Motif Rack XS Question: Cubase AI

[thehuman]

I have lately been moving my setup to a more hardware-based scheme, acquiring an XV-5050 and an MPC 1000, and I am loving it. I am thinking now that I would like to make an investment and purchase a more modern sound module/synth unit, and I am looking at the rack-based Motifs. I know that they both (ES and XS) would satisfy me greatly, and the XS has its obvious advantages, but my actual question is about Cubase AI, which is included with the XS.

I know that bundled software is no reason to buy a hardware unit, and it is certainly not the only criteria for which I am considering the XS, but I do love Cubase a lot--I simply refuse to use anything with a dongle, so I have never been able to use it. So my question, to which I cannot find an answer anywhere: what kind of copy protection does Cubase AI use? I am assuming that the Motif unit acts a dongle itself, which would make it useless for my laptop, and thus not really even worth considering as a bonus for the extra price of the XS. There just really are not many details listed about AI anywhere, even on Steinberg's own site. Can anyone who uses it provide more details about how scaled down it is, and what sort of protection it uses? I would really appreciate it, as it will make a big difference on how much I consider the price difference between the ES and the XS. Thanks a million!

[jdieks]

i'm not 100% sure, but i think AI is the only version that doesn't use a dongle at all..