Looking for advice: Purchasing new laptop

Discuss technical issues with keyboards, sound, video cards, etc.

Moderators: Peter Thomsen, miker

Earl
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2004 3:52 pm

Post by Earl » Tue Apr 25, 2006 11:09 pm

Greetings everyone:

I'd like to get some opinions on which direction I should go for a new laptop that will be dedicated (for the most part) to music applications.

I have a desktop computer and have Finale and Band In a Box. I will be getting other software in the future. I want a laptop so I can set it up next to the piano and run Band in a Box for my Jazz practice, and later for notating with Finale, plus having the convenience of a portable computer should I need one.

I recently purchased a used IBM ThinkPad laptop and haven't gotten any success at all. It has Win XP Pro and 256Mb of RAM. It freezes up the OS after BIAB was installed. (I assume that's the problem.) I'm told that this computer really needs to be more powerful (more RAM, faster CPU, etc.) given the OS wanting to use up RAM and so on. Plus, I'm beginning to see that a new one is preferable for the bigger hard drive and just the general peace of mind of having new, warrantied hardware and totally legal software registered to me.

So anyway, my question to you all is: what should I be looking for to be able to run serious music applications? Should the computer have special multimedia attributes?

I have heard through the years that Apple computers are really more suited to music applications than Windows, fewer problems, etc. I'm used to Windows machines and would like to continue to use one if possible.

So, are there any diehard Win users that can recommend the killer setup? Or, should I go with Apple and leave Windows for my desktop? (I do want to be able to network the two so I can share the printer, etc. Is that tough to do with the two different machines?)

Thanks!!

Earl


ichliebtmuzik
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:58 pm

Post by ichliebtmuzik » Fri Apr 28, 2006 2:33 pm

Hello Earl,

I have also recently switched to laptop. For my case, I got one that I needed most for school stuff, and also to work w/Finale. Generally it runs well with everything.

For you, I think the most important thing, since you are working on music, and Finale, you need a laptop w/a very good soundcard. I don't know very many laptops that have a good soundcard. Also, your memory should be big...at least 1GB or so. Make sure it says dedicated memory and not shared.

I think a Sony or Fujitsu would suit your needs, as they are good. I have a Compaq Presario and am very happy using Finale on it. That is another option you can look into.

Let me know if u have more questions, and I'll try to help in finding your laptop. :D

Earl
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2004 3:52 pm

Post by Earl » Fri Apr 28, 2006 6:11 pm

ichliebtmuzik:

Thank you for responding. Regarding the soundcard, my understanding is that for laptops you're stuck with whatever comes on the motherboard.

I recently purchased an audio/MIDI interface (Tascam US-122) that uses the USB port. From this box I can hear the audio from the internal soundcard through my sound system or I can direct Finale and other programs to use MIDI devices as sound sources.

I have heard from others that I need a lot of RAM as you suggest.

Thanks again, if I have more questions, I'll post them here.

Earl

ichliebtmuzik
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:58 pm

Post by ichliebtmuzik » Fri Apr 28, 2006 10:59 pm

You're welcome. What I did to have a good sound, I connected it to my amp speakers. That way, you'll have a great sound! Instead of using your laptops' speakers. :D .

psametz
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:46 am

Post by psametz » Fri Feb 16, 2007 6:29 am

I did just the same thing last week. Bought a used Mac iBook G3 that will run Finale PrintMusic - it's affordable, I already had it but wasn't using it on my PC desktop where I have Finale 2005 on Windows XP.
The iBook has OS X 10.3.9 and first time I plugged it in, it could access shares on both my other Mac running OS X 10.1 and the PC. It can also print to a printer shared on the PC.
It's a great setup but here are my issues:
I am used to typing in notes using the keypad and (with capslock) the QWERTY keys, and have gotten really fast at it. The notebook has no keypad, and you have to press a key marked "fn" to access an inline numeric keypad, so it'll take some getting used to, and unfortunately there's a learning curve because MakeMusic didn't settle on the same keyboard functionality across products.
The notebook also doesn't have an "Ins" key so I was stymied until I consulted online help and found the ^ key (shift-6) lets you type in a single inserted note.
What's great about it is the portability. I can bring it to band practice and the drummer and bassist can pick it up by ear. When my son is using the PC I can still enmter and review m y arrangements. The on-board speakers are pathetic, for sure, but even those little white iPod earphones produce decent quality sound, and an adapter lets me plug it into an amp or stereo.
Also, you don't have to shut it down! If the battery runs low, it puts itself to sleep and keeps your files open until you plug it in next. Brown-outs dont affect it.
So that's what I'd do. I plan to get a USB numeric keypad and a USB input device such as the RollUpPiano or the Axiom25.
And the price? Just $375 delivered, with plenty applications already installed. I'm quite pleased with it.
One thing PrintMusic doesn't have is the ability to print a graphic that I put in with Finale (I often show sax fingerings with little custom TIFFs). Could be the cross-platform issue, I don't know.
This is maxing out this machines, though - with only 128 MB RAM, it couldn't run the most recent version of Finale. Also, you ought not to over-write 2005 files with the 2006 version, savvy?

And that's the truth.
"Ammo"
iBook, OSX3.9, PrintMusic and Dell 8600 Windows XP Media Ctr, Finale 2007

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