A "PC" Macbook alternative?

jimi_t

Lo there all, what with college (and my paycheck) coming up I'm considering investing in a laptop.

Now the Macbook Pro (black of course ) has really caught my eye, but the price to spec ratio isn't really that appealing, even with the edu discount. I understand that it's light and got a decent battery life, but I can live with a slightly heavier laptop if needs be.

Also, my other quibble is how the bootcamp implementation is. Can I run XP native music apps with outboard MIDI/USB equipment without running into serious latency and ASIO driver issues? That would probably be the main requirement for me tbh.

So, any recommendations? My budget is somewhere around the 800-1000 mark (I'm a student so anything with educational discounts is welcome.)

irlrobins

Moving to laptop forum.

(Could also be in Mac forum, but I think your question is leaning towards questions about a windows based laptop)

jimi_t

Cheers irlrobins.

Looking at komplett.ie for alternatives, anyone have anything to criticise on this one - http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=324103

If I was buying I'd definitely bump the RAM up to a gig.

This one seems like the best value on the site though - http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=323987

Seems very well specced.

savemejebus

The machines you've pointed out aren't really comparable to the macbook. They are much bigger, heavier, less powerful and have (compared to the macbook) inferior battery life. To compare with the macbook you'd really be looking at these machines

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=321204

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=322263

or the vaio that WizZard is selling on adverts at the moment.

jimi_t

As I said, ultra-portability isn't the biggest problem - I'm a big guy and I'd prefer a decent screen, definitely not a 12.1" anyway.

The first lappy is light, certainly, but a bit underpowered and expensive - plus it has a tiny screen.

The second lappy is well out of my budget and couldn't be compared like with like with the MacBook - it's far better specc'd

Anything particularly wrong with that Acer

savemejebus

I'm not a big fan of the processor in the acer as a mobile chip. It is kinda power hungry and that will have a knock-on effect on battery life.

For a similar price and a 15.4" screen you could do worse than checking out the dell inspiron 6400. The processor is very good and the machine itself came out as best budget machine in PC Pro magazine. Plus if you order it from www.dell.ie/epp site it can actually work out cheaper. (don't upgrade ram on the dell site, buy it after and fit it yourself if you need more ram)

cornbb

jimi_t, I'm running loads of music apps and hardware on my Inspiron 6000 and have absolutetly no problems, afaik the 6400 should be an improvement on it. The 15.4" screen is big and sharp, I wouldn't use anything smaller for doing arrangements in Cubase or whatever.

Bear in mind that the onboard audio hardware on practically all PC laptops is horrendous, it might be worth your while budgeting for a half decent PCMCIA, USB or firewire soundcard/audio interface.

jimi_t

cornbb wrote:

jimi_t, I'm running loads of music apps and hardware on my Inspiron 6000 and have absolutetly no problems, afaik the 6400 should be an improvement on it. The 15.4" screen is big and sharp, I wouldn't use anything smaller for doing arrangements in Cubase or whatever.

Bear in mind that the onboard audio hardware on practically all PC laptops is horrendous, it might be worth your while budgeting for a half decent PCMCIA, USB or firewire soundcard/audio interface.

True that, I'll definitely go for an outboard USB2.0 box - I'll need MIDI anyways for my synthesisers.

Cheers for all the advice folks, I think I'll wait a small while longer to see what my options are - I'd rather not limit my budget too much and I really can't see myself using it between now and after freshers week