# Requirements for Macintosh Garage Band

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/requirements-for-macintosh-garage-band/307697>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 10, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/requirements-for-macintosh-garage-band/307697 "2005-06-10T04:41:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/requirements-for-macintosh-garage-band/307697/1 "2005-06-10T04:41:37Z")

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I am planning on using Garage Band for recording music, mostly via keyboards. A friend of mine has it and has been using it to much success. Problem is, I don’t own a Macintosh - I do have a new Dell GX260 sitting in the garage that’s not being used for anything - but that can’t run GarageBand!

My pal says GarageBand is unequaled in ease of use and quality, and it’s impractical for me to use his whenever i want to use it - so it looks like I’ll need my own. What Mac will I need to buy?

Is it true that Garageband is unequaled and that there is no comparable product for PC? If there is, what is it?

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/requirements-for-macintosh-garage-band/307697/2 "2005-06-10T11:57:06Z")

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GarageBand 2 requires a G3 (600MHz or faster) or any G4 or G5 Mac, with at least 256MB RAM and MacOS X version 10.3 or higher. For the best features of GB, though, you’ll definitely need a G4 at least, and it helps to have more RAM. The bigger the box, the more simultaneous tracks you can have going.