Which Apple laptop is the least shitty?

[CougTek]

Someone I care about let herself convinced that she needs an Apple junk. She's an artist and like most artists, she is technologically stupid. And gullible too. Which of course makes her the perfect Apple customer. She wants an Apple laptop that her equally technologically stupid and gullible coworker told her she needs because those are so much better for audio softwares. That's bullshit, but for the same reasons she's a future Apple customer, she swallowed it like a starving gorilla would swallow a banana.

So what Macbook, or probably Macbook Pro, Apple currently sells is the lesser evil? Which one has the least reliability problemsss? Which one needs to spend the least amount of time under Steve Job's reality distorsion ray to make people believe it's actually a worthy product? Does she absolutely need to pay 2000$ to get something remotely close to "ok"?

I would get her the cheapest MacBook Pro, the one with a 13 inches screen, unless it has more issues than the others. Sure, it's an older platform (Core 2 Duo instead of a Core i5), but for mixing SIMPLE audio files, she doesn't need more. I mean, those artists were able to mix their music last year and Apple didn't have Core i5-based laptops then.

The classic Macbook (not Pro) seems cheap and more fragile than the "Pro". It looks like a javelized Acer Aspire.

Too bad she wants a laptop. Ortherwise, she would get a Mac Mini. The least money someone gives to Steve Jobs, the better IMO.

 

[Stereodude]

I don't know, but be sure to put Windows 7 on it after you get it just to see her reaction.

 

[Mercutio]

Audio production is an area where Apple's OS has the advantage for creative types. That is not incorrect.

MBPs probably suck less, but I doubt it's worth what what they cost to her. She'll wind up using external hardware for all the things she'll be doing so I'm not sure a notebook is the right direction regardless.

 

[CougTek]

Merc, I've seen a professional music mixer, one who won two national trophies, create albums on a ten years old computer running Windows 98. The changes he made to the songs were almost real-time.

Apple's OS isn't any better. Musicians just don't know better. There are applications doing the exact same things for the Windows platform. And don't tell me that hardware support is better for Macs or I'll scream and break a door here.

But thanks for your input.

 

[Mercutio]

Apple's OS isn't any better. Musicians just don't know better. There are applications doing the exact same things for the Windows platform.

It's about getting the applications and workflow the creative-types actually want to use. I very carefully did not say that Windows does not have applications that do the same things. I'm pretty sure Pro Tools is cross platform these days, for example, but there may very well be some truth to the idea that it's easier to make Pro Tools work with the 10 other Sound production apps your friend is going to use, or that there might be some tiny company out that that's making the revolutionary 3rd-party plug-in for her main application she needs to be happy as Mac-only software.

I'm not a fan of Mac notebooks either, and unless she's DJing or doing some goofy electronic music performer thing, I think she'd be better off with whatever the hell the cheapest desktop Mac is; she's not going to be carrying around her mixing console or whatever she's using anyway.

 

[sechs]

Get her an iPad. She won't know the difference.

Maybe you can get her and iPod Touch and just tell her it's the latest thing. Just don't let her turn it upside-down; Uncle Steve has determined that the button cannot be at the top, above your screen!

 

[Santilli]

Start with the cheapest one avaliable. As she trys to do new stuff, she'll find something apple has fubared, requiring her to upgrade to another model, until she's finally got an insane amount of money in an overpriced POS.

Converse is to give her what she really wants, suggest she buys the absolute most expensive laptop Apple makes. Even then, Apple may have used a substandard chipset, slow hard drive, etc. which hampers real world performance to increase their profits.

Your problem is going to be looking at the hidden stuff that Apple screws up, not the
processor type, etc. In other words, buying a mac requires looking into the little stuff that screws performance, hidden away, in an attempt to make more money. Limited ports, limited
throughput, substandard chip sets, inferior, substandard through put on industry standard type stuff, like SATA, USB, etc.

So, to answer your question: The least likely to be shitty is the most expensive laptop, but, that's no promise.