Funny how they let you install Windows on their machines, but puke at the idea of letting you install OS X on anything but a MAC.

But you can I have a friend who installed OSX on his quadcore PC machine. The stuff FLIES. OSX is simply better optimized OS.

Not that I wanna change to it... yet.

Thanks again for your wonderful expertise and availability.

I think at this point to stop a moment to meditate on what to do.

Since it is a long time that do not follow the evolution of hardware laptop, I'll spend a little of my time to upgrade to what is now  the market offering, so as to derive a more considered decision.

Unfortunately for me I am not a millionaire ... if I were, at this point, for incertitude, I could take both types of computers! )))

So, if in the meantime I did not win the lottery, ... I'll try to find a fair compromise ...

in the meantime hope you all have fun with our wonderful Pianoteq! W MODARTT!

Ciao a tutti!!!!

Antonio

The difference between Parallels and Bootcamp is this.  With Parallels, you are running OS X, and then start an application called Parallels.  It then opens up a virtual window and launches Windows XP or Vista depending on which you chose to install.  This means, you are a using a software application, running inside of OS X.  OS X is simply "loaning" you resources to borrow for the time being.

In Bootcamp, you literally have Windows XP installed to the hard drive and instead of booting into OS X, you literally boot into windows exactly the same way you would on a Dell or HP (or any other brand you want to name).  So it's literally a full fledged Windows operating system, installed on MAC's HARDWARE.  Funny how they let you install Windows on their machines, but puke at the idea of letting you install OS X on anything but a MAC.  Anyway.

Mac's are good for people who have zero knowledge of hardware and how to build a stable computer with name brand parts.  For people who have no idea how to snap a few pieces of hardware together and screw a few bolts down.  They may seem a little more stable, but that is because they run exactly the same hardware, over and over and over again all over the world.  A new mac pro is a new mac pro.  The only things that change are slight variables, that with the most minimal amount of knowledge a 4 year old kid could do on a PC (hard drive, memory etc).  That has it's advantages, but at a very high cost.

Another advantage is that the manufacturer's only have to write one driver for one OS.  Also let's face it, some people just don't want to fuss with all the building of a computer of their own and so then, a MAC is good for those people.

Most people also cannot get off the "cigar club" idea of owning a MAC.  Their is an asthetic addiction that people buy into as well.  Plus face it, most people will believe anything they hear without figuring it out for themselves to see how ridiculous the idea is.

Again, if you want a great computer, that looks awesome and will run good too but is significantly more expensive, and almost 100% non-upgradeable then a MAC is for you.  I love my MAC, but I won't say I love it more then my Windows machines because I would be telling a lie.  I expect my machine to do for me what I tell it to.  I can get ANY Windows machine to do that just as good as any MAC.  And actually, I can build a machine that will spank a ten thousand dollar MAC Pro for under $2500.00.

Sorry, I am not to up to par on the latest laptops so I can't help you decide on that one.  But trust me that when you say the word "budget", MAC is not in your range (unless you're a millionaire and to you "budget" is not an actual issue).

Maestro2be

Excuse me again for the trouble but I have arrived at this crossroads and can not decide what to do ...

sorry also if my translation is not correct, but not knowing English well, I'm supporting the translator of google ..

Thanks a lot for all your help, you are wonderful and extremely competent people.

All the best
Antonio

If you're going to use a Macbook Pro, get a copy of Windows XP and load it natively with Bootcamp.  It will work absolutely perfect and also give you complete full access to the full fledge drivers.  Not some junk ass cool virtual window.  I don't care if they (Parallels) claim it will work, it's not a good idea and you will not get as good of results as you would in a native bootcamp build of Windows XP.

I am using a 2.5 year old Macbook Pro with 2GB of RAM and Pianoteq works smooth as butter.  You should easily get Pianoteq and quite a few other instruments to play back in real time.  I do it now with Pianoteq and VSL instruments.

But, if you're going to stay running in a Windows platform, save your money and buy a Windows laptop, it will cost you 1 millionth of the cost of a Macbook Pro and get you the same results.  They are way over priced in todays economy.  Software updates to fast and the power requirements raise with it.  My 2.5 year old Macmook Pro is already way to underpowered to do all the things I need it to do thanks to all the software updates Vienna and Kontakt do (as well as MAC OS X).  So to me I spent almost 5,000.00 american dollars only to be over powered in 2 years.  I won't make that mistake again.

If I didn't use Logic, I would never buy another MAC again.  I can beat their performance of a MAC Pro for literally 1/5th of the cost.  There are also other ways to run OS X which I will not get into here.

Maestro2be

You should be fine even with a PC laptop. Just get the fastest dualcore CPU with 4 GB of RAM and you'll be great.

PC is also less expensive.. but I think are all equipped with vista.. I really don't like it!!

I was considering as alternative to make my own a Daw buying separate spare of hardware and putting all in a rack case... with Xp.. umhh?? what about this idea??

(sorry again for my english...)

You should be fine with a Macbook pro. Get at least 2 GB of RAM on it and all is gonna work right.

Thanks a lot for the help.

Now I have to find some "cents" for buy the mac

I' think to buy a mac Book pro 17" with full ram option an higher CPU but it is very expensive for me so I've to wait some time....

Anyone knows how cpu power i'll need to run for example PT3 and Wivi or Syinful togheter???  (a dream for me!!)

ciao
Antonio

I'm thinking about a new Mac book pro.. I suppose ther is not great problem running PT 3 in this platform, but due to the fact that I usually play various different sounds combined during a performance, I'd like to ask to experienced people like those in this forum, If I 'll encounter big problems in a particular situation..

My goal is to run on the mentioned mac, thru "parallel desktop" an istance of window xp with native instruments KORE, that run inside PT3 plus almost another 1 or 2 plug-ins like B3 and kontakt..

Now, I know that Physical modelling programs "eats" a lot of cpu power than sample based plug-ins that needs in RAM quantity.

So I wonder if someone have some experience in this situation.. and may say to me some ideas about...

Sorry if I don't explain well my concept but I'm not familiar with english...

All the best..

Antonio.

I was suffering from a similar problem when I had a dual core athlon system running Pianoteq. Although the whole system was quite powerful I found the Megahertz and Performance rating surprisingly low (around 7).
I found that my Windows was set to a "cool and quiet (or so)" energy saving mode. I was explained that it's ok to leave it like that for most cases.

But Pianoteq seems to need processing power instantly and not after the system allocates it some processing time.

Long story short: I switched to "desktop mode" in energy savings menu - et voila: PQ system Megahertz Counting doubled, performance index doubled, gone were those nasty clicks.

Hope this helps...

I found it incredible to notice that after I got my latest quad-core Phenom processor not only the performance figures sky-rocketed but also enabled me to set buffer size nicely low resulting in an ultra-crisp sound response.

I love it!

Cheers,
toothfairy

Nonetheless you should have AT LEAST 1 GB of RAM to improve system performance, especially to give more space for Windows, as well as other applications.

A dualcore CPU is an affordable way to go - however, if you have an older motherboard, you will have to change it too, to accomodate the new CPU (different chipsets).

Agreed.
I have just discovered something very interesting: When I use Pianoteq only (no other application running) the CPU does not become slow! But the CPU load remains the same: 70%, 80% (90% pedal length)
From now on, I will run Pianoteq without other applications running because if not, the CPU becomes slow.

Topic solved! Thank you all.