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I need some advice on choosing a new computer. I am looking at the new Macbook. I was wondering what people have to say about processor, RAM, and monitors. I use DP for audio and MIDI and will also be using Kontakt. Would the 2.66 processor and 2 gigs or RAM be plenty, or should I up to 3ghz processor and or 4 gigs of RAM. Or what combination of any of those things do people recommend. And, also, what about the monitor 23'', worth the money? or go with another brand? Any other advice on things to think about in a new computer would be greatly appreciated. Right now I am still working on an iBook G4 and DP4.1.2.

What kind of work you do would determine an answer re : computer purchase... i.e., home demo(s) ? ••¦ live recordings of any particular style
of music a la all acoustic chamber string orch or all bluegrass groups or
any combo in between ••¦ vs live thrashin' rock bands ? Answering these
questions will also determine what MIDI interface and what audio interface
is appropriate for your work.... unless you already have these equip pieces in place

Re : ram ••¦ to me, more is better - if you can max it out , do so
Re: 23" Apple display - while they are gorgeous, unless you are doing things to take to print and you need a monitor to reflect accurate color
shades ••¦ NO I'm always running out of space with a 19" LCD with too many windows open and though you can hot key various window combo(s) (and I do) my next purchase wil be a 32", 37" or 42" LCD that will also double as my HD TV... I have a friend with a 37" connected to a PC running Sonar and it is marvelous. You do need enough room space to put that large of a monitor in••¦ HTH [/quote]

Part 2 ••¦ the 37" LCD/HD TV was $800.ºº ( if I remember correctly) at American Electronics in Davenport , IA vs $2k or so for the Apple display.

Ben:

Completely OT, but I'm very jealous of your location.

That's a gorgeous area...

How's the music biz in Colorado?

=bz=

Schweats wrote:Part 2 ••¦ the 37" LCD/HD TV was $800.ºº ( if I remember correctly) at American Electronics in Davenport , IA vs $2k or so for the Apple display.

But a television set is going to display your work at a lower resolution than a computer display. So it will blow everything up.

A question to ask is -- what is the native resolution of the TV
What is the native resolution of the Computer monitor.

Looking at the worst buy site, I see that

37" HDTV = 1366 x 768
15" LCD computer monitor = 1024 by 768
20" wide computer monitor = 1680 x 1050
23" wide computer monitor = 1920 x 1200

So as you can see, the HDTV is pretty low res for a computer monitor. Really only slightly better than an old 15" LCD.

So the TV will show you less of your desktop, and will enlarge it basically to 37 inches. Sounds fine if you are building a home theater around your mac, but not so good for getting work done.

Whereas the 20 inch monitor will show you more of your work, and it will be nice and crisp.

bt12 wrote:And, also, what about the monitor 23'', worth the money? or go with another brand? Any other advice on things to think about in a new computer would be greatly appreciated. Right now I am still working on an iBook G4 and DP4.1.2.

If you don't want to buy the Apple monitor, some people like the Dells.

I had a thread on alternatives to the Apple 20, maybe that will give you some ideas. The consensus was that if color was critical to your work (i.e. you were doing lots of video editing in Final Cut Pro) then you needed to look at the Apple. If not others would work. Samsung and Viewsonic make a nice monitor too.

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12874

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I mainly work with producing my own stuff that is somewhere between and ambient and electro dance music. So, no I am not recording any loud rock bands like that. I record a lot of my own samples of random sounds and then edit them in DP to get the sound I want. Right now, on my ibook, I have been maxing my computer out around 20-30 tracks, including aux tracks and master track. I would like to have a set up where I don't really have to worry about number of tracks or reverbs and the like. I am using a maudio usb audio interface and an edirol PCR M-30. I am content with that set up for now. Thanks for all the monitor advice. Any more advice on RAM or processor speed? Thanks

bt12 wrote:I mainly work with producing my own stuff that is somewhere between and ambient and electro dance music. So, no I am not recording any loud rock bands like that. I record a lot of my own samples of random sounds and then edit them in DP to get the sound I want. Right now, on my ibook, I have been maxing my computer out around 20-30 tracks, including aux tracks and master track. I would like to have a set up where I don't really have to worry about number of tracks or reverbs and the like. I am using a maudio usb audio interface and an edirol PCR M-30. I am content with that set up for now. Thanks for all the monitor advice. Any more advice on RAM or processor speed? Thanks

Well, get as much processor speed and RAM as you can afford. As you know by now, Virtual Instruments really love RAM. Personally I would not settle for less than 2gigs of RAM.

I wonder -- do you really need it to be a portable/laptop?

Wouldn't a 17 inch core 2 duo intel iMac be just as portable as a macbook?

Because those have a faster base processor (core 2 duo, versus macbook core duo) and I understand that the processor is socketing on the imacs, meaning you can eventually drop in a faster processor as they become available. Macbook's processor is soldered in, I think because of space limitations.

And I am pretty sure you can get a 20inch 2.16 imac core 2 duo for close to the same price as a 2.0 core duo 13inch macbook. You always get less technology for the same money in a laptop, which is why I have never been big on them.

Maybe I am misunderstanding your needs, though -- maybe you need to run on batteries in the field or something. . .

---

PS when you are ready to buy, these sites track best bargains on macs

http://www.macprices.com

http://www.lowendmac.com/deals.shtml

I can't beleive I did that, thanks for bringing it to my attention emulatorloo. In my original post I wrote macbook, I meant Macpro. I am looking at the new desktop Macpro, not a laptop. Sorry about that.

bt12 wrote:I can't beleive I did that, thanks for bringing it to my attention emulatorloo. In my original post I wrote macbook, I meant Macpro. I am looking at the new desktop Macpro, not a laptop. Sorry about that.

Oh, that's a different matter, then! Those price tracking links are still good, for you though.

From one of those sites, this article might help you:

The Mac Pro Value Equation: Where's the Sweet Spot?

http://www.lowendmac.com/musings/06/0810.html

example of the kind of stuff in the article:

Speed

There's a $300 difference between the 2.0 GHz and 2.66 GHz models. That's less than 10% of the retail price for a 33% improvement in CPU speed. Unless your budget is especially tight, that's worth the relatively small difference in price.

Going to 3.0 GHz adds $800 to the price. That's almost a 30% increase in price for a 12% boost in speed - just about the opposite of the move from 2.0 to 2.66 GHz. The only way to justify the cost of the 3.0 GHz model is if shaving 10-12% off the time of video work (or anything equally intensive) will significantly increase your billables.