I just thought I'd check to see if someone, seriously, can talk me out of buying a dell laptop. I'm thinking price only, really - plus I like sonic foundry programs like ACID and Vegas Video which are only wintel. I love my mac but a powerbook is out of my price range and a G3 ibook must be a lot slower compared to a p4...? Any advice would be great. Thanks.
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help, I might buy a dell!!
- Thread starter amod
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well, i'll start by saying that before you buy, you should go to some stores and try the programs you will be using. try the program on the Dell you are looking at, then go to an Apple store and try the identical or similar program on a Mac- PowerBook, or whatever you are looking at. test a iBook with 640MB RAM straight after you test a similar program on the Dell. that's the only real way to see which will be better for you.
on the subject of software, there are quite a few sound programs out there for Mac.
but if the main factor for you is money, then i guess that's what you have to consider the most. perhaps a Dell might be better for you. but don't forget how good Macs are to use.
happy hunting!
edit> i just remembered something else. you could check out some websites that compare the iBooks with the P4s. just remember that nothing is better than going into a store and trying for yourself.
on the subject of software, there are quite a few sound programs out there for Mac.
but if the main factor for you is money, then i guess that's what you have to consider the most. perhaps a Dell might be better for you. but don't forget how good Macs are to use.
happy hunting!
edit> i just remembered something else. you could check out some websites that compare the iBooks with the P4s. just remember that nothing is better than going into a store and trying for yourself.
what are you cuhrazzy!
Dude you might buy a dud!
OK , i understand its alot of money!
But first off, wait and take a few breaths!
When the new Ti's come out you can get a 800 for like almost half the price I am
pretty sure and the 800 will kick the living C R A P out of a Dell.
Dont forget about quality and the cost of buying a cheaper unit is sometimes very high.
Next, software> There is Reason 2 that is out for the MAc and its great!
ALso when the new 10.2 is out with all the music stuff that is going to be added its going to be THE machine for music appz! Then you will be kicking yourself in the head wondering what the hell you were thinking? Mb0ox with Protools will be out for OSX.
Fight the power, your falling for the bad vibes of the Wintel force.
Use the good side and stay true.
Windows is out, its going down, there is the writing on the wall!
Gates has an APple on his desk. you didnt think he would run a Wintel machine did you! He just uses WOrd for the mac and thats all he needs to do before loading his iPod and going out for a walk.
I used to use a PCheese now I dont even boot the sucker and it cost me over 3 thousand dollars, hopefully one day I will have to be compatible with something at the university, but so far its all good and I use my Ti for everything!
Wait it out, after the new Ti's comes out you can get the older version and for a great price, be cool, stay chilled.
Dude you might buy a dud!
OK , i understand its alot of money!
But first off, wait and take a few breaths!
When the new Ti's come out you can get a 800 for like almost half the price I am
pretty sure and the 800 will kick the living C R A P out of a Dell.
Dont forget about quality and the cost of buying a cheaper unit is sometimes very high.
Next, software> There is Reason 2 that is out for the MAc and its great!
ALso when the new 10.2 is out with all the music stuff that is going to be added its going to be THE machine for music appz! Then you will be kicking yourself in the head wondering what the hell you were thinking? Mb0ox with Protools will be out for OSX.
Fight the power, your falling for the bad vibes of the Wintel force.
Use the good side and stay true.
Windows is out, its going down, there is the writing on the wall!
Gates has an APple on his desk. you didnt think he would run a Wintel machine did you! He just uses WOrd for the mac and thats all he needs to do before loading his iPod and going out for a walk.
I used to use a PCheese now I dont even boot the sucker and it cost me over 3 thousand dollars, hopefully one day I will have to be compatible with something at the university, but so far its all good and I use my Ti for everything!
Wait it out, after the new Ti's comes out you can get the older version and for a great price, be cool, stay chilled.
my wife's G3 600mhz is really enjoyable w/OSX. I would hold off and see what pops up on Apple's refurb site shortly, also, 10.2 will (as I understand) make things alot faster. Say after you buy your Dell and you want to actually do some stuff with it, ummm check the price on apps & hardware you'd have to add as opposed to buying a machine that actually works out of the box. though its your call dude, let me know what you decide.
