Should I dump the powerbook for powermac?

[Loren Littlejohn]

????

I don't want a mac pro reason being I would have compatiability issues from hell and can't afford that kind of nightmare (need to keep the same software). It's not an even trade up (I would have to put up money) but I was thinking of a powermac dual 1.8 with a gig of ram and at least a 100gig HD for a start (and putting in 2 more drives down the road and adding some ram as well). And after doing reasearch on the evilbay I would still have to fork out around $500 of my own to trade up.

Thoughts?

 

[greyskull]

macbook pro? or even just a macbook?

 

[flytrapx]

That will definitely bump up your speed and options but I would throw some more ram in out of the gates. OSX is a ram hog so 2 GB+ would be ideal.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

macbook pro? or even just a macbook?

Well when I first got into recording I thought "I will get a powermac (top of the line at the time) all maxed out and use it for recording".

I was a newb and as of right now regret not getting a powermac when I was buying instead.

Reasons:

1: only 1 firewire port (yes I know you can use a hub but not for some units like the liquid mix or duende)

2: Only 2 usb ports. This area has especially fucked with me I have 2 devices that have to be plugged strait to the buss in order to work so using a hub (even a usb 2.0 one) doesn't work and thus I usually have to sac the mouse during recording.

3: Limited upgradeablity on macs notebooks in the RAM department (even the bigger ones). My mac can only hold as much as I have in it wich is a gig and a quarter. Bigger macs is only 2, I don't want to be limited.

4: I don't have to be portable and if I do I would rather have a tower and rack mount it than have what I have now (don't get me wrong laptops are the shit and if I could have both it would happen).

5: Upgrading to a intel mac would mean that alot of my software would be either slow or incompatible (plug ins) and I really really don't want to upgrade software that I bought just one year ago.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

That will definitely bump up your speed and options but I would throw some more ram in out of the gates. OSX is a ram hog so 2 GB+ would be ideal.

Your right this is #1 priority it wouldn't be long before I went and bought some more ram.

 

[greyskull]

fair enough mate!
ive thought the same!
im mostly mobile or running out of other peples studios at the mo, so macbook pro is just fine for me!
would you really have to pay just to upgrade your software to universal binary?
if so, whoever makes it is a chode

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

fair enough mate!
ive thought the same!
im mostly mobile or running out of other peples studios at the mo, so macbook pro is just fine for me!
would you really have to pay just to upgrade your software to universal binary?
if so, whoever makes it is a chode

Yeah as far as I know SL3 would have to run in rosetta so my guess is that it would be slow, but I dunno maybe I should give it a go on my parents intel imac at least I would have an idea of how much slower (if at all) it would be. Problem is that thier mac only has 512megs of RAM uke: so it doesn't exactly run super fast atm. But I am mainly interested in CPU usage and I don't think I would have to have alot of RAM to test that.

 

[Kevin Kitchel]

I would rather spend $1000 on a laptop, and $1000 on a desktop than $2000 on a laptop. I use a MacBook 1.83 for mobile recording, and a G5 dual 2.0 for mixing. Each is tailored to its needs, and I end up with a lot more horsepower for the money. The Logic dongle dances nicely between the two also.

 

[flytrapx]

Eventually you'll have to move up to an Intel mac, but when is up to you. I'm not familiar with Cubase but most companies should be able to provide an update to run as Universal Binary. If they do charge you then it should only be a nominal fee and not a full re-purchase.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Eventually you'll have to move up to an Intel mac, but when is up to you. I'm not familiar with Cubase but most companies should be able to provide an update to run as Universal Binary. If they do charge you then it should only be a nominal fee and not a full re-purchase.

$99 - SL3 to Studio 4

Not so bad for upgrading the DAW it's the plugs that are a bitch.

I agree that I will eventually have to go intel just don't wanna at this point.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I would rather spend $1000 on a laptop, and $1000 on a desktop than $2000 on a laptop. I use a MacBook 1.83 for mobile recording, and a G5 dual 2.0 for mixing. Each is tailored to its needs, and I end up with a lot more horsepower for the money. The Logic dongle dances nicely between the two also.

Couln't agree with you more, however I was a clueless newb when it came to recording when I bought my mac so...

I would love to keep it but I can't afford to, not going to do this yet (plan to this year but not imeadiatly) but it's comming.