Karaoke Forums

Upgrading my puter for my shows. Should I get a PC or MAC? Using a Toshiba Laptop currently. Pros? Cons? Experiences? Thanks All!

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Any karaoke software running on mac??? Just asking If you can still run on XP, I'd say go this way, much cheaper or make up the difference by buying a laptop where you can select the parts, like a good 7200 rpm drive, good video card, Intel duo core... I'm personally not a fan of any branded laptop where you can't choose what to put inside, it's the reason I selected a Dell Vostro custom build to my own taste and it cost me less than the Toshiba's of this world

I am not aware of what karaoke software there is for the Mac. I know there is some, as I saw it once at a show in Las Vegas, but no one ever talks about it here. That and cost would put me off a Mac.

I am happy with my Dell and Toshiba laptops. Both have worked well for karaoke. I bought the Dell just before they stopped shipping XP, so I only had to put 1G of RAM in it. When you have to run Vista, what I hear is that you had better get 2G at least.

WRT software, I highly recommend Compuhost.

hey cutie how ya been?

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I have heard there is one program written for the Mac but has also been in eternal beta testing.

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You are all assuming that Mac only uses Mac OS X. All current Mac, and has been for a couple of years, can run both Mac OS X and any Windows. I would suggest getting a Mac. I am in a process of converting my Macbook Pro to run Hoster and my DJ program, as well as possibly my lighting controlling program. I think it has enough horse power to run them all. I know it costs a bit more for a Mac, but I think it's worth it.

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You are sooo right, I completely forgot about it I know that some people will buy a Mac for the look but will run it on Xp, now, figure that one out

So Karaman, you now have your answer, it's your call Both will run your software, it's a question of personal taste and budget! Personally, I would love to have a mac for my studio software, but again, I would need to run it on XP for my karaoke stuff

Now, your best option would probably be to find an xp disk somewhere, you can probably find an oem version and get a Dell that you will custom built Vista, is just NOT for me, I simply hate it You need a powerful system just to run Bill's crappy OS

Hmmm, cutie Sorry, you must have the wrong guy

I'm fine Vicki, if I can only change job, I'll be better Thanks dear

''I don't know if it's true, but have heard even with the Mac's running Windows, the dual screen is not available - even with appropriate cards. Something about the Mac not being able to support the extended desktop. There was someone talking about that in MTU forum.

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Hmm, that's strange. I have a friend who has an iMac, not the laptop, with extra screen that extends the desktop over the two screens. I am pretty sure about it. I will ask him.

If the desktop does it, I am pretty sure the laptop will do it. Matter of fact, I think I have tried that with my Macbook Pro. I had to give a presentation and hooked up the projector and I had the menu on the laptop screen and the Powerpoint on the projector. I will go home and check it today.

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My experience with emulators running on a hosted operating system is that they are way more trouble than operating systems running in their native environment.

You never are able to get proper tech support, because they will ask you what operating system you are on. If it is anything but the one it is designed to run on, they won't know what they are doing. In addition, there can be problems introduced by the interface to the other operating system -- software that runs fine on any old Windows machine may not run fine at all on the Mac. Yes, people will tell you "well, it should be the same". Indeed it should be. But trust me, it isn't always.

If you are going to use Windows software, get a Windows machine. Putting it on a Mac is as risky as can be. This is of course my opinion, but one generated from 30 years of fixing computers.

(And I am not either a Windows person or a Mac person -- I am writing this on Linux.)

Micky, it's not all about looks. If you have seen the trends you will understand. Mac offers flexibility. You can either boot off OS X or Windows at boot up. If you are using the native Windows at boot up, it's been written that it's the fastest laptop running Vista. This was written in PCWorld magazine.

Another option is to run the Windows using emulation via software. The beauty of it is that you can use one license of Windows to run both. If I expect heavy use of Windows only, like doing a gig with the Hoster, I will boot up in Windows. If I need to just run a simple program for a few, I can run that program in a window within Mac OS. No need to reboot. It's all about flexibility.

Lastly, I run all my email and graphics programs on the Mac. Mac is better at those because there are so few viruses written for them. So, I feel more secure with my email using the Mac. Let's not even talk about Multimedia software. I have friends using Garageband, which comes with the Mac, to record their songs and publish them. It's so easy and convenient, there is no equal in the Windows world that I know.

Yes, I admit I am a Mac Fanboy but I use both Windows and Mac equally. I feel I qualify to give fairly unbiased opinion.

BTW, I just upgrades my game machine to Vista. I hate it.

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Of course I respect your exprience but Mac is a Windows machine. It's an Intel duo core pro based machines, just has a different type of "BIOS" and need a special drivers for the peripherals. It's not different then a Windows machine. Once you boot in to Windows (XP or VISTA) it works just like a windows machine. Unless you look at the hardware, you wouldn't know the difference, except it's faster.

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Yes, but those drivers are everything.

If you can get your software provider to guarantee they will support it running on a Mac, go for it. But I bet they won't.

Yep, you are right. Drivers are important. My friend has been running Windows on Mac for a while and he never had any problems with drivers. OK, let's be honest, Macs are closed system, not like most PCs (unless you get Mac Pro). So, the only way you can attach any peripheral is through USB, Firewire or DVI. In that case, both are standard off the shelf parts that is also used on Windows machines. So, if you have a driver that works on a Windows machine, it will work on a Mac booted with Windows. Again, there is almost no difference between a Mac running Windows and PCs running windows today.

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I think what people need to understand, is that Mac is a hardware company, a company that will sell you the whole computer if you wish to use their OS X and Microsoft is a software company, you can build your own computer and just install the latest OS.

In my opinion, Mac has a better OS (always did) but since they now use Intel, you can easily build yourself a pc (desktop) using the exact same hardware you would find in a Mac at half the price! We all know how much Apple is a great marketing company, they would kill Microsoft if they ever decide to sell their OS X software, I would for sure, build myself another desktop on even convert my Dell Vostro But that will never happen

My Dell Vostro laptop is more powerful on paper than a Mac at the same price, you'll need to spend at least 30% more for a Mac with the same spec and hardware, now just imagine if I could run it on the OS X system, I'd be in heaven Also, not even sure you can get a 7200 rpm hard drive on a Mac laptop

Lonnie, I just checked my MacBook Pro tonight. Attached a 17" monitor and it recognized it as another screen and it gave me option of either extended desktop or mirror. So, it's very possible you can run applications that requires extended desktop. Of course, this was done on a Mac OS, I haven't tried it yet with Windows on it. I am sure it will work there as well.

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Thanks for all the input folks! I have made my decision based on this site and others. I will go with the tried and true and more popular Pc with windows for my shows. I will bite the bullet and go with Vista and a powerhouse machine. I am confident that with time as always the software companies must stay up with the new operating systems. I will keep and recondition my Toshiba with XP just in case. I also do graphics for my screenprinting business and totally agree that Macs are the bomb for that kind of work especially working with large files. Music production..... definitely go with Macs....PC's are coming around but might be awhile to beat Macs awsome speed and performance. Anyway, there really is no absolute OS for karaoke I believe. I got some great feedback and agree with everyone.

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If at first toy don't succeed, then skydiving is not for you![b]