I have a question. I am going off to college, and I really won't have much room to take all of my recording stuff with me. My sister told me she was going to buy me a computer, but she couldn't spend much more than $1500 on it. I like the idea of an 800mhz iBook w/640mb of ram, and I was thinking of using an MBOX. Does anyone have any experience with an iBook and the MBOX, or does anyone have any other suggestions on a good recording solution I can use? I realize that a Powermac is the best solution for recording, but that is out of my budget. I can get more computer for my money if I go with the iMac, but I like the idea of a notebook. I suppose I could strech for a 12in PB, but that would really be a strech. Any ideas or experience shared would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I have a question about the iBook and audio.
- Thread starter Groovsonic
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
That is what I call a sister
Sorry but I can't help you with your question.
I just wanted to ask whether your sister might donate me a computer as well??
That is one h*** of a sister. Now be god to her. Promise?
Sorry but I can't help you with your question.
I just wanted to ask whether your sister might donate me a computer as well??
That is one h*** of a sister. Now be god to her. Promise?
Re: I have a question about the iBook and audio.
Well, I can't offer you first hand knowledge of audio on an iBook, but I have used Pro Tools Free on my Beige G3 266mhz with 256mb RAM. Now, Pro Tools Free has less features than the version you will be getting for the MBox, and this was running in OS 9. But it still ran perfectly fine on my system so I wouldn't worry about it running on your iBook. The main problem you will have is hard drive speed. Recording onto the internal laptop drive is probably not the best idea because laptop drives are usually only 4500rpm and they are being used for the system as well. I would highly suggest getting an external Firewire drive to record onto and you shouldn't have any problems .
Well, I can't offer you first hand knowledge of audio on an iBook, but I have used Pro Tools Free on my Beige G3 266mhz with 256mb RAM. Now, Pro Tools Free has less features than the version you will be getting for the MBox, and this was running in OS 9. But it still ran perfectly fine on my system so I wouldn't worry about it running on your iBook. The main problem you will have is hard drive speed. Recording onto the internal laptop drive is probably not the best idea because laptop drives are usually only 4500rpm and they are being used for the system as well. I would highly suggest getting an external Firewire drive to record onto and you shouldn't have any problems
.I used an iBook as my only computer for a few years until recently buying a dual-gig. I was using a 500mhz w/384 MB of RAM. I used the M-Audio Duo as an audio interface and it was cool. I got the dual-gig because I started doing more electronic stuff and wanting to be able to have more plug-ins open and virtual instruments up in real time. If you are mostly working with audio files, I would recommend also getting an external firewire drive. It should increase the number of tracks you can have open at once. One reason is that you can get a 7200 rpm drive that is faster than the 5400 rpm drive that comes inside the iBook. Another reason is that it is a good idea to have audio tracks on a different drive than your OS. This will ease the stress of your primary drive and you'll have fewer problems with fragmentation. You can get them pretty cheap on http://www.pricewatch.com I got a 100 GB 7200 rpm drive for $160.
If I were doing normal multi-track recording with a normal amount of effects on each track, the iBook would still be fine for me. And even with iBook, I was able to add a bunch of plugins to something and bounce it to another track. I would go for the iBook now and have money for extras like a hard drive, M-Box, RAM and other little things that you still need.
Good luck
If I were doing normal multi-track recording with a normal amount of effects on each track, the iBook would still be fine for me. And even with iBook, I was able to add a bunch of plugins to something and bounce it to another track. I would go for the iBook now and have money for extras like a hard drive, M-Box, RAM and other little things that you still need.
Good luck
Re: That is what I call a sister
Oh yeah, she is "da bomb". I am 20, and I think she was so glad that I was trying to get moving with my education that she promised she would buy me a computer if I got into college.
I am definitely grateful to have her for a sister.
Oh yeah, she is "da bomb". I am 20, and I think she was so glad that I was trying to get moving with my education that she promised she would buy me a computer if I got into college.
I am definitely grateful to have her for a sister.
