[DeeAa[_4_]]

On 21 loka, 23:10, zikester wrote:
Hi there,

I'm thinking of getting a 13-in white Macbook with Firewire for about
$949 w/ student discount. *I will need to spend another $50 on third-
party RAM. *My main purposes for the laptop:
- a sound module for live MIDI keyboard playing ( I need reliable low-
latency, low-jitter MIDI )
- pull of some highly-sculpted pads and sweeps found in the house
music genre
- run loops/samples triggered in Ableton Live
- do some light recording of demo quality, single-track at a time

I have an additional $500 to spend on a sound module + software
( again with student discount ) ( if I went with the macbook, I was
thinking Tascam FireOne for $99, Ableton Live, and a lite version of
Reason or Cubase ).

For about $1000 or less, is there a Windows XP based laptop that could
do as a good a job for live performance?
I'm concerned with crackling, and noisy audio, and have heard that
Apple is well-engineered for live audio.
I've heard bad things about Windows reliabilty for live performance.
I have also heard that latency can be greater in an Apple, however,
but maybe this is due to using Firewire instead of a PCI sound module.

Technology changes fast, *so I was wondering if any of you could help
out on some new non-mac alternatives to the macbook...particulary
including a good low-latency sound module that you like, total budget
around $1200.

I would by a small-sized laptop with an SSD drive. HD troubles
gone...and they're QUICK.

I've a tiny Toshiba Portege, and I record with a Proteus Firepod
(firewire) eight tracks onto it, with Cubase, in 24bit. Then I toss
the audio tracks to an USB memory stick and bring in for mixing on
another machine.

To my utter surprise it all works very well - and quick too in Vista
Business. (I wouldn't choose Vista for music but so far everything's
worked absolutely hitchless. We'll see later on.

Cheers,

Dee