new pc verse new mac laptop ( NEED HELP)

[daniell]

hi i wondered if i were to get a laptop for pro tools 9 , if i were to go with a pc that i will need alot of power. using plugin's and mixing what would be the best thing to do. i was looking at pc audio labs laptops. and when I configure it on there web site it gets up to the same price as a mac.

i was wondering if it is better to get a i7 dual core at let's say 3 ghz or a quad at 1.7 ghz is ther any off the self pc that work well for under 1500.OO or should i spend the money and just get a 15 inch mac with a i5 or i7 with 4 gigs of ram. i here people having problems using pc's.

i really need some help on this

THANK'S FOR THE HELP

[Dism]

For $1500 you could just build yourself a desktop that will smoke any laptop, Mac or otherwise.

If you want power, a laptop will never give you the grunt a desktop can. The i7 thread in the Windows LE forum is very useful...

http://duc.avid.com/forumdisplay.php?f=17

[miketeachesclass]

hi i wondered if i were to get a laptop for pro tools 9 , if i were to go with a pc that i will need alot of power. using plugin's and mixing what would be the best thing to do. i was looking at pc audio labs laptops. and when I configure it on there web site it gets up to the same price as a mac.

i was wondering if it is better to get a i7 dual core at let's say 3 ghz or a quad at 1.7 ghz is ther any off the self pc that work well for under 1500.OO or should i spend the money and just get a 15 inch mac with a i5 or i7 with 4 gigs of ram. i here people having problems using pc's.

i really need some help on this

THANK'S FOR THE HELP

If you're definitely going to use a laptop, I'd say "for the love of all that is holy, get a Mac". --and I'm a person using a PC laptop. Mac laptop configurations tend to be approved by Avid, while most PC configurations are not.

If you're going the desktop route, Dism's right. A PC that will Smoke a Mac can be had at a much lower price. And tweaking can make the PC worth it.

[YoRugMan]

If you're definitely going to use a laptop, I'd say "for the love of all that is holy, get a Mac". --and I'm a person using a PC laptop. Mac laptop configurations tend to be approved by Avid, while most PC configurations are not.


+1,000.

The Windows laptop I'm currently using will be the last I have for music production.
The desktop world is a little different for me - just when I get to liking the configuration of a MAC, I look at the price and can't help but think about the sort of Windows machine I could have for the same money.
:rolleyes:

[AxeDye]

For audio get a mac.

Pro tools cant even do much with out 64 bit technology anyways. Also unless you plan to get a pci e card set up down the line laptops now a days are improving a lot. Im getting a sweet deal on a core i7 macbook pro, pretty excited about it.

Whatevet you get make sure it hasat least a 7200rpm boot drive.

[YoRugMan]

Whatevet you get make sure it hasat least a 7200rpm boot drive.

....make that at least 2 drives.

[lkingston]

I have an HP laptop that is about three years old with an Intel Core2 Duo processor and nVidia graphics. I upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit and spent maybe a $150 on 8 GB of RAM and about that much again on a second 7200 RPM internal drive (there was an empty drive bay). A somewhat involved pop song with mostly virtual instruments as well as guitar and vocal audio tracks will push the CPU to just under 30%. The reason I mention this here is because at this point, computers are to the point where any reasonably well configured computer should be able to run Pro Tools extremely well. For large virtual instruments, many laptops now will let you put in 8GB of RAM and that really makes a difference. So will a second fast internal drive.

I don't need a new system because my current notebook is doing so well, but if I was, I would look for the following:

1/ Fast Intel multicore processor that is the laptop low energy and heat dissipation model. I would get an i7 if I was buying now.

2/ An empty drive bay for a second drive.

3/ An eSata port. I use eSata external drives quite a bit.

4/ A numeric keypad. There are just too many Pro Tools shortcuts that use it.

5/ 64 bit OS.

6/ A graphics card with it's own processor and RAM. I prefer nVidia because it handles h.264 acceleration better.

7/ Room for 8GB or more of RAM. RAM is king when it comes to playing back streaming samples with large buffers.

8/ A Bluray optical drive (OK, not for Pro Tools, but for watching movies ...)

I looked at the Macbook Pro when I bought my laptop but it was a lot more money and didn't have a numeric keyboard, eSata, or a Bluray drive. One thing Apple does right is to use the proper low voltage and heat laptop versions of the Intel CPUs. Most laptop problems are related to CPUs overheating. The proper notebook version of a CPU makes all the difference in the world on a laptop. I wouldn't buy any laptop where they had compromised and used a desktop CPU. Unfortunately, that includes most laptops. You really have to look these days to find a laptop that isn't using a cheaper desktop CPU.

[TOM@METRO]

virtually all of my work is in the studio where desktops are king. If I were to need a laptop for any serious work, it would be a Mac.