Hmm gonna buy me a new laptop and trying to decide which brand to go for, im kinda leaning towards apple laptops as they are more compatable with mixers, pre amps, dv software etc.
Requirments:
Firewire
Fast for editing recorded music, unicycling videos
Able to upload direct from a dv cam
Blah blah…
Wanna be able to edit alot of my stuff (music, videos, designs - photoshop, website, flash)
Which you think i should go for?
the new film and television department at school use mac computers, while the rest of the school uses just the IBm windows normal ones
You mention mixers and preamps and such. Are you gong to be making a home studio for recording or mixing audio and/or video?
Is there specific hardware and software that you already have? Does that hardware or software work equally well on a Mac or Windows?
no question, apple, it already comes preloaded with ilife so it has imovie and idvd already on there!!!
http://www.apple.com/getamac/
go there, then click the out of the box one
i’m gonna get a mac once the obsolete quad core is replaced with intel chips, then I’m going all out!
macs have intel chips!
not their top of the line systems that have crappy rendering abilities for such an expensive machine
Go for a Mac I have 6 or 7 Macintoshes and a few windows computers lying around the house and for the things you want to be able to do a mac has the software included when you buy it and right now I have a hader time finding media software for my windows and I have made several movies on my Macs. Lets just say I am a true mac addict. all the Intel chip is doing is making the performace better ad allowing dual boot. if possible get one of the new mac laptops with the built in iSight.
As JC said, start by considering your existing software and hardware. Macs will plug into most any hardware to that isn’t usually an issue. Mostly it’s about software you may already have, or hardware that will only work with Windows software.
But you can still work around that with a new Mac if you want. I recommend the brand new 17" MacBook Pro. This is the machine that suddenly made my 2003 PowerBook “old.” They look almost identical on the outside, but the new MacBook has the Intel Core Duo processor (and other stuff), so if you had to you could use it to run Windows also.
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/
It comes with 1 Firewire 400, 1 Firewire 800 and 3 USB ports (mine only has 2). Plug away!
Yes, for desktop machines, I don’t think anyone knows when they’re going to come out with an Intel version of the PowerMac. They generally don’t announce these things in advance. A system that works, because then there are never delays!
Home studio - Yes
Hardware/Software - None yet
Go with one of the intel macs. I have a MacBook Pro and it’s pretty sweet, but I don’t do video stuff on it. If for some reason you decide OS X isn’t right for you, you can put windows on it for a slower running spyware and virus infested monster (as is the case with most typical windows systems). Or you could also put a linux install on it as well. For me, I run Mac OS, and I use parallels to run a windows server 2003 r2 and freebsd server in virtualization so I have a complete test/development system. (I have the windows as I need it for a new website I am working on, but eww… good thing virtualization will allow me to shutdown and restart from a “good” image every once in a while).
A way to go about it is to work backwards. Figure out what hardware you want. Figure out what software either comes with the hardware or works with the hardware. Then figure out if the Mac or the PC is the better option for that hardware and software. Then verify with the vendor, or a knowledgeable sales person, that the hardware will work without issues with the specific laptop.
The hardware support for studio gear can be fussy. It may work with some computers and not others. You don’t want to end up with a computer that is in the “other” category.
There are compatibility problems that can hang you up, and those problems are most likely to happen on a laptop. Some audio hardware will only work with certain Firewire or USB chips. Some laptops do a lot of IRQ sharing which can cause problems for Firewire or USB audio. Some of the inegrated video chips in laptops don’t play well with real time audio recording. That’s why you need to verify that a specific laptop will indeed work with the hardware you want to get. Some laptops are better for home studio work than others.
If you check the community boards and support boards for home studio equipment you will find people having hardware troubles on both the PC and Mac. A Mac isn’t immune from things just not working as expected.
One option is to find someone who has a setup to do what you want, and someone who is happy with how that setup works together, and buy exactly what they have. A knowledgeable sales person should also know system configurations that will in fact work well together.
Are you planning to do any recording, podcasting, or just editing?
mac is the easy choice and could be a very nice machine depending on your needs. my next machine might be an intel mac loaded with linux. but for sheer power it’s hard to beat some of the stuff that runs on linux or windows machines, like Sony vegas video and some higher level home studio stuff. plus x86 machines are usually cheaper, more powerful, and more expandable/adaptable/upgradable.
Cheaper unless you count the anti-virus, anti-malware and utility software that is practially mandatory to have to keep your PC running well. That kind of evens things up in the price area. If not, don’t forget the annual subscriptions for updates.
But again, JC has the more detailed info. Depending on your hardware, some systems may be better to use than others. Get the computer that will work best with your sound equipment.