Latency

Why is it that a 4 year old mac powerbook has almost negligible audio latency when playing "virtual" instruments, while my core duo notebook has about a half second latency? I suppose it is the stock sound drivers and hardware in my HP budget notebook.

I know, I should have invested in a newer mac than buy a budget notebook, but I thought I would only be using the HP for work related grunt work. Little did I know that the trackpad would be better than my powerbook, and when I really get down to aesthetics, there are some nice features in a windows computer, like a delete key, separate page up and page down keys, little stuff like that.

So I am torn between the neat-o factor of the powerbook and the grunt work machine that I find myself spending more and more time with. Apple has some nice features, and Vista is kind of a lumbering giant of an operating system. Somebody said, "wouldn't it be nice if you could roll them both together into something really nice." That might be the way to go if it were possible.

I do musical things with my computers, and the mac has carved itself out a nice little niche in my doings. The HP has processor power, and though I may record things on the PC, I will probably actually "play" them on my mac, using it's sweet sounding software synths and low latency drivers.

I guess I'm lucky to have both worlds to visit, though I can't seem to decide which box is my home computer. Maybe in a few years I'll invest in another mac, or not.