Which laptop to make music?

[Bricey]

Hey guys,

Since I'm heading off to college the fall of this year (Five Towns College if you were curious), I was wondering what kind of laptop I should buy to bring with me. Do you guys have any suggestions? I want to do a little recording here and there in my dorm, if you guys know some good laptops that can run smoothly and isnt too costly, that'd be great!

My budget is <$1000

Or is this whole idea just stupid because I'm going to a music college, why don't I just use the studios on campus? :-|

- Thanks

[Getup and Dance]

I would suggest a desktop if your looking for under $1000

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=999988000050004&type=product&id=pcmprd88100050004

That ones not bad.


But I also would say buy a basic system and upgrade it yourself. That is usually pretty cheap.

[patrickhowell]

Apple MacBook is $999 with Student Discount. Refurbished models are even cheaper (as low as $849 currently), and still come with the same warranty as the new models.

[Tristan Needler]

You can make a bloody nice desktop for a thousand dollars. Get a good quiet case, an Intel Core 2 Quad, and build it around that.

I need to find the money to buy a good computer because my laptop doesn't cut it if I'm going for more than eight or nine tracks.

And my laptop is one of the ones that was recommended as suitable for recording by Protools.


If you want to do any semi-serious recording and it has to be a laptop, go Apple if you can stand to use OSX.

[patrickhowell]

You can make a bloody nice desktop for a thousand dollars. Get a good quiet case, an Intel Core 2 Quad, and build it around that.

I need to find the money to buy a good computer because my laptop doesn't cut it if I'm going for more than eight or nine tracks.

Since he mentioned that he's going to school for music, and he has access to their studios, I think a laptop makes more sense in this case. Also, I'm running a 2.0 GHz Core Duo MacBook with 2GB Ram and a 250GB hard drive... I have no problems with running over 40 tracks in Logic

[Beefcake]

Hey guys,

Since I'm heading off to college the fall of this year (Five Towns College if you were curious), I was wondering what kind of laptop I should buy to bring with me. Do you guys have any suggestions? I want to do a little recording here and there in my dorm, if you guys know some good laptops that can run smoothly and isnt too costly, that'd be great!

My budget is <$1000

Or is this whole idea just stupid because I'm going to a music college, why don't I just use the studios on campus? :-|

- Thanks

yeah man, definitely get the macbook. im going to westconn next year for jazz studies and they said any music student would highly benefit from getting a mac

[SLoT]

macbook.



do it.

[JordanLML]

macbook

but just use the college facilities to do recording... you can usually book time for free anytime, as long as it is available

[brianl7]

I have a macbook and it is perfect for what I need.

It's protable and a workhorse.

If you do decide on a macbook, I recommend upgrading the ram to 2 GB. That should be plenty for most projects.

[ajfoucault]

MacBook Thin Air is the way to go

[staywhatyouare9]

if you want to make music get an apple (if you want to do anything without your computer crapping out on you get an apple) you can get education discount and garageband is an excellent free program for recording and editing music

[brianl7]

MacBook Thin Air is the way to go
How is the macbook air the way to go?

It only has one USB and no firewire.

[patrickhowell]

If you do decide on a macbook, I recommend upgrading the ram to 2 GB. That should be plenty for most projects.

Do that, but DO NOT buy the upgrade from Apple. You can buy 2gb for $42 or 4gb for $82 here (http://dealnews.com/memory/prices/systems/Apple-Mac-Book/43938/2GBx2.html). Those upgrades cost $100 and $500 respectively through Apple. The RAM and Hard Drive in the MacBook are meant to be user-upgradable... I've upgraded both in mine.

[patrickhowell]

MacBook Thin Air is the way to go

4200rpm hard drive. One USB. No firewire. No optical drive. Crippled processor. Terrible, mono speaker. RAM soldered to the Logic Board. No audio in jack. $700 over his budget.

I certainly wouldn't recommend one in this case. It has a very small niche market for hip on-the-go businessmen (with a desktop at home), or rich people who want to get on the internet. It's not something I would recommend for any college student, especially one who is planning on doing any audio whatsoever.

[The Boathouse]

Yea, fuck Air's for anything beyond, oh I don't know, checking your email or pooping around the internet. I'm running the same model of macbook mr. howell is using, and I am encourage getting one.