New Macbook With Intel Dual Core Options

[edvin]

Hi all,
this is my first post to these forums, so please be gentle
I once was a keyboardist, have strayed into ITM (irish traditionalmusic) for some time,
but started wondering about trying out a Mac (my PC is old and very noisy!), and eventually play around with some music software etc.

So, I notice the new MacBooks, how about those? Does anybody already have any experience with them for music? Software I am considering would be Reason + Cubase, Ableton Live etc... I.e. some soft synth + live recordings. Would it be able to handle that?

And if I should upgrade the RAM to 1GB, with a laptop this small is this something a user can easily handle him(herself?

Thanks and all the best;
Eivind

[switte]

The Core Duo should make it possible to run any of those software programs, although im not sure if cubase is out in universial binary. You want to get as much RAM as possible. It is a really easy install that you can do yourself.

Other than that, I think the MacBook would make a great music computer.

[lepetitmartien]

It's very easy to add/change RAM on the new macbook, as for the hard drive. Apple did a great job in this department.

But as usual, if you're not comfortable with it, ask the shop you buy the RAM to, to install it.

[edvin]

It's very easy to add/change RAM on the new macbook, as for the hard drive. Apple did a great job in this department.

But as usual, if you're not comfortable with it, ask the shop you buy the RAM to, to install it.

Thanks guys,
that is as I though. But reassuring feedback is always welcome .-)

Cheers
Eivind

[lepetitmartien]

As a side note, we learned today (thanks to Macbidouille/hardmac) that changing the hard drive in the macbook doesn't void the warranty.Save if you break something while accessing the place (very few parts around anyway)

[edvin]

As a side note, we learned today (thanks to Macbidouille/hardmac) that changing the hard drive in the macbook doesn't void the warranty.Save if you break something while accessing the place (very few parts around anyway)

I see, well that has to be good news.
But, it comes with an 80GB HD and I thought that was the max?
BTW, I got a nice deal on a MacBook (black) w/2GB RAM and think I'll go for that :-) Woo!

Edvin

[Justin Thyme]

I see, well that has to be good news.
But, it comes with an 80GB HD and I thought that was the max?
BTW, I got a nice deal on a MacBook (black) w/2GB RAM and think I'll go for that :-) Woo!

No, some systems come with up to 120GB HD's.

I also have one of the MacBooks, and have been quite happy so far. Reason is a UB and runs well. As for Cubase, there so far isn't any word on UB progress other than "we're working on it".

I have the Digidesign version of Live, and it seems to run alright, but I hear the app is overall more of a resource hog than something like Cubase due to it's warping capability.

Garageband actually seems a bit sluggish. From what I've read, Logic Express/Pro seems more responsive.

I'm still looking for the right audio app to match with Reason. I'm familiar with Cubase, but the silence coming from Steinberg is not encouraging. I could upgrade my MBox to use Pro Tools LE 7, but I wasn't thrilled with 6.7 (although I hear that 7.0 is better at MIDI and dealing with loops).