Should your laptop be dedicated to Pro Tools only??

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newtimer
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Should your laptop be dedicated to Pro Tools only??

Post by newtimer » Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:43 am

I'm in the process of buying an Apple Powerbook and would like to be able to use it for recording on Pro Tools LE, but would also like to be able to surt the internet on it using Firewire (I think that's what it's called) wireless internet.

Does anybody see anything bad with this? Do most people here just use their laptops for recording music and nothing else? Or is it okay to have other software on it?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

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rhintz
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Re: Should your laptop be dedicated to Pro Tools only??

Post by rhintz » Thu Nov 04, 2004 5:47 am

It's perfectly normal to have an array of software on your PowerBook. The problem comes into play when your trying to do multiple things at the same time. So as long as your not tracking a song, playing video files, editing photos, doing massive plugin effects and surfing the web you should be fine.

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Re: Should your laptop be dedicated to Pro Tools only??

Post by kcrusher » Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:11 am

rhintz wrote:It's perfectly normal to have an array of software on your PowerBook. The problem comes into play when your trying to do multiple things at the same time. So as long as your not tracking a song, playing video files, editing photos, doing massive plugin effects and surfing the web you should be fine.
Actually I do this all the time on my G5 desktop and G4 powerbook. OSX rocks in this respect.
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Re: Should your laptop be dedicated to Pro Tools only??

Post by syrupcore » Thu Nov 04, 2004 5:08 pm

in a perfect world, you'd dedicate it to just audio. ya know, less can go wrong that way. besides the multitasking scenarios listed above, other problems include drivers getting weird, system files getting changed.... I think the biggest problem is people downloading stupid shit and getting spyware/viruses that run in the background. If you're careful about what you're doing online and what you're downloading, you should be fine. DO NOT use microsoft programs on line (no internet explorer and no outlook). they are hacked inside and out. visit www.mozilla.org instead.

I use a PC laptop for recording as well as everything else. no problems. it would be nice to have it dedicated as all would be cleaner but hey, I'm broke. I'd rather buy a mic than a second computer.

will

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Re: Should your laptop be dedicated to Pro Tools only??

Post by d franko » Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:31 pm

newtimer wrote:would also like to be able to surt the internet on it using Firewire (I think that's what it's called) wireless internet.
Wireless internet is called WIFI. I use mu laptop for everything. The one thing you have to worry about is viruses and such and to make sure you don't have anything running in the background like virus protection when you're recording.

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Re: Should your laptop be dedicated to Pro Tools only??

Post by Family Hoof » Thu Nov 04, 2004 10:22 pm

I sold my office PC which was used for internet and writing not too long ago and now use an iBook G3 for Pro Tools LE and everything else in my life. NO regrets, no problems. Then again, I'm very very concious and careful of everything I do with it and I know how to keep it running smooth for different purposes. I agree with the above sentiments about avoiding microsoft internet products and multiple simultaneous processes.

newtimer
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Re: Should your laptop be dedicated to Pro Tools only??

Post by newtimer » Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:03 am

Really?? I never knew that about Microsoft products. I actually use Mozilla as my browser, but I use Outlook all the time. Now i'm worried about using it. Is there another program similar to Outlook that is less prone to bugs and/or hackers?

Thanks again everybody for all the feedback!!

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Re: Should your laptop be dedicated to Pro Tools only??

Post by logancircle » Wed Nov 10, 2004 1:58 pm

To make sure you don't have too much going on, go to system preferences, then in energy settings choose Highest Performance. I had my laptop set once for the screen to shut off but not go to sleep, and every time the computer made the command for the screen to shut off, my recording would stop, saying it coulnd't get data from the drive fast enough. That was bullshit, I run 24 tracks at a time no prob, but it's shite like that you gotta watch out for, that and not running anythng but your audio prog when you're rec.

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Re: Should your laptop be dedicated to Pro Tools only??

Post by maz » Wed Nov 10, 2004 2:03 pm

newtimer wrote:Really?? I never knew that about Microsoft products. I actually use Mozilla as my browser, but I use Outlook all the time. Now i'm worried about using it. Is there another program similar to Outlook that is less prone to bugs and/or hackers?

Thanks again everybody for all the feedback!!
Well the M$ software on Macs has always been kind of bloated and lame. And of course they seem to find security flaws every week, but now it seems they do the same with Mac OS X.

I use Safari or Firefox for the browser and then Apple Mail for mail, and iCal and address book for all that stuff. They still aren't quite up to the level of integration that Engourage is, but I like using all the Apple stuff 'cuz I figure that's where all the development will be happening.

Those three apps (mail, ical, address book) and a .Mac account keeps things really synced well, calendars on the web, etc.

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