New mac laptop

I don’t like not seeing any posts in here lately. I know we have Mac users out there. Perhaps its because there has been no new Mac hardware coming out lately.

Well, I heard that there is a new laptop that is going to show up in the coming weeks. God I hope so, i am in the market for a new mac laptop, and the only one i would consider now is the 500 tibook or a 600 ibook. But I WANT MORE SPEED. (and screen real-estate, -> my pc laptop has 1400x1050 resolution)

::chris_borgia::

 

another laptop guy!

Hey Chris,
I'm in NYC using a Ti Book with Logic, Battery and some other goodies. Dying for Kontakt obviously. The EXS is okay, but navigation is so bad, no multis etc.... The Titanium doesn't even seem that fast to me now. I could definatley use more power. I'm glad that NI tries to conserve cpu. Though Absynth does like a lot of horsepower. Also dying for a dual 1 gig desktop. I need a few big jobs though. Did I mention I'm dying for Kontakt?

 

NYC is my favorite, lucky you!... and Kontakt is freaking awesome!!! I love it, The GUI is great to work with, the power and flexibility you get with forms of synthesis in a sampler, and it is not that processor hunger, so should perform well in all environments.

I too desire more horsepower from apple laptops. I hope this next batch has at least a 1ghz chip in it. We shall see. or perhaps a g4 chip in the ibooks, that would trigger me to buy one.

::chris_borgia::

 

new powerbook???

hey guys,

i'll be glad to talk powerbooks... i am thinking of scoring a 667/512MB/30GB powerbook to work with DP, battery and eventually kontakt.

what's your experiences w/ a powerbook? would i be better off waiting for the next gen of powerbooks? also, what's this word on new ones?! that would rock. any idea when they come out?

i'm building a small setup w/ a laptop and a motu 828 so i can compose anywhere and take it to the studio to cut audio and mix. but, i've been wrestling with whether or not the 667 would cut it. but i really don't have room right now in my apt. for a dual 1G.

later, and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

andy waddell
atlanta, ga

 

the new mac DOES cometh!

hi,

i did some rooting around on some mac rumor sites and the word is that april 31st there will be an 800mhz powerbook.

hmmm?

andy

 

I wouldn't be suppressed if this new laptop rumor is true But I would think that if there was going to be a new laptop they would announce it at the WWDC convention on the 5th and not on the 31st... Outside of that and concerning the 667's... I would hold off and see if the on-chip level 2 cache comes back up on the new ones. This supposedly is the reason why the older 500mkz is better for music apps then the 550 or 667's

-or just find yourself a 500mkz powerbook and save some money…

::chris_borgia::

 

New laptops would be nice...

...but better support for midi and audio in OS X would be nicer. I'm dying to use my Tascam 428 w/ Ableton Live in OS X, and anxiously awaiting the release of Reason 2.0.

I'd definitely be more interested in more NI products if the promised OS X releases weren't 6+ months out.

Dave

 

good points...

but the more i dig around on this, the more vibe i'm getting that perhaps this is just a teaser to passify us. that the REAL upgrade will come later in the summer and these 800mhz systems will be in and out... kinda like apple has done in the past w/ the desktops. even so much as people wondering if the screen will be redesigned for more res and stuff like that. i dunno, just read i've been reading.

i'm not sure exactly what i'll do.. i will be using this for 90% Battery & Sampletank (and once Kontakt is in, Sampletank is out). but i can't wait til the end of the year, and there's always something new to buy... eventually you just have to jump in!

i think i may look at playing it safe with this upcoming release and score a current model (hopefully with more RAM thrown in) at a better price and later this year try to upgrade if in fact this later release is true.

-a

 

ahh, new mac laptop hath arrived!

now, to make sense of it all. i am surprised they upped the screen res a bit... that's good, but still disapointing compared to a new dell.

oh well

andy

 

So TRUE!!! i want 1400 x 1050

I must admit i got all excited when i found out there was a new tibook this morning.. but still a bit to pricy for me.

that eMac looks great though as a deticated SYNTH work station? -> sweet.

::chris_borgia:

 

that emac is interesting... i didn't see any pricing.. maybe you have to be a school to get one.

i've actually considered and weighed the difference in getting a new imac vs. a powerbook. both take up about the same space.. the imac is just more awkward. but, you could still take one on vacation.

oh well, still pondering. i think i really want to score that new 667 w/ the since i'd get the new screen but up it to 1GB ram. i could end up w/ a great system but spend the same as i would have yesterday.

andy

 

yea you have to be an educatioanl customer to see the price but it is 999.00 for the eMac... CHEAP! and 17" Monitor.

