help buying a mac

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hauser gabone
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help buying a mac

Post by hauser gabone » Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:10 am

so, i am currently recording on a 16-track machine and using a PC to mix my songs in acid pro..simple enough...but, i'm moving to vancouver for the summer (maybe longer) and i wanna get a mac and a motu traveler.
i was at the mac store, looking at some powerbooks..but i am totally new to macs and i want to make sure i take care off everything i need to...here is what im looking at.
powerbook g4
# 1.256GB DDR333 (256MB built-in + 1GB SO-DIMM)
# 80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400rpm
# 8x SuperDrive (DVD?RW/CD-RW)
# AirPort Extreme Card
# Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
# 1.5GHz PowerPC G4
# NVIDIA GeForce FX GO 5200 with 64MB DDR Video Memory
# 12.1-inch TFT Display

it came out to about 1800 bucks, i would appreciate anyones suggestions.
i'm sitting here in a moustache cause it needs to recharge

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Post by helmuth » Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:50 am

there will be a macbook 12,3" widescreen ibook subsitute in a month or so

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Jeff White
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Post by Jeff White » Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:53 am

My suggestion:

Look for your Powerbook on eBay. I have bought both of my Macs from private auctions on eBay and saved a ton of money (Dual 1.8GHZ G5 - $1670 shipped August 2004... went for $2000 at the time / Powerbook 1.5GHZ 15" Widescreen G4 - $1250 local pickup in Feb '06 - Went for $2000 in April 2005). Just be smart about it.

I suggest the 15" Powerbook because of the PCMCIA slot. You can run two independent FW busses if you pick up a PCMCIA Card. I run my 828mkii through the PCMCIA slot as FW400 and my external 160GB Lacie FW Drive as FW800 (screaming fast) off of the PB's internal FW Bus. You can always daisy chain the external drive between the PB and the Traveler and use a 12" PB. You're also going to have the ability to add another 768MB RAM to the 15" PB (2 gigs of RAM).

In order to record any serious track counts you are going to need to pick up an external FW drive. Keep the operating system and your record drive separate.

I used my PB for it's first remote session earlier this month. I only have 768MB of RAM, so I did some stem mixes of the tracks we were recording drums for in Digital Performer. We ended up doing 6 tracks of drums per take, an as many as 8 takes per song. Some songs had double-tracked drums. The PB handled everything like a champ. Once I max out the RAM it'll be even be more efficient.

I am assuming that you are going to use AudioDesk to record with at first. This comes included with the Traveler and is basically Digital Performer without MIDI and with less plug-in capability (I think). It's an excellent program. You will qualify for $100 off of DP5 as part of the competitive upgrade since you already will have AudioDesk.

I am a big fan of DP, MOTU, and Apple. I'm also in South Jersey. Please feel free to PM me with any specific questions. I can also show you how to set up your PB for DP, and how to get DP ready for recording on a PB (you have to make some specific settings).

Jeff
Last edited by Jeff White on Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Jeff White » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:00 am

there will be a macbook 12,3" widescreen ibook subsitute in a month or so
Sweet!

However, if you go with a MacIntel right now you will not be able to do much recording. Universal Binaries aren't ready yet (unless you use Live 5), so a PB is the way to go until then. I know that MOTU is saying late Q2 early Q3 2006 for a Universal Binary.

I personally can't wait until everything is roas-tested with the new MacIntels. Looking forward to Mac laptop getting insanely fast and breaking the 2GB of RAM barrier in the next few years. At that point I'll upgrade both of my machines to a single portable solution.

Jeff

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Post by UXB » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:03 am

Max the ram out, if you can-I would suggest 1.5 gig or more. Other than that, you should be good with the new Intel based Macs.

Do some research and make sure that the software you plan to use is compatible and drama free.

Best,
h

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Post by Jim_Boulter » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:10 am

Definitely check eBay -

I'm using an iBook G4 at 1.2ghz and only 256MB of memory (Yeah, I need to trick it out) that I had delivered to my doorstep for under $650! It is doing everything I need at the moment. We'll see how it goes when I try tracking 8 drum mics...

