'Serious' Audio on iBook 700? Options

[Tim]

I am switching to Mac and generally want a laptop. I actually have already bought an MBox from digidesign. Initially, I intend to use ProTools LE, Absynth. I envision myself running mostly MIDI, with half of a dozen audio tracks. I intend to also get a glyph drive in the future.

So, knowing that, will the iBook 700 suffice. The debate of course between it and the PB (maybe 550). It seems like the iBook will be fine, especially when packed with 640 of RAM, but I've read comments here and there on the net about how it isn't for the 'Serious' audio production. No, I'm not recording the next Puff Daddy album, but I want something that I won't outgrow for 2-3 years.

Any opinions are great, especially from current iBook owners...

Thanks,
Tim.

[rickenbacker]

I've not heard of the Ozone, but I've got an Oxygen 8. It's nice, works well. Bit short octave-span-wise, but handy for stabbing out short phrases. Back on the subject of audio solutions, there are new products being released all the time, plus new-ish products that are less well known. There's the Edirol UA-5, which looks good - lots of connections. There's also a new hardware solution coming soon from the Propagamma people - the USB Five/Pro. Check out the usb-audio link on the homepage here at MacMusic. There's also Apogee's Mini-Me, which looks very intriguing - it even has built-in compression!

I'll hopefully be getting examples of all these on test soon, so if I remember I'll post my thoughts on whatever I get. The good news is that a lot of companies are cottoning on to the fact that USB audio solutions are very popular and much in demand. My only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be one perfect product with everything I need - each product has its good points and bad points. Grrr! Ultimately, I'm going to have to make my choice and stick with it.