Thanks, I agree. It's kind of like deciding between a Ford Focus and a BMW. I'm not sure there are any apps quite like sonic foundry's - they do a fairly good job - but i use a Pc at work and it is painful compared to my mac. The ibook must be slower at benchmarks and all that. Though I know a powerbook would solve all the problems it's that price again. Oh well... you get what you pay for, they say. Thanks again.
look at used tiBooks.. you can get a really nice g4 500 on ebay for under 1500.
I would hate to see you get a dell and then try to sell it in a few months.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2032499629
There are tons of great audio apps for the mac platform as I am sure you know... and with apple leading the way in this market I think the dell would be a mistake.
Good Times;
C-
I would hate to see you get a dell and then try to sell it in a few months.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2032499629
There are tons of great audio apps for the mac platform as I am sure you know... and with apple leading the way in this market I think the dell would be a mistake.
Good Times;
C-
Yes, ebay is a good idea, but the idea of a used mystery computer scares me. I wonder what the batting average is between used and refurbished (like at apple or powermax?) The whole dell thing is terrible... but that price again. The other problem is I teach a dv class at work. We have a wintel only policy at my school district - which again makes no sense especially for a dv class. I told them all about imovie and final cut but they wouldn't listen. They bought a handfull of gateways and some vegas video apps. Vegas is nice, actually impressive, but try and get those gateways to work. There were problems all year - driver issues mostly.. but then faulty sound cards... etc... and gateway was no help on that end. On the other hand I co-teach some dv workshops for the University and we use macs... there are never any problems at all. Never. Maybe there still might be a G4 ibook at MWNY despite recent interviews to the contary? Yeah right...
You just have to look harder and more persistantly.
I know how you feel about ACID. Have you checked out Abletons Live?
http://www.ableton.com/
more info here actually
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2002/05/live15/
I think I have seen other such sample stretching temp shifting drag and drop create music things; and a lot more of such are interacting with Bitzhead and Propellerhead goodies. I'd mention more but my bookmarks are too chaotic.
Onadime, and UIsoftware have some good sync-with-music realtime 'light organ' apps.
http://www.onadime.com/welcome.html
http://www.uisoftware.com/
Last time I looked at Vegas Video, it was sort of like Nuendo from Cubase, which will be available for the mac.. (And both of these are merely a lot like the considerably cheaper iMovie.. they are more purely low end video editing apps with a good multitrack audio interface. How many audio tracks can you run in Final Cut Pro?)
With the midi/audio layer coming into good shape in Jaguar, NAMM (which follows immediately after MWNY) should have more interesting goodies.
I think the ACID stuff was your only viable compliant, and most musicians using Macs got around that hurdle by using Virtual PC. And Ableton Live seems to be the same thing as ACID. Rebirth and Recycle are nothing to sneeze at either.
http://www.propellerheads.se/
http://www.bitheadz.com/
I know how you feel about ACID. Have you checked out Abletons Live?
http://www.ableton.com/
more info here actually
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2002/05/live15/
I think I have seen other such sample stretching temp shifting drag and drop create music things; and a lot more of such are interacting with Bitzhead and Propellerhead goodies. I'd mention more but my bookmarks are too chaotic.
Onadime, and UIsoftware have some good sync-with-music realtime 'light organ' apps.
http://www.onadime.com/welcome.html
http://www.uisoftware.com/
Last time I looked at Vegas Video, it was sort of like Nuendo from Cubase, which will be available for the mac.. (And both of these are merely a lot like the considerably cheaper iMovie.. they are more purely low end video editing apps with a good multitrack audio interface. How many audio tracks can you run in Final Cut Pro?)
With the midi/audio layer coming into good shape in Jaguar, NAMM (which follows immediately after MWNY) should have more interesting goodies.
