My 1st Mac - what laptop should I buy?
Wednesday, July 22 2009 @ 03:09 PM CDT

I'd like a laptop for my son and I to learn GarageBand on, maybe do some video editing also. I hear Garageband is resource intensive. Does anyone have any recommendations on what I should buy? Thanks.

Bob

Re:My 1st Mac - what laptop should I buy?
Wednesday, July 22 2009 @ 03:19 PM CDT

Here are the system requirements for garageband '09
click-->"GB '09"

I like the MacBook Pro, but check'em all out:
"Compare Laptops"

Load up with memory:
click-->"More Memory the Better"

Here is a good beginners resource:
click-->"Hangtime's GB FAQ"

And here is another place to hang out and get answers:
click-->"Apple Support Discussions"

Re:My 1st Mac - what laptop should I buy?
Wednesday, July 22 2009 @ 03:49 PM CDT

If it was my decision and I had the extra money for a play-toy, it would be the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro with all the extra bells and whistles I could afford.

Example: A MacBook Pro, at least a 15 inch display, 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB memory, 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm; At $3,650 it's still a huge rip off for the money.

I guess it's all about what you like to spend your money on.

Re:My 1st Mac - what laptop should I buy?
Wednesday, July 22 2009 @ 03:52 PM CDT

If you want to run GB (GarageBand) on a laptop, any of Apple's current crop will do a fine job on that.

One thing to keep in mind though is that even though the laptop's processors can keep up with about anything you're likely to do in GB, the 5400rpm disk drives are a little more limiting.

Another thing that is a must on any computer doing Audio, and especially Video work is to Max out the memory on what ever system you end up buying. The more memory you have the more speed and power you'll have at your fingertips to do whatever it is you want to do.

My advice is to get the best Apple Laptop you can afford, upgrade the memory to the maximum the system will hold, and if there is an option for a 7200rpm drive, get that with it. If there isn't an option from Apple, or if it's just to costly to get the memory and 7200rpm drive from Apple, you can always get them from a reputable vendor, like "Other World Computing", and install them yourself.

Note: You will save a lot of money if you do these upgrades yourself, always assuming you feel comfortable doing that kind of work on your new computer.

Also consider this. If you really get into doing music, eventually you're going to want to move up to a more powerful and capable DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) , such as Logic, or some other high end DAW. That power comes at a price, and the price is you need a computer capable of handling the additional power requirements the software puts on the system.

I am currently running Logic Express 8 on both my iMac (2.0g Core 2 Duo with 4 g Ram), and on my 13" MacBook (2.4g Core 2 Duo with 4g Ram). On the MacBook, I replaced the Apple factory 120g 5400rpm drive with an Hitachi 320g 7200rpm drive to insure I had the power and speed I needed on the laptop to do reliable field recordings should I want to.

I've had as many as 55 track running at one time on the iMac and it ran just fine. Some of the tracks were Software Instruments, some were regular Audio tracks I recorded in the studio, and some were Loops.

Because I've put in the memory to the limit on both machines, and changed out the hard drive on the MacBook, either one of these will run any of the songs I've built in Logic without hesitation.

So you asked, I'm telling you what works for me. Hope this helps you out in deciding what to do.

Check out my artists page and a few of my songs to hear the results I've gotten using GB, Logic, and my iMac and MacBook.

Good luck to you Bob

Ed

p.s. One thing that will make life a lot easier on what ever you buy is to get a second monitor to run along with the Laptop's monitor as an extension of the desktop. You'll be amazed at how helpful and productive that one thing will make your music making experience with whatever you get.

Ed

Re:My 1st Mac - what laptop should I buy?
Wednesday, July 22 2009 @ 04:11 PM CDT

Hi I guess the first question is why a laptop ?? Very important question actually..Taylor

Re:My 1st Mac - what laptop should I buy?
Wednesday, July 22 2009 @ 04:16 PM CDT

Quote by: taylormorgan Hi I guess the first question is why a laptop ?? Very important question actually..Taylor

Actually, Ye$

Re:My 1st Mac - what laptop should I buy?
Saturday, August 08 2009 @ 12:26 AM CDT

you can buy from their and need more search the search it

Apple MacBook Pro MB990LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop
http://tinyurl.com/lpxtz8
Toshiba Satellite A505-S6973 16.0-Inch Laptop - Black/Grey

http://tinyurl.com/ngva2b

Re:My 1st Mac - what laptop should I buy?
Saturday, August 08 2009 @ 01:58 AM CDT

running logic express on a regular old macbook and it's doing fine. i added more ram, but other than that it's stock. i've had up to 25 tracks, loads of effects and never have any problems. i bought one the last gen black macbooks for $800. love it. actually like it better than the brand spanking new aluminum macbook i got from my job.

Re:My 1st Mac - what laptop should I buy?
Saturday, August 08 2009 @ 11:35 AM CDT

.......I

Re:My 1st Mac - what laptop should I buy?
Saturday, August 08 2009 @ 12:02 PM CDT

Personally I'd prefer the 17" just for the extra screen real estate. GB might be ok on a 15" though. It's just my preference.

Also, as others have noted. Go for the 7200 RPM hard drive. I can't stress this enough, don't buy your RAM from Apple. RAM upgrades are relatively simple on macs these days and Apple charges an arm and a leg comparatively for their build to order RAM upgrades. There are many other companies out there that will sell you RAM at half the price Apple charges.

I like crucial myself, though they're a tad bit more expensive, you usually get good quality RAM from them. Most of the time they will also list certain RAM they have for mac specifically. Last time I went RAM shopping I got lost in a sea of technicalities (EEC, non-EEC, DDR2/3, 667MHz, 1066MHz, etc.) I found some that said "for mac pro" and bought that ; ) The modern mac continues to dull my tech savvy with it's "works great out of the box" and "doesn't break" stability.

I really don't miss OS9, I swear ; )