I'm thinking of switching over to Mac and am considering buying a Macbook Pro in either 13 inch or 15 inch. Does the Macbook Pro have enough horsepower to cut it?? Even if, say, I want to record live with a Zoom R16 in Logic?? How do you think it would hold up??
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Using a Macbook Pro for recording??
- Thread starter Noseferatu
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Or should I just buy an iMac??
I like portability.
I'll be using the Macbook Pro for other things like school, papers, etc.
I like portability.
I'll be using the Macbook Pro for other things like school, papers, etc.
The macbook pro has MORE than enough power to cut it with no problems whatsoever. You may be able to go even further with an equivalent desktop PC or MAC but the basic macbook pro will smoke for audio!
We've reached a stage where computer power has surpassed by far what any normal user would need for recording music. I can run 30 or so space designers on my (old) macbook pro without it breaking a sweat, only a few years ago I was using a computer that could barely run ONE convolution plugin!
You WILL need an external firewire drive to record to/work from though.
We've reached a stage where computer power has surpassed by far what any normal user would need for recording music. I can run 30 or so space designers on my (old) macbook pro without it breaking a sweat, only a few years ago I was using a computer that could barely run ONE convolution plugin!
You WILL need an external firewire drive to record to/work from though.
Probably, its a simple one that and only you know. You pay a lot more for more screen, if you can deal with 13" you'll save a lot, have a more portable mac and can use half the money you saved to get an even bigger external monitor!
I went for 15" because I wanted a bit more, and when I bought mine you couldn't get a 13" macbook pro!
If you can swing it, go for the 15".
Those two inches make a pretty big difference when you're mixing.
Those two inches make a pretty big difference when you're mixing.
i Got a 15" macbook pro last year and am lovin' it. Im sure the 13" is just as good but i however watch a lot of movies on my macbook so i liked having the bigger screen
- Mar 24, 2005
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FWIW, I use a 27" screen daily . . . and I often don't seem to have enough screen resolution (for ME) . . . go for the 15" . . .
. . .
main issue with macbook pro and recording is that only the 17" has a card slot now.
so, if you want to stream a lot of tracks to an external drive, the only option is to share one firewire 800 buss for both data and i/o.
which sucks if you want to get the best possible latency, bit resolution and a decent track count out of a laptop.
it has kept me from upgrading at this point, i can do great with my older generation 15" which has the additional buss.
before getting a fw adaptor for the card slot, i was having major issues due to the points described above.
as usual, mac will probably bring it back eventually.
so, if you want to stream a lot of tracks to an external drive, the only option is to share one firewire 800 buss for both data and i/o.
which sucks if you want to get the best possible latency, bit resolution and a decent track count out of a laptop.
it has kept me from upgrading at this point, i can do great with my older generation 15" which has the additional buss.
before getting a fw adaptor for the card slot, i was having major issues due to the points described above.
as usual, mac will probably bring it back eventually.
I use a mac-book pro 15-inch with protools factory (Mbox II pro) and have never had a crash (maybe im just lucky)...as long as you configure protools properly (sample rates and CPU usage especially) you'll never have a problem...I also save my files to an external drive anyway so the internal drives space (i've got 320gb) has never limited me in any way...
Grab the 13" if you're strapped for cash. Then down the road buy a big monitor for your studio area (this is something I plan on doing with my MacBook) so you have the portability + big screen capabilities.
I'm sorry but I am a geek and I dont see the sense of going with a mac. For far less money todays laptops are great and more powerful than the Macs from what I can see,
Why do they use 5400 rpm harddrives? ....And they are using Intel processors, which I like.
In a recording computer I look hard at the chipset, the firewirechip......Ti are rock solid.
mainly the speed of the harddrive and the processing power of the cpu and the ram. To me Mac is a cult thing.
If it can be done on a Mac it can be done as werll if not better on a PC or Laptop.
Just my 2cents from experience I have had.
I guess everyone is not the same so believe me I am not bashing Macs but you can get a much bigger bang for your buck with pc/ laptop. The processing power is far beyond what we were ever used to and we were recording for years now.
Software is so much more available also for pc, ....without having to buy more unexpected software.
Why do they use 5400 rpm harddrives? ....And they are using Intel processors, which I like.
In a recording computer I look hard at the chipset, the firewirechip......Ti are rock solid.
mainly the speed of the harddrive and the processing power of the cpu and the ram. To me Mac is a cult thing.
If it can be done on a Mac it can be done as werll if not better on a PC or Laptop.
Just my 2cents from experience I have had.
I guess everyone is not the same so believe me I am not bashing Macs but you can get a much bigger bang for your buck with pc/ laptop. The processing power is far beyond what we were ever used to and we were recording for years now.
