NEW MAC BOOK PRO'S

[composer]

Originally Posted by Bounce

I've had my 17" 2.4 for about a week and most everything is cool EXCEPT:

The built in audio card must be far inferior to the old ones somehow. On my old Powerbook G4 1.33 GHZ I could get an output latency of 4 ms in Ableton Live at a buffer of 188. On the new one, I get a latency of 11ms at the same buffer settings! That means no more internal outs for electronic drumming on this machine! Drag. That means I have to buy (MORE money) an external audio interface for live gigs.

The good news is that the latency via firewire and USB is equal to or better than my old Powerbook's internal audio (the G4 reaaaally sucked via USB or firewire in the latency dept.). Tested all this vs. my wife's 1.5 ghz running the same OS and the same version of Live. The old internal cards were WAY quicker. Silly move there Apple but I still love ya. Ya got STYLE! And skills :-)

So far really digging the 17. All my others were 15's but they were out of 15's and I needed a laptop right away when I sold mine to buy another 15!

Now I need to fatten up the RAM just to finish pimping this thing out :-)

I have heard about that! Something about the circuitry and the buzz noise, but if you go external, all is cool.

Still hoping to hear 2.2 vs 2.4 in how much more plug ins, drum machines, virtual synths you would get if you used a MBP and how the two would differ!

Are they really that strong! And compared to a 3 GZ AMD desktop? I do two things!

I. Music Songs: Vocals, drum module (sometimes two), bass, guitars
II. Lots of Orchestral work - -I would for sure need a secondary drive, is this a problem, is it fast enough to stream? I would hate to kick myself when I knew I could get a Mac Pro tower that would scream and I know that the eSata in the notebooks are faster than anything streaming USB 2.0 or FW 800 from what I've heard and that's compared to a 5400 internal MBP HD.

Thoughts? Advice? Ideas?

Thanks!

[composer]

Originally Posted by composer

I have heard about that! Something about the circuitry and the buzz noise, but if you go external, all is cool.

Still hoping to hear 2.2 vs 2.4 in how much more plug ins, drum machines, virtual synths you would get if you used a MBP and how the two would differ!

Are they really that strong! And compared to a 3 GZ AMD desktop? I do two things!

I. Music Songs: Vocals, drum module (sometimes two), bass, guitars
II. Lots of Orchestral work - -I would for sure need a secondary drive, is this a problem, is it fast enough to stream? I would hate to kick myself when I knew I could get a Mac Pro tower that would scream and I know that the eSata in the notebooks are faster than anything streaming USB 2.0 or FW 800 from what I've heard and that's compared to a 5400 internal MBP HD.

Thoughts? Advice? Ideas?

Thanks!

Friendly bump in plugs = amount on 2.2 vs 2.4. Is there any website that actually benchmarked it with logic?
Thanks!

[Tibbon]

I really want to get the Symphony Mobile card.... that would be so nice. My Mackie 400F is working better than every, but the Apogee would just be that much smoother.

[composer]

Originally Posted by Tibbon

I really want to get the Symphony Mobile card.... that would be so nice. My Mackie 400F is working better than every, but the Apogee would just be that much smoother.

That's very good to know - I have a mackie as well. Will be doing some Video work down the road but can always get a matte large screen for that as I like the looks of the glossy. I did do a print test at a Mac Store and indeed, if you hold the picture up to a matte vs glossy, the matte is almost to the tee, but again, I like the richness of the glossy.

Also, I read the whole thread and have yet to see here or on any website how many plug-ins you can get on a 2.2 vs a 2.4 or if the difference of another 128MB (GPU) is worth the $499.00.

Any opinions or links appreciated having to do with plug in count.

Thanks!

[lb9000j]

7200rpm, 17inch 2 gigs of ram, u will be good, applecare is a must!!! u will replace pwr supp or batt or drive within months

[Tibbon]

The 2.2 is a MUCH better value. I say this because the extra 128mb graphics memory doesn't really do that much at all for us here. This is a fast graphics card and really the memory doesn't indicate how fast it is. Most benchmarks give it about 5-9% faster at most on the 2.4.

