advice needed Macbook laptop for Production

Hey guys,

Im going to be buying a laptop very soon and i have a choice between the regular macbook and macbook pro.

I know there is a huge difference between the pricing, so i am just going to have to buy something that will be able to do what i need instead going overboard and getting the macbook pro if i dont need it.

I currently need to use cubase with muitiple soft synths, then i need to rewire it with ableton or live (sometimes even simultaneously).

My main question is whether or not the regular macbook will take care of this? Or do i need to get the Macbook Pro?

Do you guys think the above will be too energy intensive for the regular macbook?

Thanks and any input would be appreciated.

Hi

I have had both and am currently on the MB not the MBP as it was stolen by heroin addicts last year :(

The obly thing different about the MBP is the graphics, the extra firewire 800, the PCI Express interface and the screen size.

Of those differnces the only thing that has bothered me with the macbook was the screen size, its too small. 13.3inch is not enough for major DAW appz, however you can always get a second screen easily enough.

The MBP is heavier as well and wasnt much fun to cart around.

The power of the mac are pretty damn good and the system works 99% without any major hiccups. My views on OSX are pretty well documented here, but remember if you buy a mac now you'll get it with Leopard, apples 64 bit OS, which can be a serious problem if your software doesnt support it, and right now applications that you may already own will probably require (paid for no doubt) upgrades to take advantage of the 64 bit architecture.

im still running on Tiger and am perfectly happy with it, you can always obtain a *ahem* copy of tiger, a great OS indeed.

I run VM fusionware on my mac with it running windows within a seperate screen inside OSX, and running it pretty well.

remember, max your ram out, the MB will take 4gb (2x2gb sticks) but will only access 3gb of it, i think this is to do with the 32bit OS architeture of tiger, but even 2gb will rock. For your wallets sake, DONT buy it off Apple direct, get it off Ebay, its WAY WAY WAY cheaper.

Replace the drive with a 7200rpm one as well, sell or keep the original, again dont buy one from apple.

My MB boots in 30 - 45 seconds and shuts down in 10 seconds. This gets faster the more ram you have.

I use the MB for VJing occasionally as well, and it performs adequately for my needs despite sharing its video ram.

Build quality - the MBP has MUCH better build quality than the MB, but my MB is still working perfectly after 6 months and a lot of abuse.

The CPUs are slightly slower than the MBP but i've not had any problems with it At ALL.

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook

You need to check out this page, itll tell you if any line is going to be updated.

yes you are absolutely right,

i totally overlooked the fact that the new laptops will be installed with an operating system that my VST's will not be compatible with.

I will definately factor this into my decision making if it comes down to me dishing out cash for this machine.


thanks!!!!