::chris_borgia::

 

well, if ONLY the new imac's could at least support a dual monitor, and i would've gotten one perhaps.. but it only does a mirror and it's limited to 1024, so that's pretty worthless.. i like that the powerbook can run a dual setup at high res.

if that's ever improved or the screen it comes with was bigger.....

andy

 

a bit off subject...

chris..

i saw on another post that you have been using kontakt (i assume as a developer in beta) for a while... are you using it on a mac? if so, how is it doing CPU-wise and what kind of track count are you getting? i'm dying for some real-life stats.

i'm wondering if i can expect to get at least 16 midi channels of samples out of a 667/1GB system, plus battery in the background too.

i know you could be bound by blood convenant not to speak...

- a

 

motorola..

well, I also like fast macs.. recently apple released some lowend , but still non-cheap macs..

in germany the mac may sometime will die for that reason.. (also I do not find "commecials" like: a long limosine on some places with an imac on the roof and some "bodyguards" around (thats what they did!! really!!) that intelligent.. ;(

well, the G4 top speed is 1.2 or 1.3 max (mhz).

motorola needs to put out the g5 in masses!! soon!!.. otherwise apple will not be able to speed up their computers..

also the price politics is worse at it can be (its about more than a doulbe PC price..)

I also use mac only.. but atm there is simply no chance for apple.. too xpensive, too slow.. and os x still not perfect..

anyway.. I hope for better times.. in germany i expect the mac to die .. apple germany is quite "§$()/)"§(%"§)$%(...

so.. lets wait..

btw: the smallest mac is still more than 2000euro!..
a pc comes at 1000euro.. and faster..

a big big problem..

well ,the small PB is the only competitor right now.. (1500euro)..
800mhz max, but than also very expensive again.. thats apple..

and they say "today we do not need more speed".. ;(
they fell in love with the mac as a family ocmputer and "digital hub".. unfortunately..

•to andw: no, the mac beta is not there!! PC only atm! so take some time..

 

I would have to agree with you. Apple is pissing me off and i am a mac man.. or at least was... now, i dont know anymore. All i know is i have just bought myself a fast PC laptop for live performence and i love the power and love my big screen (1400 x 1050) and this is only available as a PC- there is no equvilent on the mac be it speed/cost/sreen rez... Sorry there just is not, they are losing and that is sad.

-cubic-

 

i promised myself i would never return to windows for music... after my logic/windows98 experiences. but now, with XP, windows is phat and stable.. i love XP! but i also love DP, so i'm really kinda stuck!

i agree that apple needs to get off their butts with advancement.. they act like every 10mhz they speed up the CPU is a huge press release that we should all fawn over!

they need to drop motorola and convince AMD to work on their chips i think. but for now, i'm stuck w/ the powerbook. can't see going back just yet.

andy

 

new-series powerbook

well, i got my new-series 667/1GB powerbook. i really like it! the new screen res is nice.

but i'm dying for kontakt! i am using battery and sampletank now, but sampletank is a serious CPU hog. i am really hoping that kontakt is more efficient. i believe it will be because battery seems really efficient and also seems to have a much lower latency than sampletank.

doing some testing, i got about 12 sampletank instruements and a battery 100MB kit running w/ one global reverb and maybe 2-3 of the sampletank instruements using their embedded FX - the other tracks dry. i was actually suprised it started topping out here! i'm hoping i can achieve more performance out of kontakt, else i'll have to sell the powerbook and dig into a desktop.

speaking of which, rumors are a potential dual-1.4 could be out late summer.

andy

 

new PB

hi andy, could you tell something about the 667mhz PB compared to the previous model.. well it was saif, the new one has a smaller cahe but has slightly more mhz.. so, how about the performance,now??

ps: yes, the problem is motorola, here.. if they can built enough processors above 1.4ghz (the g5) that will be what we need. I just hope that the pcs will not be faster,than!

 

moog,

i wish i could tell you more, but i've never owned a powerbook til now.

what system are you using? it'd be interesting to trade specs on our systems once we get kontakt running on our macs and see how they shape up.

i hear the 1.4 will still be a G4. G5 is far far away i think.

andy