 2 grand for a laptop for music production. A 5 or 6 hundred dollar laptop will suit you just fine, plus leave you with enough money to buy some nice music hardware.

phil connors · Post by **phil connors** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 2:30 pm

blessingindisguise wrote:I'm interested in hearing answers too.

Red Scare, what programs are you running on your laptop?

Remo the Great · Post by **Remo the Great** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:54 pm

cornsnake wrote: I think if you weigh in with over 2gigs processor and over 2gigs ram you'll be at fast to screaming.

Yessir. At least a 2 gig processor and 2 gigs memore. If u can afford more, do it. Those are your to biggest needs. I also suggest buying at least 1 external harddrive to keep the majority of your work on. If u can afford it get a firewire hard drive as the transfer speeds are way faster.

I hate to admit it, but macs are more stable and can support way more memory (RAM) than a windows machine. That being said I believe there are way more options when it comes to programs and addons when it comes to a machine with windows. but if u do buy a PC laptop make sure u can get it with WindowsXP on it. Not vista. If you cant get one with XP, buy a mac. You will save yourself thousands of headaches.

I'm saying this and I hate macs with a passion. But i had the unfortunate experience of trying to run a studio computer with Vista and ended up having to wipe the drive and install XP cause many of my essential tools were damn near useless.

Remo the Great · Post by **Remo the Great** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:57 pm

Funk Docta Bombay wrote:I'm leaning towards that Macbook pro option. I've never used Logic though and I'm wondering if it's worth splurging on (as opposed to pirating).

Really looking forward to getting back into music. I'm going to be moving away from hardcore rap beats towards something different and I've been writing all sorts of crazy ideas down. Gonna be dope testing em out.

If you've never used Logic before I wouldnt reccomend it unless you are a really experienced with a variety of DAWs. Logic is an amazing program once you've really learned it, but it has a steep learning curve for all the advanced bells and whistles and aint really worth it to me unless u have that knowledge.

I'd reccomend something more like Reason, Cubase or Ableton Live if u're not an advanced user. to me they're way easier to get into

The Red Scare · Post by **The Red Scare** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:05 pm

phil connors wrote:
blessingindisguise wrote:I'm interested in hearing answers too.
Red Scare, what programs are you running on your laptop?

Reason 4, Recycle 2.1, Audacity, BFD Lite, and I have a midi keyboad and and an mpd24 plugged in.

Using this setup, I don't see much performance difference when using my laptop versus my much faster dual 3.0ghz desktop.

I think just about any dual core laptop with 2 gigs of RAM is plenty fast enough for music production.

greencarpet · Post by **greencarpet** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:02 am

i use a mac and i likes it.
there are more options with a pc.
but a mac is easier to use.
and frankly the shit.

ardamus · Post by **ardamus** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:54 pm

I'm a PC guy and I'm about to cash in on a Macbook Pro. Intel 2 Duo Core 2.4 GHz. 200 gigs HD. 2G Mem. Wish me luck.

greencarpet · Post by **greencarpet** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 2:03 pm

ardamus wrote:I'm a PC guy and I'm about to cash in on a Macbook Pro. Intel 2 Duo Core 2.4 GHz. 200 gigs HD. 2G Mem. Wish me luck.

i heard that mac is going to not use intel.
but those are nice.
make shure you get a external hard drive.

Money Gripp · Post by **Money Gripp** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 2:50 pm

ardamus wrote:I'm a PC guy and I'm about to cash in on a Macbook Pro. Intel 2 Duo Core 2.4 GHz. 200 gigs HD. 2G Mem. Wish me luck.

Damn. I've got the MacBook Pro 15". 2.16 GHz. 100 GB HD. 1G Memory.

It'd be dope as fuck. Took a while to get used to it, but I wouldn't go back to a PC. Too much bullshit to deal with.

ardamus · Post by **ardamus** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:27 pm

greencarpet wrote:
ardamus wrote:I'm a PC guy and I'm about to cash in on a Macbook Pro. Intel 2 Duo Core 2.4 GHz. 200 gigs HD. 2G Mem. Wish me luck.
i heard that mac is going to not use intel.
but those are nice.
make shure you get a external hard drive.

