<p>My daughter gets away with using Notepad on her own computer. She is a performance major like you and uses it for theory class. The school computers have the full version of Finale if she needs it. I’d say don’t purchase any software until you absolutely have to. (You don’t really even need to buy word processing software if you use Google docs, although life is easier if you own Word.)</p>
<p>glassharmonica- so for performance majors, the type of computer is affected mainly in theory classes as I assumed? That would be when a performance major might use things like Finale that might work better on a Mac?</p>
<p>iluvpiano, my daughter already had a macbook pro that I bought her from Apple’s refurbished site two years earlier (it was cheaper from them than from my own university discounted Apple computer store), so I don’t know if Finale works better on her Mac than on a PC. Truly, Macs seem to be more popular in colleges now. I teach seminar classes at a university and count about 2 PCs for every 15 Macs on the table. All but one of my daughter’s suite mates at her conservatory have Macs. But, you will probably be fine with a PC and could probably limp by with your current PC (do some maintenance work on it) for a year or two until it’s time to pick out a new one. Laptops seem to last about 3-4 years in general, so if you get one now, it will be on its last legs by the time you graduate. The longer you hold off, the better your new computer will be, as these things tend to get more powerful and relatively cheaper. Honestly, performance majors don’t have much need for a computer other than to write the occasional paper, compose the occasional sonata (which can also be done on the school computer lab machines) and, most importantly, check Facebook. Oh, and College Confidential.</p>
<p>thanks, glassharmonica again. Though it is true that I’ll be a piano performance major under the BM program, I will actually be doing another non-music major under a BA program, thinking History for that major, which involves lots of papers and research, so I’ve gotta think about that too…guess I forgot to mention that on this thread. I will probably be taking 5 years in undergrad to complete the 2 degrees- try for 4, but take 5 years if necessary.</p>
<p>For the history major, mainly word processing and web browsing… you could still make do with your old computer for the time being. Just be sure to back up your documents, since all laptop hard drives inevitably crash. It is only a matter of when (forgive me-- I deliver this lecture a lot in my house, not that everyone listens, and we’ve had some tragedies!)</p>
<p>right, so my BA major won’t make a difference on the type of laptop needed, its basically just that a Mac might be more helpful with some music software, but you can’t really know for sure from the beginning.</p>
<p>Tech Requirements for Fall 2011 are more extensive than I expected. The minimum specs for the laptop (PC or Mac) include:
- Avid-qualified
- 100gb, 7200 rpm HHD (200+ gb best)</p>
<p>D has a macbook, but it seems that a macbook doesn’t meet those requirements,and we’d need a macbook pro instead.</p>
<p>The required software is Sibelius 6 Academic Edition for freshman, and then Pro Tools 9 Academic Edition.</p>
<p>Has anyone else run into this? Where a standard macbook is inadequate?</p>
<p>Is the increased tech requirements becoming standard at schools for music students?</p>
<p>mtpaper…are those tech requirements for a specific college that you’re talking about, or is that in general the recommendations for a college freshman this fall? I haven’t heard anything about tech requirements for my college, so I was just wondering where you got that info from. Thanks.</p>
<p>@iluvpiano - my daughter’s admission packet from one music school (within a university) included a sheet with the specific Technology Requirements for Fall 2011. </p>
<p>They are definitely specific to the music school, not the university.</p>
<p>mtpaper, I looked back and saw that your daughter is a performance major. I would not want to be responsible for her showing up at college with inadequate tech resources, but as the parent of 3 in college my experience has been that colleges tend to exaggerate tech requirements. Or, at least, they tailor the requirements to those whose majors have the biggest tech demands. </p>
<p>For example, I have one in art school. She’s in a fine arts major, analogous to being in a performance major, but the college tech list required a $3000 Macbook Pro because of the required graphic design courses. The problem is that their recommendations are not specific to the major-- a student majoring in design would certainly need the higher end computer, as well as the expensive software.</p>
<p>My daughter took her 3-year-old entry-level Macbook and had no problem. Occasionally she did need to use the computer lab for a design assignment that required software she didn’t have on her own Mac. I’m glad we didn’t go out and spend $3000 on a computer that would be now (two years later) worth a few hundred bucks. My daughter’s roommate (also a fine arts major) got the $3000 computer, which she has mainly used to watch Dexter reruns.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes indeed, I have run into that. While it’s a pretty beefy setup, I can also now see an emerging rationale for the requirement. Mind you, in our case, we knew there’d be an investment since McSon is in the music technology/production field. </p>
<p>If the specs leave you in a condition of fiscal hardship, you could have a conversation with the school to see just “how” necessary the gear is.
