trumpet blower88

I'm graduating high school in May, and for one of my graduation presents my parents are getting me a new computer. I've decided I want a laptop so I can take it from home to my dorm on campus each weekend and whatnot. The problem is, no one in my family knows a thing about laptops!

Does anyone here know anything about them, websites to go check out that has every thing I need to know on them, recomendations and whatnot?

I've also been thinking about Apple, and Mac lately. All we've ever had was PC's with Windows so I don't know much about Macs, but I've heard from my friends that they might fit me well, going into music and all, apperantly theres alot of stuff on macs that PC's and Windows dosn't have regarding all kinds of music stuff. But I really have no idea.

If some one could help me out a litle, just to get started and on the right path, that would be awsome. I really don't even know where to start, Apple.com didn't help much, haha.

Thanks,
David

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-David Jacques

uatrmpt

Don't get a Toshiba!

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--Matt--

mrfabulous963

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Jimi Michiel

David,

I'm a grad student and I've had laptops since my freshman year of undergrad. Until late November, I've always had PCs. My first laptop was a Toshiba and it was great. When my computer died in November, the first thing I did was go out and look at Toshiba. I eventually went out and bought a Toshiba, but I had a lot of problems in the first few weeks so I took it back.

After a lot of thinking, I bought a Apple Powerbook. So far, I love it. I've had it since Christmas day and it has never crashed. The battery life is usually around 4 hours, the recharge time is quick and it is very fast. They're a little bit more expensive than PCs, but you can probably get a student discount. I also like that the smaller Powerbooks (12 inches) are significantly smaller and lighter than their PC equivalents.

The switch between PC and Mac was fairly easy. Picture, music and Microsoft Word documents transfer over easily. One thing I don't like about the Macs is that, although the operating system is more user friendly, I feel like the user has less control. You have to trust the Mac more than you do with Windows. To be fair, I've done C++ programming on PCs, so I might be a little more demanding than your average user.

As for being more adept to music, well, I don't particularly believe that. That seems like a fallacy that Apple likes to promote. Most popular notation software such as Finale and Sibelius are available for both platforms. For recording and/or mastering, there is good software available for both Macs and PCs. I really like Adobe Audition for recording, but it is only available on PC. A Mac comes with Garage Band, which is a very midiocre recording/mixing program. I would recommend Audacity, which is a free program available for Mac. I think using MIDI is a little easier on Mac, but I don't have a lot of experience with that.

Macs are more stable than PCs. There are fewer virus's for Mac because most are written for PC where the majority of the world's valuable information is stored. When I bought my Powerbook, the guy at the apple store told me I didn't really need antivirus software. If the guy at the store told me NOT to spend money on antivirus software, I feel safe.

Hope this helps. PM if you have any more questions.

-Jimi

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