Hi people, I'm stuck on weather to choose a macbook or imac, to work with Logic express and Pro tools 7 LE (MBox2). For me a macbook seems like the best option because i can take it to college. I can record audio through it there and do general coursework at breaks. But.... the macbook drive runs at 5400rpm and slows down when you add more hard drive. This will cause problems right?? if i'm recording audio with it, as audio needs speeds at 6000rpm or something. The imac has more imitations, but runs faster with hard drive speeds at 7200rpm. I feel i would have less problems with an imac. All i'm worried about is weather recording audio, midi and using monitors speakers will run smoothly, without errors through... basicly a laptop (macbook).

You may consider purchasing a macbook from the Apple online store and spending the extra money on the upgraded 7200 RPM hard drive if they offer it. I own two 2nd generation MacBooks and they both handle audio recording flawlessly. In fact, there are many professional podcasters that use MacBooks to record their shows and are very happy with the performance. The 5400 RPM drives in the MacBook are based on "perpendicular" recording technology and are supposedly much better than previous notebook drives. Here's a quote from Seagates website about 5400 RPM drives: " Perpendicular recording stands data bits on end on the disc, rather than flat to the surface as with existing longitudinal recording, to deliver new levels of hard drive data density and capacity. The new data orientation also increases drive performance without increasing spin speed by allowing more bits to pass under the drive head in the same amount of time. " The iMacs are due for an update very soon so it may be wise to wait until after August 7th to see if Apple announces new ones. A new design with better hardware might make getting the iMac a no brainer.

Thank you The Nevada Kid for your reply. Yes i will wait until Aug 7th for the imac upgrade. Maybe then, like you said "A new design with better hardware might make getting the iMac a no brainer". I will take a look at the apple online store for more rpm information in the meantime. And other reviews etc.. So i guess I'm on the side of a macbook for now, anyway. It's good to talk to someone who has experienced apple's macbook first hand. Thank you again for your response.

I'm new to this website so apologies for my late post - but for what it's worth ... I bought an iMac in June (20" 2.16GHz with 2GB RAM and 256MB GPU) and have a Firewire 410 with Logic Express 7.2 and it runs flawlessly. In fact the system monitor hardly registers unless I've loaded up Akoustik Piano in 24/96 sample rate. Needless to say I was very annoyed to see the release of the new iMac considering the price drops for the 24" monitor and performance increase.

That sounds like good stuff LeeG. So iMac works just fine, as I thought it would. Sorry about the updated release of the iMac. But you still happy with the iMac right. ha ha! The 2Gb Ram must help run everything smoothly as well. On the iMac it has 7200prm, so it should do the job when making music. But I think I've made up my mind so far, to get a Macbook and I think I will get an external hard drive at 7500rpm 100GB. oh...I have compared the new release of the iMac, it's very good but the Macbook is better for me(portability) but less rpm :(. Thank you for your reply LeeG.