Newbie Questions regarding iBooks and more

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amativesound

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Hello all.

I have a few questions about Apple products but first let me give you just a little bit of background.

My name is Ren. I will be commuting to college starting this August. I decided I wanted a mac to help me out with my college career. After seriously inspecting the mini for a long time, I have started to consider the iBook more seriously. Particularly the 14" combo drive model. The only other computer I have ever owned was this old Windows ME piece of garbage I am using right now. This is where the questions start flowing!

I am a musician. Garageband is awesome. How good will an iBook suit my needs for recording? I am aware I have to buy something to have an audio input. Any ideas? And how about RAM? What's the minimum I should use?

I also do some light video editing. We're talking really light. Like 15 minute or less films with very little effects. Will the iBook work for this?

My last *phew* question is about podcasting. Are podcasts part of the fee thing like the $1 songs or are they free? They interest me a lot. It's like radio talk shows but you don't have to worry about missing something if you have to leave! Awesome!

The PB is way out of my price range so that's out of the question. Darn! That thing's pretty.

I look forward to your responses and any suggestions you may have for me. I'm a disgruntled spyware/virus battler so I'm just generally excited about OS X!!!
 
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amativesound said:
I am a musician. Garageband is awesome. How good will an iBook suit my needs for recording? I am aware I have to buy something to have an audio input. Any ideas? And how about RAM? What's the minimum I should use?

It will work just fine. I use mine to record all the time. The Griffin iMic is your best bet for a USB line-in connector. GarageBand is a RAM/resource hog, so you will want at least 768 MB RAM for it. Personally I just put in a 1 GB stick and maxed it out.

I also do some light video editing. We're talking really light. Like 15 minute or less films with very little effects. Will the iBook work for this?
I don't see any problem, if you are only doing little things. You will be fine.

My last *phew* question is about podcasting. Are podcasts part of the fee thing like the $1 songs or are they free? They interest me a lot. It's like radio talk shows but you don't have to worry about missing something if you have to leave! Awesome!
Podcasts are free.
 
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I agree with D3v1L80Y 100%.... I just wanted to re-emphazize... get as much RAM as you can stuff in that little guy... Especially if you plan to use Final Cut Express/Pro for your video editing. It won't even run on less that 512mb.
 
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iBook sounds pretty good for you, max out the ram with ram bought for newegg.com or tigerdirect.com or something...ram from apple is a bit too expensive
-chris
 
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hardran3

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I have a 12" iBook with 768MB ram and a 80 GB hd. Regular use (Web, mail, skype, bittorrent, etc.) I have 12 programs running, everything runs great. Garageband runs OK by itself (kill the finder too), but i should get a gig stick.

Check out the CBC radio3 podcast. (#1 right now) Go Canada! The iTunes podcast interface is great, I finally like podcasts.
 
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amativesound

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Thanks a lot for your posts. I'm really looking forward to getting an iBook and now I think I have made up my mind. I checked out the iMic and that seems like it will suit my needs pretty well. Anyone else have any experience with it?
 

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