Software is so much more available also for pc, ....without having to buy more unexpected software.
The Macs "just work". They are designed to be easy to work and reliable. The working phrase is "you get what you pay for", but Macs are not that more expensive, once you do a true comparison and factor in the software. My time is valuable, and I don't want to have to worry about a tool (the computer) that may fail for one reason or another. I have been using Macs for music since the beginning days of midi, so I think I can speak from experience. My main computer is an old dual G5 Mac tower, with another 7500 RPM int drive for audio recording and a Phonic 18 mixer / Firewire interface, with a FW 800 back up drive and a secondary FW 400 ext. drive that I use for archive and moving big files to other computers. And a USB flash drive, too-, and it does everything I need, including running vids for soundtrack production and music creation. All I do for maintenance is to run disk permissions and a free program called Onyx, every month to keep it cleaned up. I also have a PC laptop that I use, but I have it locked down tight and never go on the internet and browse, or download anything but updates for programs I already have. It works great, and is reliable, but I am very careful with it, to make sure it won't get infected. YMMV.
Almost all firewire interfaces do not need a driver, and the Macs "see" them when you plug them in. Important: Macs don't get viruses (they are written to infect PCs), so there is no need to slow down your computer with an anti virus program. I have been using Macs since the 80's and have never gotten an infection. And Garage Band is plenty enough to get started recording, and it's free and included.
I like the 13", but you will find quick that no matter if it's 13 or 15, you won't have enough screen space to work. I have 2 19" and that is not enough sometimes. You'll need an ext. monitor, but the Mac will, once again, see it when you plug it in. When I get Cubase going, I have a main window, a mixer, a score edit screen and a plug ins screen all fighting for screen space. I could use a pair of 24's easily. But get a 24 at least.
You'll need an ext. hard drive for audio recording, once you get into tracking more than 12 tracks at a time. The int. HD just can't do that and run the OS and the software at the same time, and keep up.
The USB audio interfaces are good for doing a couple of tracks at a time but that's about all they will do. Get a Firewire interface if you're serious.
The best thing to get is a Mac with a Firewire 800 AND a 400 port. One (800) for the audio interface and one (400) for the ext. Hard Drive. If you put a FW 400 and a FW 800 on a single port, the FW port will run at the lower speed. BTW, there are FW hubs available. Frankly, you don't need the latest and fastest Mac available.
I use Cubase 4, because I also do a lot of midi and score / chart production. A lot of people use Pro Tools, but it is way over priced for what it does. IF you use PT, be careful about assuming what you can move to another computer- sometimes it won't do it, the way PT says it will. It's not impossible, just don't assume it will work - there are other ways, just like going to and from PT and Cubase. But I use Garage Band a lot, because it is simple and to the point, and I can always transfer to Cubase if I need to. One other thing to spend money on- a good transparent 32 band EQ and a good reverb / room emulator program. Maybe a good guitar amp emulator, but Garage Band and Cubase have them built in, and they are decent to start with.
ANDFORGAWD"SSAKE BACK UP ALL YOUR FILES AND YOUR INT HARD DRIVE!!!!! I strongly suggest getting another ext. Hard drive, one of those cheap USB drives will do, and run a back up every day. Trust me, from the voice of experience (I had and ext. drive fail on me) , and the crying shoulder from friends who failed to back up (especially a certain PC user who got infected and had to do a wipe and reinstall - idiot used his music computer to play internet games on, and D/L'd a virus), do not take the risk. All it takes is a dropped or stolen laptop, and you are scroooed.
Almost all firewire interfaces do not need a driver, and the Macs "see" them when you plug them in. Important: Macs don't get viruses (they are written to infect PCs), so there is no need to slow down your computer with an anti virus program. I have been using Macs since the 80's and have never gotten an infection. And Garage Band is plenty enough to get started recording, and it's free and included.
I like the 13", but you will find quick that no matter if it's 13 or 15, you won't have enough screen space to work. I have 2 19" and that is not enough sometimes. You'll need an ext. monitor, but the Mac will, once again, see it when you plug it in. When I get Cubase going, I have a main window, a mixer, a score edit screen and a plug ins screen all fighting for screen space. I could use a pair of 24's easily. But get a 24 at least.
You'll need an ext. hard drive for audio recording, once you get into tracking more than 12 tracks at a time. The int. HD just can't do that and run the OS and the software at the same time, and keep up.
The USB audio interfaces are good for doing a couple of tracks at a time but that's about all they will do. Get a Firewire interface if you're serious.
The best thing to get is a Mac with a Firewire 800 AND a 400 port. One (800) for the audio interface and one (400) for the ext. Hard Drive. If you put a FW 400 and a FW 800 on a single port, the FW port will run at the lower speed. BTW, there are FW hubs available. Frankly, you don't need the latest and fastest Mac available.
