What to do with a spare MBP?

[DirtDog]

For a long time, my MacBook Pro was my main computing device. I migrated to an iMac about a year ago on which I run Logic Pro X and connect through a MOTU 828mkIII. It's served me well. I'm doing almost everything in the box these days. I have a Presonus Faderport8 for the control surface for Logic.

This MBP has been generally collecting dust since I got the iMac and I'm wondering if I can use its computing power to do something else in my little ecosystem, such as using it as an effects processing engine instead of doing that on the iMac? My storage needs are taken care of by an external hard drive so I don't think there's a role there. Was thinking it could be used to be an intermediate device between Logic on the iMac and a MIDI controller (keyboard, drums, other???)...as in run Superior Drummer on the MBP, feed the audio into the iMac somehow.

Any wild and wacky (or even sensible) suggestions?

 

[guts]

I would say sell it and buy some piece of gear you could use even if it's just like a plugin or something. I think anything would be more useful than trying to find a problem for your solution. I'm running a MBP and I've never run into a situation where Logic was in need of any supplemental computing power in order to get the job done and I don't see why you couldn't run Superior Drummer on your iMac from within Logic and save yourself a whole bunch of hassle.

 

[garp]

Gotta agree with @guts. If your iMac was choking on Logic, I could potentially see a benefit to offloading Superior Drummer, soft synths or other stuff to the MacBook Pro, but then you'd lose the integration. If you don't want to part with the MBP, just keep it as a spare. If for some reason you have a major hardware failure with the iMac at some point – rare, but not inconceivable – it would certainly be convenient to have a functioning laptop at your disposal.

 

[DirtDog]

Yeah, I'm just gonna keep it as a backup if necessary. I don't want to lose the integration with what I've got.