But if not, by getting the gear at the outset as a requirement means it can be added to your COA (and possibly increase your FA if eligible) or alternately, give you a bonafide tax deduction.</p>
<p>If the school that gave the specs is Frost, well, they’re pretty hi-tech and I suspect that their tech/engineering prowess rubs off on the rest of the programs 
At Umich, they make a similar list (plus Finale as an alternate, plus an oxygen midi controller etc.) a “strongly recommended” instead of “required” shopping list (but there’s no shortage of well-equipped macs floating all over the place.)</p>
<p>Here’s what I suspect they’re thinking:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It’s an opportunity for skill expansion for musicians to have familiarity with the most current publishing/recording/sequencing/production equipment – and much media software is not great in terms of backward compliance. Such software is typically also a resource hog, and it is difficult to learn and perform tasks/assignments efficiently if you’re having speed and behavior issues (which you will if you start trying to run avid or protools on an underpowered macbook). Better to over-engineer the specs than to have them eclipsed in year two, where there might be even more capturing of recitals, digital music ensembles, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>The macbook pro is in my experience more rugged/beefier than its little sisters, so while it’s also more expensive, it traditionally is more expandable and as a cumulative result enjoys greater longevity. Even I can’t seem to kill the things We have quite an entertaining mac graveyard on display at our office studio, starting with the (still bootable) AppleII!</p></li>
<li><p>When the school is asking for “avid compliant” systems (which is professional film/video editing software) together with protools, I am pretty convinced that somewhere in your daughter’s curriculum she is going to be asked to sequence and edit/produce/master performances or projects that need to be of a particular caliber to showcase in some end media or portfolio or exhibition use. The exposure to these music/media creation processes will actually be of professional use to her in the future, and seem worth the initial investment to me. The school in question may be of the opinion that performance training without empowering the artist to self-promote or have at least a working knowledge of the tools of production is incomplete. I would hold with that theory in light of my own bias (By the same token, I was quite pleased that my son’s curriculum included a music business course that also required business registration and signing up with ascap or bmi.)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The other possibility, however, is that the Recording Arts/Engineering department made up the list (music tech people are often asked to do such things), and the SOM decided not to do a separate list for performance students, because the other department argued that by making it a requirement folks could include it in their COA/fin aid/tax deduction. So your best bet is to seek clarification from the department head, IMHO.
Cheers, K.</p>
<p>PS - If you sufficiently “overpower” the base specs (eg. Ram, Hard drive) you really will not have to worry about buying another macbook pro for YEARS.)</p>
<p>thanks folks - yes my D is a flute performance major, and yes, the list is from Frost</p>
<p>We always expected to get her a new laptop so none of this is an issue; we bought her macbook 3 years ago with the expectation that I’d inherit it for portability. And we’re not concerned with the cost as she’s been awarded the Stamps Scholarship (free tuition, fees, room and board; we haven’t committed yet, but it’s highly likely that she will choose this over her other options).</p>
<p>I was only surprised at how sophisticated the list is, and whether or not other families are seeing this at other schools, as it hasn’t been discussed here. I’m thrilled for her to learn how to use the advanced software, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of it piques her interest in unexpected areas… </p>
<p>All is good here - and I enjoyed reading how the equipment will be used!</p>
<p>@kmcmom13 - my very first computer was an Apple IIE… many moons ago. Wish I still had it, as a memento!</p>
<p>I suspect it is a school by school thing and I think what they are doing is setting one standard that encompasses the whole possible ranges students could possibly use it for. For major league video or audio production you need a machine with a fast hard drive with a lot of storage (the hard drive spec mentioned is not really that big a deal, drives are coming in now in the terabyte range plus and 7200 RPM is pretty old hat) and especially a lot of memory and a good graphics engine. </p>
<p>If you are going to buy a macbook pro, look into getting a refurbished one, you save a ton of money and they have full warranties (and get the apple care, it is worth it). I don’t know anything about Frost, but I suspect for the most part as a flute performance major there will be little she would need for that kind of horsepower, while I think it is great for kids to learn how to do serious audio/video production (also won’t hurt them if they ever want to find a side job), I wonder how much time a performance student would have to even take that kind of class to do the kinds of projects requiring that kind of horsepower.</p>
<p>Congrats, mtpaper & d, on the Stamps! Heck, now you can buy her about a macbook pro a month or more 
(Just kidding!)</p>
<p>I’ve decided to sit out this battle in the ongoing “Holy War”. ;)</p>
<p>If you’re not concerned with cost, for sure get the best MacBook pro money can buy. But kmcmom13’s son is going into a music production major so his tech needs are much more sophisticated than those of a typical music major. You can only buy a 3-year warranty on your Mac, so even if you equip it with enough horsepower to outlive the normal 4-year expectancy, you still have high chances of a hard-drive crash or other issues that would make for expensive repairs or replacement after 3 years.</p>
<p>We just had one of our PCs have a hard drive crash this week!</p>
<p>But with pc’s it doesn’t cost hundreds of dollars to fix that, and you can easily do it yourself</p>
<p>I have to say Mac is much better than PC for all music related stuff</p>