Hey everyone

i am at a cross roads. I am in a band where we play keyboards live. I do not have the money for a work station, and i do not want to be limited by a micro korg. I have an apple iMac 17inch, but bringing that on stage would make me so anxious. Buying a case for the iMac alone would be somewhere close to 300$. I use reason 4, so i figure would buying a netbook be a good decision?

I dont know anything about netbooks, and their capabilities when it comes to audio and music. Does anyone have any experience with netbooks, or any similar mini laptops that came out within the past 2 years?

Thanks Everyone

I understand why you would be anxious but as someone who currently only owns a netbook: it's not going to work! These things seriously wouldn't be able to run Reason 4. I understand why you would be so nervous but really, if you keep it on you at all times and put it up on a piece of wood mounted on a keyboard stand there should be no problem at all. I know that it'd be nerve racking but I am going to buy a macbook pro just for live music on stage because nothing else has really cut it for me
!

Macbooks seem to be the choice of many musicians. However it is a bit scary to take that thing on the road with you. If you're going to buy a netbook, for a bit more you can get something like a low end lenovo that's going to have more memory and faster processor. They have an interesting "find a computer for me" thing on their home page that you may find useful.

Netbooks, for now, are a email and text and maybe some chat sort of machines.

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We've been using a macbook live for a couple of years now - it's definitely solid and is a great way to do it but it definitely requires special care and handling at gigs. You have to be very careful with where and how you put it onstage (depending on what kind of band you are and how much you move onstage) because as reliable as they are I don't think they would take a fall very well. On top of that you have to really keep an eye on it - they are very small and steal-able items... and much easier for thieves to sell than a guitar a rare pedal or something. It may not be an issue if you don't have a lot of gear to lug around but it's something to keep in mind. The good side is you can use it to check email and update all your online stuff while on tour

Pretty soon you will probably be able to use an ipad onstage... early days yet but keep an eye on them as they develop. Way cheaper than a macbook which is a big bonus.

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I have an Acer Netbook and I tried using Reason 4 on it and all it did, was lag something chronic!

There have been people running Logic on the latest generation of Macbook Airs lately, I'm sure they would handle Reason and they're a bit smaller than a Pro (not really that much cheaper though). I'd get one of those Kensington locking cables and secure it to something heavy if I used one on stage though - the stealability factor is huge.

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