Hi Jack, I'm working with a Macbook Pro at the moment, splitting my tasks fairly evenly between being booted into Windows and Mac OS. Sonar isn't really my main DAW, but I've used it enough to answer your questions I think.
The nice thing about running XP or 7 on a Macbook is that you install the OS and make any configuration changes you want to improve DAW performance starting from a totally clean install. That's a plus point if you've ever tried using an off the shelf Dell or similar that's arrived with a ton of junk preinstalled. Once Windows is installed and configured to your liking, you can use a free app in Mac OS called Winclone that makes a clone of your Windows partition, which you can revert back to without needing sighted assistance. You heard right that Macbooks don't have applications nor insert keys. There is a way to manually remap keys though in the Windows registry, or a number of freeware programs that will make the process simple for you. Once done, it's seemless. Pro Tools is an interesting place to be. The first thing to say is that the MIDI event list is utterly inaccessible at the moment, along with many dialogs relating to MIDI, so if MIDI is your primary method of input you won't be happy with Pro Tools yet. For audio work however, it's mostly a pleasant user experience. Access to plugins is gained through VoiceOver being able to interact with automatable controls. While this doesn't cover every option of every plugin, it is at least a consistent method, and a bonus is that plugin manufacturers will know which of their parameters are automatable so you can often know what the usability is like before purchasing. A control surface will increase your productivity hugely in Pro Tools, so something like an M-Audio unit would be usable in both DAWs. HTH Scott On 11/4/10, D!J!X! <[email protected]> wrote: > If you want a laptop for recording, unless you get a laptop customized for > daw work by a vendor, you'd be better off with a macbook, assuming they're > good for recording as is. If not, whatever you do don't buy an off the shelf > laptop from some vendors like dell, hp, toshiba etc, because it'll be a > hassle to get working and even then it's not garanteed that they'll work > well... > Do you have to have a laptop? Or is desktop an option? > > HTH, D!J!X! > > _____ > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of Ronnayut Ingsa > Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2010 8:24 PM > To: JSonar mailing- liss > Subject: [Jsonar] Request for Information to make decision between Macbook > and Windows Laptop > > > > Hi all, > > I really need some idea and more information for making decision between > purchasing a new windows laptop or Macbook Pro. Personally, I'm now > interested in Macbook but I just wonder about its accessibility. Does anyone > have any experience to use Macbook with Windows, Sonar an Jsonar? Does it > work? Does it have many difficulties? I have heard Mac book pro doesn't > have insert key and application key. > > In fact, I would like to know how reachable does Voice Over work with > Macbook and how far is protool being enhanced. How much am I able to use it? > > I wish the answers through these questions will help me decide what my new > laptop should be. > > Thank you, > > Jack Ronnayut > > _______________________________________________ Find JSonar and Sonar FAQs, articles, guides and downloads at jsonar.org. Jsonar mailing list [email protected] http://jsonar.org/mailman/listinfo/jsonar_jsonar.org
