I've been looking for my next notebook for almost a month.

It is hard to beat out Apple Logic as far as music app concerns ;-)

But the Gateway has much better specs than any current Apple Notebooks. Tough call.

cheers ...

If you have to use Logic, then macbook for sure. If you can do without the app or can use something similar to it, get the Gateway.

I have both (well not the models you state, but close enough)

cheers ...

OS X fits the need of many users, just like Linux, Windows and other OSes. 10% of the OS market share goes to OS X, so it carves itself a good niche here.

If you just start thinking about using OS X, give yourself plenty of time to learn and enjoy. I see so many remorse buyers blasting OS X after a few months of usage, having yet to explore all the possibilities it can offer and understanding its differences to Windows.

You alone can decide if it is worth to try out, as for 1 saying yes, you probably get 6-7 no. I am using the 10% number as deduction

Trick question to your dilemma. I suggest you go to a store and look at the screens side by side and decide. I a broader context, a 15" notebook is a bit more mobile than a 17" notebook.

cheers ...

Honestly, if you even think you might want to take your notebook out of house you should get the 15". 17" can be quite annoying to carry around.

As far as Resolution is concerned, I think 1920x1200 is too big for a 17" in. screen, that is, unless you really need the screen space. Not sure what the music scene requires in terms of screen space though.

He said he also needs the laptop for gaming, therefore a larger resolution provides more pleasure for gaming.

From personal experience, my brother has a macbook (not macbook pro) and so far he is pretty happy with it. So i think it can be an OS worth trying out.

I like Windows, Mac and Linux

And yes, I am quite happy with my 1st generation macbook.

cheers ...

If he wants to game, then he should not get a Mac.

As far as larger resolution providing a more pleasurable gaming experience, no one doubts that. It's the performance trade off of going from 1440x900 to 1920x1200 that is the problem. The gains in IQ do not compensate enough for the drop in performance. Besides, many people would prefer 4xAA at 900p than 0xAA 1080p. It's not just resolution that improves IQ. For instance, If I had to choose between 720p @60fps to 1080p @30fps, I'd pick the 60fps hands down every time.

As you said its a performance trade off to have higher resolutions, that is true, but you can always lower the resolution with a 1920x1200 screen. But if you are playing a game that runs extremely smooth at low resolutions, you can always increase the res. With a lower quality screen you dont have that option.

And also you mentioned that if he uses it to game he shouldnt buy a mac, that is true, but however from his original post he will also be doing things such as music management, which is superior on a mac.

The way I see it is only get a macbook if you MUST use apple requiring software and applications. Not a knock on apple at all, it's very high quality. Their software and components comes directly from apple, therefore it's naturally easier, convient, less hasseling, and applecare from what I hear is excellent. But theoretically, a naked macbook is a pc so as a result, you can get more powerful hardware specifics at the same or even cheaper price going with a pc. However mac's video card isn't designed for major gaming unfortunatly, and I doubt you can upgrade the video card as I think it's connected to the motherboard in the laptop. If you get a macbook pro, get the best video card available.

So you wish to do gaming and work a DAW (digital audio workstation)? Not to discourage you but you can build a more powerful but also much cheaper desktop than going this route, but I'll help. You will need a good memory card (I recommend 512mb of video memory), good RAM (I recommend 4GB, possibly with the possiblity of expanding up to 8GB), and lots hard drive disk space. Depending on how serious you go with home recording, you might need to get a couple hundred GB capacity and a hard drive with speeds of 7200RPM, but its easy to upgrade a hard drive disk space so you might just go with the standard for now.

My advice to you is somehow expierence OSX and Logic or other DAW software to determine which route to go. Don't buy a computer then search for DAW software you want. There are other great DAW software such as cubase, sonar, pro tools and etc and they all are about the same, there's no "best". What's most important in picking DAW software is what you find most comfortable. You can try a friend's mac, look at youtube tours, or go to a music shops that sells DAW software to get a tour and feel on that. If you find that Logic software (which is great) is the one you're most comfortable with and you're comfortable with OSX, then get the macbook pro. Also, the macbook can have windows software as well using bootcamp or applications such as parallel which allows you to use mac and windows applications simutaneously. It might help with games. Very useful, but may not be pratical.

I hoped I helped. Message me if you need more help. Good luck!