good laptops for Recording??

[che]

NickBatzdorf,yeah i feel the tip of that spike diggin in pretty deep I think I mentioned that we weren't really sure what the point is of getting an apple/mac and running windows programs on it. If I want to run windows, why not get a machine made for windows????? So, are you saying that the mac's hardware is superior? Not trying to make this a mac vs pc debate....just trying to get a clear understanding why I would want to run windows on a mac? Hopefully Justin checks back and gets something out of this.

[che]

one more question Can the windows version(s) on the mac run at 64 bit? cause that's what we're running sonar at?

[nickbatzdorf]

che, Apple switched to Intel processors a while ago, so as far as Windows is concerned there's essentially no difference. So YES I'M SAYING THE HARDWARE IS SUPERIOR...although I mean that as a rating rather than a comparison, since we're not mentioning any specific model of laptop. That's why you'd get a Mac laptop to run Windows.Here's your answer about 64-bit support:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Camp_(software)

[nickbatzdorf]

And this isn't a Mac/PC issue as far as I'm concerned either - it's a matter of the hardware being very good.

[mazz]

My wife recently picked up a refurbished MacBook Pro from Apple.com and just finished installing Windows XP on it. She got some software called Parallels that basically allows her to seamlessly switch between Mac and Windows programs without re-booting. Now she can use her business software on the Windows side and do e-mail and web stuff on the Mac side without having to worry about the machine becoming a magnet for all kinds of e-detritus like her Toshiba machine did, since she won't ever go online with a Windows machine again (speaking of Windows, I thought more than once she was going to throw her Toshiba laptop out of one!). If for nothing else than peace around the house, I'm glad she switched back to Mac! FWIW,Mazz

[che]

Nick,Thanks for the response. I will look at that link in bit. Seeing as I haven't had a mac laptop, only desktop, before, I can only take others advice. I would assume that things have greatly improved since we had an I-mac that was able to switch operating systems It seemed slow. As far as PC type laptops go we've actually had very good luck....and it could be just that, luck. Seeing as we are pretty knowledgeable about pc's we usually know what to chose and what to stay away from. Just a bit concerned this time because this new laptop will need to be able to handle quite a load with us recording etc...Mazz,One thing is for sure if you use a windows based system for internet.... You MUST be a virus warrior. You cannot leave it to luck that you won't get attacked because you will!!!!! We faithfully run windows updates, virus scans etc... and every once and again some Ad ware will still sneak through. So, I can undertand the frustration. It's just a part of doing business to us. Being that my husband is a web programmer he HAS to use a pc. We had a mac for testing purposes to make sure his web pages viewed properly on a mac. It's sitting under at table somewhere now. We've had good luck with his Dell laptop (other than my daughter spilling apple juice in the keyboard). He's still using it and we got it in 2001. I have a friend that's a DIE HARD mac person. He's had to relpace his HD 3 or 4 times on his laptop. Lost everything. That scares me. We've never lost a HD yet. So much to process and decisions to make. Agghhh

[mazz]

Yeah, she had all that virus and spyware stuff going on her computer but it became a huge waste of time and very stressful for her to deal with it. She even hired a guy to come over and try to make it better but it just kept getting slower and slower. She had to unplug it from the internet when she wasn't using it.Needless to say, with the Mac she'll be tons more productive without having to deal with putting the Windows side on the internet. How much is your time worth? My wife could have bought 2 macs with the time she wasted trying to get her Windows machine to work right!Mazz

[che]

Mazz,Believe it or not (knock on wood and cross my fingers) we have it at a very manageble state right now. Doesn't consume much time at all. just set it to run the updates on monday and run a scan every so often. Either way it's a devil we HAD to tame. NO choice. Due to our line of work we have to use Window's based applications and we really like the control over the hardware in a PC. We have a web server, a database server and an email server plus 3 work stations and 2 laptops on a network. 1 computer off the network. The programs we use are proven on PC's and we have not even considered having a dual based OS for such intricate applications. I guess that's why we are really trying to figure out the correct way to go for our portable studio. We research a lot and are not opposed to mac's at all. We just do not wany any compatibility issues going from PC's to Mac's etc.... I had thought "Why put windows on a Mac"...and still do a bit, but if a Mac is "physically" more stable than a pc laptop....then we'd consider it. I'm looking for what's best performance wise. I just cannot grasp what makes a mac "pysically" better, yet, because I don't know enough about them. Will definitely look ino it.Nick,If you can point me in the right direction on Mac's performance, maybe even vs. PC I would greatly appreciate it.

[nickbatzdorf]

Parallels and VM Fusion (is it VMware? I forget) switch between the two OSes in real time, but I'm not sure there isn't a performance hit and I'm even less sure that they'll work with real-time audio software. That's an interesting question, actually.che, I'm not saying Macs are physically better than every laptop in the world, just that the current configurations have been proven to work reliably for thousands of musicians and they'd be a very safe bet. As to performance, you just have to figure they use Core2 Duo processors, so their performance is going to be similar to any other laptop using the same chip/speed (although there are different varieties of all these chips, and I haven't kept up with that). The current MacBook Pros will hold 4GB of RAM, which is what finally convinced me to switch from my then 7-1/2-year-old Powerbook: with 4GB and a fast processor, the machine is now useful in the studio; the other machine was and still is perfectly fine for email, internet, word processing, and storing pictures when I'm traveling.

[che]

Thanks Nick! I am off to do what seems to be never ending research. Probably won't purchase anything until late May. So I have a bit of time.