I think the ACID stuff was your only viable compliant, and most musicians using Macs got around that hurdle by using Virtual PC. And Ableton Live seems to be the same thing as ACID. Rebirth and Recycle are nothing to sneeze at either.
http://www.propellerheads.se/
http://www.bitheadz.com/
Thanks for the info and links. I'm downloading the live demo right now. this should all help. Live seems really close to acid...
thanks again.
thanks again.
I agree with the above post and will add that to combat the lack of rebirth.
there is Reason, with has a rack of drums and synths etc, Download the demo from propellerhead and check it out!
there is Reason, with has a rack of drums and synths etc, Download the demo from propellerhead and check it out!
Hi,
I'm both a PC and a Mac user. There are a few things you should consider.
k.
I'm both a PC and a Mac user. There are a few things you should consider.
- What do you want to do with your laptop? Do you need a lot of CPU power? Do you need screen resolution? Do you need specific programs that are only available on Windows?
I'm convinced that you can find more powerfull PC's with a higher resolution for the same price as the iBook. But off course not with OS X...
- Do you allready have another computer? Is it a Mac or a PC? I find it very interesting to use both platforms, and I will never make a complete switch (sorry switchers...). If you allready have a Mac, you can continue using it and enjoying the great OS X and so on. And you can use SAMBA or Dave to make a network between a PC and a Mac. I myself have a PC Desktop and a Mac laptop, and I like them both.
- How much are you addicted to Mac? Are you just a computer user that happens to be using Mac, or are you a convinced Mac user? Would it hurt to leave the Mac platform? Would you terribly miss it?
- Do you like the iApps? iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto are terrific applications, and you don't find their equal on the PC platform. And certainly not for free. Also, if you have or want an iPod...
- Erm, this one is difficult, but erm... are you willing to spend a lot on other software? I still think it is much easier to 'find' stuff for PC than for Mac. And then I don't mean that Mac programs don't exist, but you - eh - just don't 'find' them that easily.
k.
there is absolutely NOTHING in the PC laptop world to match an Apple laptop. It's just obvious. A 700MHz g3 will do just about anyone here just fine. Just ask blakespot, hes been nothing but happy.
Actually a little iBook 700 will run right with the dell laptops. Also you could go with a referb unit from Apple. That is not a bad option, also small dog. Dude, ProTools rules on a Mac, and with 10.2 you will see a X version of it. There is a reason that the majority of music professionals use a Mac. Trust me on this. Get an iBook. The G3 is fine, and will do everything you need it to do for a long time.
So run, don't walk, and go get that iBook.
So run, don't walk, and go get that iBook.
Re: help, I might buy a dell!!
i don't know about those programs, but i would buy an ibook because the new level 2 cache (512k) is a significant speed boost from any other ibook in the past
but if you are buying a pc laptop, dell is better than compaq/hp or kds...i have a compaq presario 1272 laptop and dells i have seen in the same range are better and more rugged
but in the pc laptop world, sony and toshiba are definitely better than dell
i don't know about gateway, winbook, chembook, acer, sager, or fujitsu
good luck...and i hope you buy a new ibook (i have an old ibook and it is much better than my compaq laptop)
i don't know about those programs, but i would buy an ibook because the new level 2 cache (512k) is a significant speed boost from any other ibook in the past
but if you are buying a pc laptop, dell is better than compaq/hp or kds...i have a compaq presario 1272 laptop and dells i have seen in the same range are better and more rugged
but in the pc laptop world, sony and toshiba are definitely better than dell
i don't know about gateway, winbook, chembook, acer, sager, or fujitsu
good luck...and i hope you buy a new ibook (i have an old ibook and it is much better than my compaq laptop)
Comparisions
Jef~
Maybe you should tell him WHy your iBook is better than your DELL.
Is it as fast more durable, what are the specs.
Since you have both, I think your accessment wold be of most value to him.
Jef~
Maybe you should tell him WHy your iBook is better than your DELL.
Is it as fast more durable, what are the specs.
