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Buying a MBP after buying a 1 year-old PC notebook. Bad idea?

Switch to the mac. You won't regret it.

I work in IT and do hobbyist game development (and photography, and music creation) on the side and those two first ones are considered "PC dominated" industries.

When I switched to mac it was night and day. I no longer had to fuss with different things in the operating system, I was able to just work and get projects finished. Its great to be able to throw huge amounts of data at the computer and not have it struggle to keep up, or crash, or have any of the other "fun" things that used to happen on windows happen.

Not to mention there are features built into the OS which are great and help with productivity such as spaces, built in raid support, extremely simple networking, support for lots of ram (64 bit OS), etc.

I have not regretted my decision one bit.
 
I don't think investing in the MBP for the reasons you stated in your original post would be a good idea. IMO, it's actually a pretty bad decision from a financial standpoint.

You've already got a laptop that works fine and is most likely well beyond any specs for most of any audio software out there (be it professional or beginner).

Personally I'd invest in something else (guitar pedals, amps, drum machine, software, etc.) before getting a new laptop since the HP isn't holding you back in any way.
 
"That means I would have 2 notebooks: one for school and the other for music production. I'm really contemplating because MBPs are more expensive and money is a bit tight for me. I am not sure if I should wait another couple years if I should upgrade to a MBP for all my needs (school and production). Ideas?"

You asked for ideas, here are mine.

If you want a Mac for music production, a very important question to ask BEFORE any other is:
"Do I absolutely HAVE TO HAVE portability?"

If you don't _absolutely_ have to have a laptop Mac, you might do much better with something like a 27" iMac.

Reason: THE DISPLAY.

I'm sure you've seen digital audio apps running (either on the Mac or a PC). One factor that makes a BIG difference in trying to run such software is a lot of "screen real estate" on which to set up your various windows, such as the project timeline, the mixer window, etc.

Since much of what happens in audio apps is horizontal scrolling, the 27" display gives you plenty of room for that as well. It will mean less and less "jumpiness" as your project runs onscreen. With a smaller screen it would be frequently "shifting" from left-to-right, left-to-right, left-to-right -- well, you get the point.

One other nice thing about the iMac is that even though it's intended to be a "desktop" computer, it's still "luggable" when you need to take it somewhere, because it's all in one piece. No, not "portable" like a laptop, but much easier to take with you than an ordinary desktop computer.

The MacBook Pros are great, no doubt. But for digital audio, unless you need something to carry around frequently, the iMac is the better buy.

One other thought:

You asked about software.
I've not tried them all, but of all the digital audio apps that I _have_ tried, the most satisfying to use is Cubase. Numerous audio interfaces come with the free version (called "Cubase LE") bundled right in. The next "step up" is "Cubase Essentials", and while it doesn't have all the features the "full version" of the program does, it costs 'WAY less ($99 for students), and features built-in pitch correction.

Cubase has both Mac and Windows versions. I've never used the Windows version, but I would reckon that the files created by Cubase are interchangeable across platforms (could be wrong on this).

Especially where audio editing is involved, I've yet to see ANYthing out there that surpasses Cubase for ease-of-use. Logic can't touch it. Not sure about ProTools (but then, you need ProTools hardware to run the software, or the M-Audio version).
 
kny3twalker said:
OR you can configure a corner of the trackpad to be right click. OR you can use a mouse. OR you can click the trackpad with two fingers.
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Thank you the two of you. Like I said, the short cuts that are incorporated in a Mac is like Whoa! Hope I can learn most of them. Sweet feature none the less.
 
Macs are friggen amazing. I sold my laptop at a loss to get my MBP 13" but it was so friggen worth it. Everything just works better and faster. I die a little everytime I have to boot up my windows partition to run the last few windows exclusive softwares.

If you haven't come to absolutely despise Windows (like me) yet, then hold out a bit. You can always get a Mac in another year or two when your HP becomes obsolete or kills itself (unfortunately HP's consumer lines have the highest failure rate) you'll either get a much better deal or a much faster computer.
 
MusicEnthusiast said:
How do you know? I need to see sources...
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It's from an 8-month old survey that is barely reputable. You can find it on google pretty easily. Its an invalid point anyway since you said your machine is working fine.

The signal/noise ratio on these forums sucks, but if you read carefully you can find some valid points for buying a mac and against a mac.
 
mikeo007 said:
It's from an 8-month old survey that is barely reputable. You can find it on google pretty easily. Its an invalid point anyway since you said your machine is working fine.

