Greetings all,
I am currently in the market for a notebook, and a MacBook Pro is on my
shortlist, along with a ThinkPad T400/T500. I am a Linux user and developer,
but the one thing that brings the MacBook into consideration is the use of OS X
for audio applications.
I am lucky to have some sight, so when I am at home, I am able to use GUI Linux
audio applications to do any audio work I need to do. However, I am likely to
want to do audio work when I am traveling/out and about as well, and since
Linux audio apps aren't really accessible (The GUI ones, which I prefer), I
need a way to use speech with an application to do audio editing, and maybe a
little bit of multi-track recording. I could install Windows either natively or
a VM, and use various Windows tools such as GoldWave etc, however I would have
to buy a current version of JAWS/Window-Eyes, which I'd rather not do.
Enter Mac OS X Leopard, with VoiceOver, and a large range of apps available. I
like OS X, and what it has to offer compared to Windows, in terms of
accessibility, expandability, and the similarities to Linux. However, it alone
is not enough of a reason to get a MacBook pro, since Linux is my primary use
for my notebook. However, not easily being able to view the screen, and with
magnification making some work like audio slower on a smaller screen, Linux
will not be very useful for audio work, unless I wish to screw up my back and
lean close to view the screen.
Being able to use an accessible version of Skype is also a plus, however it
also is not enough to justify a Mac which will be used primarily for Linux.
So to those who use OS X for audio, what are you able to use, and what are you
able to achieve? I'll likely get iLife 08 with the MacBook Pro here in
Australia, so if GarageBand is accessible, I'm happy to use it for small
multi-track projects, and if it also has a good audio editor, thats a bonus.
Other than that, I'm willing to pay reasonable price for good quality audio
applications.
Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.
--
Luke Yelavich
GPG key: 0xD06320CE
(http://www.themuso.com/themuso-gpg-key.txt)
Email & MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Jabber: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