Since you have both, I think your accessment wold be of most value to him.
look, i sold computers for about 8 months at CompUSA, during which time i was first truly exposed to and switched to the Mac platform. PC laptops are bulky, heavy, ugly, and a mess of hardware problems. Not to mention the OS is pure crap. X-Plagiarized is no where near what it is trying to copy. If you want a Smell then who am I to tell you what you want? Just remember, with laptops there is one basic rule: you get what you pay for. I paid for a Mac (iBook) and my old PC just collects dust (and viruses). The ball is in your checkbook.
great points
my ibook 300 is faster than my compaq presario laptop at 366 mhz
i bought both in december 1999 with the ibook being $300 dollars more at $1599...but it was worth it
since then, the ibook still works like new and the pc has had its battery die and has had it's os and programs re-installed a few times
i have never defragged the ibook and the pc has been defragged dozens of times since then
again, i recommend ibook
Re: Re: help, I might buy a dell!!
ya my dad had a vaio and it was pretty sweet. check out other brands. dell builds nice boxes, but sony and toshiba might make better machines in your price range
regaurdless of the hardware arguement, you should get what works for you.
ya my dad had a vaio and it was pretty sweet. check out other brands. dell builds nice boxes, but sony and toshiba might make better machines in your price range
regaurdless of the hardware arguement, you should get what works for you.
my friend got a dell laptop. i warned him. however he has a wife thats hell bent against macs so my talk to him didnt work. i didnt push him .... i just told him that macs are a lot nicer to thier owner etc. etc. but i understood if he did not want one. i belive he has that "opinions based on ignorance" syndrome.
can you believe the dude told me .... " i dont want a mac they dont even have floppy drives" i laughed and told him .... " yeah thats because thats old school hardware for a computer and on macs they are OBSOLETE and the whole ....mac users need more space issue...etc. etc. blah blah. i wasnt being a zelot i was just trying to help out. ive had almost 95% success rate in helping others over to the mac where i live.
im not playing the game so dont flame.
dig it.
can you believe the dude told me .... " i dont want a mac they dont even have floppy drives" i laughed and told him .... " yeah thats because thats old school hardware for a computer and on macs they are OBSOLETE and the whole ....mac users need more space issue...etc. etc. blah blah. i wasnt being a zelot i was just trying to help out. ive had almost 95% success rate in helping others over to the mac where i live.
im not playing the game so dont flame.
dig it.
amod -
I have to agree with you on the Sonic Foundry front...they do make incredible programs (Acid, for example). Although I don't own any "recent' macs, I'd still recommend purchasing an Apple over a Dell...I have 2 Dell desktops, which are okay, but an absolute pain (and I'd assume that their laptops are a pain in the ass too).
If you do decide to go with a Windows laptop, I strongly recommend SONY Vaios....I have a 3-year-old PCG-XG9 from Sony, which is absolutely incredible, despite it's age. Since I too am currently in the market for a laptop, I looked at some reviews of Dell laptops on CNet.com (I need to run ACID, which is my ONLY reason to even consider a PC now), and recent Dell customers are starting to complain that their customer support is slowly (but surely) declining.
Don't get me wrong, macs are absolutely incredible, but if you decide you need a PC laptop, I strongly recommend SONY.
If you need anything else, contact me whenever
I have to agree with you on the Sonic Foundry front...they do make incredible programs (Acid, for example). Although I don't own any "recent' macs, I'd still recommend purchasing an Apple over a Dell...I have 2 Dell desktops, which are okay, but an absolute pain (and I'd assume that their laptops are a pain in the ass too).
If you do decide to go with a Windows laptop, I strongly recommend SONY Vaios....I have a 3-year-old PCG-XG9 from Sony, which is absolutely incredible, despite it's age. Since I too am currently in the market for a laptop, I looked at some reviews of Dell laptops on CNet.com (I need to run ACID, which is my ONLY reason to even consider a PC now), and recent Dell customers are starting to complain that their customer support is slowly (but surely) declining.
Don't get me wrong, macs are absolutely incredible, but if you decide you need a PC laptop, I strongly recommend SONY.
If you need anything else, contact me whenever