Such a vague question...

There are a few factors to consider. One what is your budget. Two after evaluation of your existing hardware and software is there anything that is cross compatible with Apple. Three will the notebook meet your recording needs.

I have also tossed around the idea of jumping the PC ship. I have reconsidered and looked at picking up a Core2Duo PC laptop. Dell, Alienware Acer, and more make them. Again this is my personal choice after weighing out my options.

I know I will probably get flamed in saying this but hardware wise there is not a whole lot of difference anymore between the two. The biggest difference you will see will be in the OS. Keep in mind that at the beginning of next year MS will be releasing the new Vista 64it OS and Apple will release the New Leopard 64bit OS. Many DAW applications and hardware are being adapted to work with the new dual processors and OS's. Of course as usual it will be a bit rocky at first until all the issues are resolved.

Which ever system you decide on it is not going to be just plug and play. You may need to wait for driver software upgrades compatibility issues to be resolved. I think the new notebooks (both camps) are now capable enough to actually handle recording and mixing duties efficiently and effectively. Desktops will still be more powerful but the list of compromises of going mobile is getting shorter.

the best thing i see going for the macbook pro is that you can run windows on it. So now you can run DP or Logic and Wavelab or cubase with the millions of free PC VST plugins, on the same machine.

.02,

casper..thanx for those comments..i guess ill wait till the mist clears a bit... as u mentioned tht OS's are going to evelove from the beginning of next year.. lets see how they fare..

I'm 37. I've been exposed to, and used computers ever since my Pa (he hates that) built one in the 70's. I'm also a two time art school drop out and a drummer. I also have a lot of experience using leading edge technology in a practical manner as a surveyor in the natural resource industry. I'm also a folkie that includes Rage Against the Machines' first album on my top ten list. I'm trying to tell you that I'm an artist with a tech sence that has something to say;

I made the switch to Mac last spring when I finally had a few grand to spend on a way to record in my personal space. I was thinking of a console unit. I did not want to record on a windows box (I own a high end rig). Then Apple announce the new direction with the Intel chips and Universal Binaries, and coupled it with good hardware and their fantastic operating system. The clincher was the price.

At least that was what I thought until I started using it. It took a couple of weeks to get used to the new OS. I like it WAY better than Windows now.

If you have a lot of hardware that is PC based, perhaps then you should stick with a PC laptop. Oh wait, you can run Windows perfectly on a new Macbook Pro. If your hardware uses anything other than Firewire for recording, and USB for control surfaces, you should look really close about how to connect it. Also, if you are doing an "upgrade" and you have older entry level equipment, perhaps you should just let it go. There is a USB equivelent connector for most input/outputs for the mac. YOUR hardware might not be supported. Casper seems to be giving you some good advice, but has most likely not made the switch yet.

A Macbook Pro running Logic with a some decent FIREWIRE preamps would be great setup.

Don't listen to us. Take it all with a grain of salt. Do your research! I can't use XP as a regular day to day OS anymore. Advice is good. Take it as such. OS X kicks monkey ass over Windows XP Pro. Try it for a month. You'll see.

That's my advice.

As a disclaimer: THere are many very good Windows options out there also. This post is not intended to start a Win/Mac wiz contest either. It's just my opinion.

VonRocK wrote: I'm also a folkie that includes Rage Against the Machines' first album on my top ten list.

Wouldn't call myself a "folkie" particularly (though I am partial to some folk-rock crossover a la Levellers, Wonder Stuff occasionally), but I have to agree, that first Rage album is one of the finest albums ever written.

Battle Of Los Angeles is up there too.

As for the Mac / PC thing... I get Macs shoved up my nose constantly, working in a pro studio, but I've been building/using PCs for years and maintaining Macs for about 5 years, and in my humble opinion the difference is thus:

If you're on a small scale, have a relatively small budget to work to, then PC has to be the way to go. For half the price of an equivalent Mac you can get roughly the same performance... plus you have the freedom of choice of motherboard, processors etc. and if one of these bits goes down you don't have to replace the whole machine or send it away to be fixed by the manufacturer.

However!

If you intend to use Logic as your writing platform, (like most of the professional world), then you've got the problem that since Apple bought the company, you can't get new versions on PC, you'll be stuck on version 5.5 like me.

This isn't the end of the world, as 5.5 is a great tool, but if your mates are showing off all their funky new features that you can't get, it can be a bit annoying.

So it's all down to what level you're at really.

If you're amateur or semi pro then I'd recommend sticking with PC, but if you're in the industry, want to use Logic 7, are surrounded by mac users, and can't live without the extras that L7 brings you, then go for the Mac (if you can afford it).

Personally I don't think the benefits outweigh the costs, which is why I'm sticking with PC, despite being surrounded by Mac users.

As an after-note, a guy that I write with is 100% Mac, and my PC-based Logic 5 sessions work fine on his Mac Logic 7, and vice versa.

I went with a new Dell 17” Core 2 Duo notebook. It was less than $1400 the way I wanted it setup and even with a 256mb video card for some gaming here and there. The 17” mac book pro starts at what, $2000?

I played around with a mac a few weeks ago and didn’t like it. It felt like the OS was clunky and everything was unorganized. All the programs and icons were strewn all over their desk top and trying to discern which one did what was a real pain in the ass. I also didn’t like that in order to . I was on the fence and was wondering the same thing, but I use cubase and up until the recent release of 4, every one was complaining that trying to run cubase on a mac was horrible.

And as far as windows running perfectly on a mac, I’ve heard different. There’s been talk that the driver support is lousy so it’s a pain to get everything to run right, and unless you’re running a mac book pro with a ton of memory, it’s a slug.

I had a well thought out and supported argument typed out debunking all the knee jerk erroneous comments made here about Apple Mac computers, but it's just not worth the effort.

I'm sure your 1400 buck Dell is a fine machine, and will do the job really well.