I use Cubase 4, because I also do a lot of midi and score / chart production. A lot of people use Pro Tools, but it is way over priced for what it does. IF you use PT, be careful about assuming what you can move to another computer- sometimes it won't do it, the way PT says it will. It's not impossible, just don't assume it will work - there are other ways, just like going to and from PT and Cubase. But I use Garage Band a lot, because it is simple and to the point, and I can always transfer to Cubase if I need to. One other thing to spend money on- a good transparent 32 band EQ and a good reverb / room emulator program. Maybe a good guitar amp emulator, but Garage Band and Cubase have them built in, and they are decent to start with.
ANDFORGAWD"SSAKE BACK UP ALL YOUR FILES AND YOUR INT HARD DRIVE!!!!! I strongly suggest getting another ext. Hard drive, one of those cheap USB drives will do, and run a back up every day. Trust me, from the voice of experience (I had and ext. drive fail on me) , and the crying shoulder from friends who failed to back up (especially a certain PC user who got infected and had to do a wipe and reinstall - idiot used his music computer to play internet games on, and D/L'd a virus), do not take the risk. All it takes is a dropped or stolen laptop, and you are scroooed.
I own both a PC based laptop and I'm on my third MacBook Pro (I upgraded to the i7 chip and 17"). Even on my previous MBP 15" with the Intel Duo chip the Mac out paced the PC in every aspect. I bought an Alienware machine with a faster intel chip, more buss, more ram and faster HD and it still doesn't catch up. I've run the same mix in ProTools on both machines at the same time and it takes the PC twice the time to boot the file and lets not talk about rendering a final with more than 15 tracks, its not even a competition at that point. What most people don't realize is that all of the components for Apple products are designed specifically for them and no other manufactures. That means there are very few conflicts or issues and they work more efficiently. The biggest problem I run into with with PC is the hardware/driver conflicts and they work on top of each other most of the time instead of with each other ultimately slowing down the system.
Also, and I think its the most important benefit, if you call Apple support they have ProTools & Logic Pro specialist as well as guys that work with other programs that work on their platform. Those guys all know their stuff and have been great when you run into any issues with files. I've since moved to Logic Pro for almost all of my projects and I've just started using Bias as a plugin with Waveburner along with a UAD2Solo ExpressCard and it smokes.
As for the bit conversion, there are a couple Firewire 800 units by RME and Apogee that more than handle the highest transfer/conversion rate. If you really want to get the absolute best the Apogee Symphony system is hard to beat.
So, for those people that think Apple is just a high priced "Cult" product, they obviously haven't owned one or depended on a machine for production income. As someone put it before on this thread "They Just Work". If you do have a problem there is no better company for customer service than Apple. We had a MacPro Quad that didn't turn on one day after 2.5 years so we called support and they had a repair guy out to the studio that same day. When the repair guy was done replacing the power supply he called Apple and let them know that he noticed a possible problem with the logic board and they sent us a new machine via FedEx overnight.
If you just want to record solo tracks at home then any machine will handle that. Once you get to full production or even just wanting a better product its very difficult for PC to compete at that level no matter how fast the chip set or the amount of ram and HD performance.
Also, and I think its the most important benefit, if you call Apple support they have ProTools & Logic Pro specialist as well as guys that work with other programs that work on their platform. Those guys all know their stuff and have been great when you run into any issues with files. I've since moved to Logic Pro for almost all of my projects and I've just started using Bias as a plugin with Waveburner along with a UAD2Solo ExpressCard and it smokes.
As for the bit conversion, there are a couple Firewire 800 units by RME and Apogee that more than handle the highest transfer/conversion rate. If you really want to get the absolute best the Apogee Symphony system is hard to beat.
So, for those people that think Apple is just a high priced "Cult" product, they obviously haven't owned one or depended on a machine for production income. As someone put it before on this thread "They Just Work". If you do have a problem there is no better company for customer service than Apple. We had a MacPro Quad that didn't turn on one day after 2.5 years so we called support and they had a repair guy out to the studio that same day. When the repair guy was done replacing the power supply he called Apple and let them know that he noticed a possible problem with the logic board and they sent us a new machine via FedEx overnight.
If you just want to record solo tracks at home then any machine will handle that. Once you get to full production or even just wanting a better product its very difficult for PC to compete at that level no matter how fast the chip set or the amount of ram and HD performance.
What exactly would those be? An intel CPU in a Mac and an intel CPU of the same model number in a PC are the same, so are the ram, the chipsets, the hard drive, etc. Don't get me wrong, I own both a mac and a hackintosh and I love em, but this just doesn't seem accurate to me at all.
this won't solve the problems mentioned earlier, as the 400 and 800 ports share the same buss.