Nah, they've got those fuckin' things everywhere. They cost 2Gs but I got some kick back loot from my place so fuck it......I'm getting it. I already have a Maxtor external but I do need a new one soon. Thanx for reminding me.

Money Gripp wrote:
ardamus wrote:I'm a PC guy and I'm about to cash in on a Macbook Pro. Intel 2 Duo Core 2.4 GHz. 200 gigs HD. 2G Mem. Wish me luck.
Damn. I've got the MacBook Pro 15". 2.16 GHz. 100 GB HD. 1G Memory.

It'd be dope as fuck. Took a while to get used to it, but I wouldn't go back to a PC. Too much bullshit to deal with.

Yeah, I'm starting to get used to the operating system of a Mac. Some of my close friends have Macs and I've used them from time to time. I grew up on PC since my pops would build and re-build them all the time. I know at some point, I'll end up with another PC Laptop thats just as powerful as the Macbook. I don't know why but I guess I'm greedy like that.

ayentee · Post by **ayentee** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:42 am

Im getting pro-tools this week. gonna run it on my 2.4ghz, 1gig ram imac. i'll see how it handles it, i may need to upgrade the ram. i heard imacs have a few minor difficulties with pro-tools. hopefully nothing that bugs me too much

ardamus · Post by **ardamus** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:32 pm

ayentee wrote:Im getting pro-tools this week. gonna run it on my 2.4ghz, 1gig ram imac. i'll see how it handles it, i may need to upgrade the ram. i heard imacs have a few minor difficulties with pro-tools. hopefully nothing that bugs me too much

get you 2gigs if you can of ram. the processor speed is fine but if you up a little bit, it may help.

The Red Scare · Post by **The Red Scare** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 10:35 pm

ardamus wrote:
ayentee wrote:Im getting pro-tools this week. gonna run it on my 2.4ghz, 1gig ram imac. i'll see how it handles it, i may need to upgrade the ram. i heard imacs have a few minor difficulties with pro-tools. hopefully nothing that bugs me too much
get you 2gigs if you can of ram. the processor speed is fine but if you up a little bit, it may help.

Yeah, that 1 gig of RAM will bottleneck your system, and doubling it will make a noticeable difference in protools and just about everything else you do on your computer.

RAM is so cheap these days, you can get a gig for about $20-30. Just make sure to avoid buying it directly from Apple or retail stores, as RAM can be absurdly overpriced.

http://dealnews.com/memory/prices/syste ... 4/1GB.html

ayentee · Post by **ayentee** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:50 am

if i dont buy direct ffrom apple does that mean i gotta crack open my imac and install that shit myself? is that safe? i wont fry my system?

CHANCE RANDOM · Post by **CHANCE RANDOM** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:59 am

ayentee wrote:if i dont buy direct ffrom apple does that mean i gotta crack open my imac and install that shit myself? is that safe? i wont fry my system?

most ram slots are easy to reach and out in the open. all you have the do is slide the card in. if you're careful, you'll be fine. just make sure you don't have a static charge built up.

The Red Scare · Post by **The Red Scare** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:10 am

adding RAM to iMacs is very easy, you don't need any technical knowledge to do it. you can find documentation on Apple's webpage..

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1432

ardamus · Post by **ardamus** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:36 pm

i just figured i'd go all out for my Macbook Pro. getting 4M of memory put in it.

Quality Control · Post by **Quality Control** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:13 pm

Id say go with either the Mac thats been discussed already or if you want to go Pc based, check out the music xpc line's...these are laptops designed for music making. Ive got a Acer Travelmate 5720 with a intel 2.0 processor(core 2 duo) 2 gigs of ram and it works decent for basic stuff and as a travel unit.....But if you wanna get into plug-ins and big sessions your gonna need more than 2 gigs of ram...and a better processor as well...

My studio Pc is a Intel core2duo 3.2 processor with 4 gigs of ram, 1333 frontside bus and it doesnt give me trouble ever....

ardamus · Post by **ardamus** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:53 pm

got the Mac. i'll buy the RAM later and put it myself. whoever's got a Mac, let me know. because i'll need some help with it.