Comparison: ibook or Powerbook for Garageband

[intrepkid21]

I, like many on these threads is shopping between a Powerbook and an iBook...I know the pros and cons of each and I have test "drove" each in the stores but I would like to ask an opinion question...how great would the difference in performance be between the 1.33ghz 12" pbook and the 1.2ghz 14" ibook? Audio is my main thing on the mac..may eventually move up to protools..but I love creating things on Garageband..

Those with 1.2 or 1ghz ibook...how are you enjoying your garageband performance? I am running a 1ghz emac with 512mb of SDRAM..I am less than impressed with Garageband on this machine..I'm thinking the ibook's performance would be similar to my emac despite it using DDR memory...and the powerbook would be a little faster..

I don't know..what do you guys think?

 

[OziMac]

Sorry, have a question rather than answers for you...

I also have a 1GHz eMac with 512MB RAM - and Garageband has worked fine for me - I also plug my guitar and my Keystation into it. What kind of stuff are you doing, and where/how do you notice the performance slipping? Thanks!

 

[kjwebb]

I think you should go for a PowerBook as GarageBand on my iBook (see sig for information) just works.

Usually it will play the created .band file but most times (even at full processor power) it can bring up the error dialog saying not enough processor power.

Of course, I should upgrade my iBook's RAM but I won't do that until I get a job.

 

[KC9AIC]

I think you should go for a PowerBook as GarageBand on my iBook (see sig for information) just works.

Usually it will play the created .band file but most times (even at full processor power) it can bring up the error dialog saying not enough processor power.

Of course, I should upgrade my iBook's RAM but I won't do that until I get a job.

You might do well to remember that you're comparing a 1GHz computer with only 256 MB of memory to a computer 20% faster, which will probably have about 768 MB of memory (3x as much). That might make the difference between "just work[ing]" and working fine.

BTW, intrepkid21, your eMac having PC-133 memory makes the memory run at half the speed of iBook memory, and the iBook can take more memory, and will be 20% faster.

Just a thought.

 

[intrepkid21]

My emac works fine for garageband...but it does not hold a candle to how it performs on a Dual G5..or even a Dual G4..

It works, the program, but everything is sluggish..you can't use the mixer in real time without waiting a long time..even the signal meters can't keep up with the beat..it just feels slow..but it works..