Since you need it only as a portable for a trip right now, don't even consider the new Intel Macs. You probably knew that, having been in a Apple store and coming out looking for a G4, but thought I'd mention it. The G4 will run everything you need today; not so with the MacBookPro. Over the next year that will start to flip-flop, so if you think you may want to keep using it over a long run, you'll want to think a little more about it.

jdub's suggestions are good. I still like the smaller form factor. I have trouble thinking of a 15" 'puter as portable, but the extra FW bus would be handy. But for sure beef up the memory and add the external drive.
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hauser gabone
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Post by hauser gabone » Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:11 pm

well, thank you everyone..

im probably not gonna do ebay..for a bunch of reasons...but, i did see on the apple website they do 'refurbished' powerbooks.

if i were to buy a new intelpc mac, i wouldnt be able to record with it?
just a little confused with that.


i have a budget of $2000-2500...not including the motu..
i dont have a problem buying new from mac, buying refurbished from mac, or buying from a local person...ebay just wont work...i really appreciate everyones help
i'm sitting here in a moustache cause it needs to recharge

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Post by Jeff White » Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:38 pm

MacIntel: No applications, aside from Abelton's Live 5, are ready for Universal Binary, which you need to be able to run on the Core Duo chips. Looking at late June thru October for this to happen. Noone knows when for sure.

Mac refurbished = YES!!! I totally forgot about that. You may want to see if you can order a refurbished one through an Apple store in Delaware in order to avoid sales tax.

If I were you, just starting out, I would either pick up a refurbished PB G4 12"-15" (at least a 1.5 Ghz G4) through Apple NOW and max out the RAM, or simply wait / hang in there, and grab a Mac Book Pro & your recording applications when they become available.

Right now is a weird time with the Core Duos because everyone is waiting for the universal binaries to be written for recording software/soft synths/etc. I guess a more simple approach to this decision would be to ask yourself how many tracks you would like to have to work with and go from there. A Powerbook is a great NOW solution, although you have to realize that you are looking at around 24 tracks MAX unless you streamline your system, max out your RAM (15" will be better for this), and use multiple busses for FW, FW800 for the record drive.

I did 18 months of research before I moved my portable rig (Alesis HD24, Mackie 1604 VLZPro for monitoring) to a PB format. I had the dual G5 at home this whole time and saw what kind of track counts I was able to get out of Digital Performer 4.12, 4.6, Live 4 & 5, etc. The most that I've mixed on the G5 at once was 22 stereo / 18 mono, which is like 62 tracks of mono SDII files in DP. I'm sure that I'll be able to get 24+ tracks out of the PB once I upgrade my RAM to a full 2gigs. I use the G5 to mix on, so my PB will always work for me in the field. As long as I can record 12-16 tracks at a time on it (track a full band) it's fine for my workflow.

I guess what I am saying is if you need more than 24 tracks, you may want to get a MacBook Pro and see what kind of track counts you are able to get out of your software of choice once it becomes available. I hear that the MacBook Pros are really fast, so it's like having a dual 2.0 G5 in a notebook. that's sick. Of course, we'll have to wait and see.

You can always get a PB for the summer, and use Audiodesk (comes free with the Traveler), and sell the PB for a MBPro once the Universal binary for Digital Performer 5 is released. You'll still qualify for Motu's competitive upgrade, and you can familiarize yourself with the Mac over the summer and be recording immediately.


Jeff

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help buying a mac

Post by nesta » Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:21 pm

totally look into the refurb: check out mac of all trades for good deals as well.

i'd definitely max out the ram as well.

i'd also look into trying to find a 7200rpm drive if possible although i can't remember if thry make them for the powerbooks or not.

just my 2cents....good luck

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how about his?

Post by supafuzz » Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:50 am

Is this good for protools 6.7? digi o02r

I can get it for $350 is this ok?

Dual 450MHz Powermac G4, each CPU has 1MB L2 cache
320MB memory
one WD 160gb 7200rpm hard drive (WD warranty till July 2006)
DVD-drive
ATI Rage128Pro video card
OSx 10.4tiger and OS9 are installed (But no CDs included).
MAG 19" Flat Screen CRT monitor


No KB/mouse.
Super 70 Studio.. Never tell a perfectionist that the mix is perfect!

http://www.super70studio.com
http://www.facebook.com/Super70Studio


now in glorious HD3

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Jeff White
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Post by Jeff White » Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:18 pm

Not... enough... power...

Try to find a Dual 1.25GB G4 at least.

Jeff

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