The signal/noise ratio on these forums sucks, but if you read carefully you can find some valid points for buying a mac and against a mac.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up.
 
Since I'm gonna get AA here soon, I have some questions.

Is there a guide somewhere online where I can start learning how to use AA? It looks like it has a really steep learning curve. Also, I haven't bought any hardware (including mics) yet for my recording, and I am currently limited to fw 400. What can I buy that isn't too expensive that can be used to record HD video, 2 guitars (either 2 acoustics or 1 acoustic and 1 electric), and either MIDI for a future keyboard (which I don't have yet, probably will be a Korg Synthesizer) or another mic for my Technics keyboard (which is older). Thanks for the help!
 
Hey

From reading your all your questions I would recommend you stick to the hp and try out presonus. Yes macs are amazing for music production using Logic or ProTools but what's more important is your knowledge and ability. I would buy a few books or get over to here www.gearspace.com and start learning how to produce.

You will know when the time comes to invest in a mac. Buying one now would be a waste of cash that could be better spent on something you don't have like a nice synth, some pedals, a nice tube amp etc

Check out Presonus.. they sell firewire soundcards which come packaged with a very good audio production software called studio one and it's cheap. You could easily afford it on your budget and then you would have a decent soundcard which you could still use on a mac if you eventually upgraded..... adobe audition is not the best for your needs IMO
 
Gakboi said:
Hey

From reading your all your questions I would recommend you stick to the hp and try out presonus. Yes macs are amazing for music production using Logic or ProTools but what's more important is your knowledge and ability. I would buy a few books or get over to here www.gearspace.com and start learning how to produce.

You will know when the time comes to invest in a mac. Buying one now would be a waste of cash that could be better spent on something you don't have like a nice synth, some pedals, a nice tube amp etc

Check out Presonus.. they sell firewire soundcards which come packaged with a very good audio production software called studio one and it's cheap. You could easily afford it on your budget and then you would have a decent soundcard which you could still use on a mac if you eventually upgraded..... adobe audition is not the best for your needs IMO
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info! I'll definitely check it all out. Just a couple questions for you if that's alright.

First, can the software be transferred from Windows to Mac without having to pay again? Also, can I keep Audition in mind for later or do you think it's too much? Thanks again!
 
As far as the survey for the HP horrible customer service and products, Consumer Reports did a report on all the computer manufacturers', and HP came in last on both customer service and failure rates. This was in the March or February issue.

If you are going to sell your PC, I would do it as soon as possible. They are going new on ebay for $630. A refurbished MBP is under a grand.
 
MusicEnthusiast said:
Thanks for all the info! I'll definitely check it all out. Just a couple questions for you if that's alright.

First, can the software be transferred from Windows to Mac without having to pay again? Also, can I keep Audition in mind for later or do you think it's too much? Thanks again!
Click to expand...

As far as I know with Presonus you get the software when you buy the hardware. There should be mac and pc versions in the box. Same with Pro Tools tho Pro Tools doesn't work very well with pc's.

You can use adobe audition if you like but for your application other programs are better.

Logic and Pro Tools are the industry standard for big studios. I personally use Pro Tools on a mac (used to be pc but recent versions have had poor pc support). Logic only comes on mac (apple own it). Then you can choose from Cubase, Cakewalk, FruityLoops, Presonus as good consumer grade software..... The reason I suggested Presonus is because you get a lot for your money (Hardware and software together rather than having to purchase seperately).
 
nothing wrong with that. i got a toshiba notebook, for an xmas present this past xmas. Then went out and bought a macbook in april. i then returned that and got a macbook pro. my gf is using my toshiba notebook now.
 
Sell your PC and put the money toward a Mac. A Mac can do everything you want it to do, including your school work. Over the long run you'll save yourself money (better to pay up front than pay for potentially multiple PC repairs over time) plus you'll have the peace of mind that your Mac is much less likely to crash on you in the middle of that final paper you have to write for one of your classes.

Also, remember where you're posting, this is MacRumors, most likely you're going to get a lot of people telling you to get a Mac, maybe that's what you wanted to hear?? ;)
 
...get a refurb whitebook for your music software and keep your HP for school until it craps out on you...once the HP craps out, then you can decide to get a MBP as your group is bringing in more $$!

I know several local bands who control their whole sound board setup with whitebooks that use the intel x3100 integrated GPU crapware and they run the band gear fine so imagine a current gen refurb whitebook, it will be outstanding for your needs!
 
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