A better idea for most of you (unless you want the 17" and then just get it ) is to get the 2.2 and get 4gb of RAM from Crucial. Getting it from Apple is a quick way to overpay. Crucial ram is just fine. I've used it in my last 5 macs now, and it's never given me an issue.

There's also a SATA ExpressCard/34 expansion you can get if you aren't planning on getting a Symphony Mobile.

And just as a quick benchmark, I loaded up Halflife 2 in Windows XP, and Oblivion. HL:2 runs perfectly at all options up, and Oblibion runs really well with everything 'almost' turned all the way up.

[composer]

Originally Posted by Tibbon

The 2.2 is a MUCH better value. I say this because the extra 128mb graphics memory doesn't really do that much at all for us here. This is a fast graphics card and really the memory doesn't indicate how fast it is. Most benchmarks give it about 5-9% faster at most on the 2.4.

From what I read at barefeats.com the 2.4 and 256 RAM could be useful for motion, but only when doing this, (according to them), if you use the MBP display and then an external monitor (1900x1440) or 1900x1200, it assigns 128 to each, so, in essence, if you use another keyboard, and a BIG monitor, you will see barely any difference. Not worth it in my opinion.

PS. Have a 2.2 15" MBP LED. bright, no whine, never hear fans, opened up logic added 12 reverbs, it stayed at 30% at about 6 and stayed at 30% after adding 6 more. Go figure.

[Tibbon]

You're right about the external monitor thing. I plugged mine into a 24" Dell display and the 128mb card was a little lacking then. I mean it worked fine, and would be fine for any DAW. Other applications, maybe less so.

[Monologuist]

Been trying to get my new 2.2 MBP running with a TC Konnekt-24d...lots of headaches on Boot Camp, but is running well on OSX.

Just want to see whether people think 7200 rpm internal is a must for audio/sample-heavy MIDI implementation. The new Hitachi 200gb 7200 rpm drive wouls surely do the trick....but the 250gb 5400 rpm offerings are tempting (Samsung, Western Digital, Hitachi, and soon Seagate) in terms of bytes/buck value. I'm seeing conflicting opinions on whether the big 5400 rpm drives will do a good enough job...in some tests on Barefeats.com, the new WD 250gb drive equals some smaller 7200 rpm drives, while it lags in others. Not quite sure which benchmarks are most relevant to audio though...

BTW, if I can't get the Konnekt 24d to work on Bootcamp (XP), are there any FW interfaces that people are having luck with on Bootcamp XP/MBP?

[Tibbon]

Only get 7200rpm or higher professional drives. In a studio the MTBF is much lower and you need good drives! Seriously.

I've been buying a using the LaCie D2 series of drives for a while now. The studio I freelance at has three of them (not sure of sizes) but I have a Terabyte of them now, and I'm about to get another 500gb.

That is one area that you don't want to try to save money. Stop reading just benchmark sites. Barefeats isn't an audio site, they are making money from referrals for hardware sales. That should be obvious. They have some good info, but at the end of the day dont' cheap out just because a website tells you to. Your needs and their needs might not be the same.

My Mackie 400F is working in Bootcamp. Keep in mind that Bootcamp is in beta, and largely unsupported. You are testing software, and it isn't meant to be put into a production or professional environment.

[soundseeker]

how often roughly does apple bring out a new mac book pro. wen was the last one out before the current model? id like to know f its worth waiting a half year to pgrade. or could it be 2 years????

[Dave12345]

Mac Buyer's Guide: Know When to Buy Your Mac, iPod or iPhone

[blaugruen7]

Originally Posted by soundseeker

how often roughly does apple bring out a new mac book pro. wen was the last one out before the current model? id like to know f its worth waiting a half year to pgrade. or could it be 2 years????

RUMORS are that a new macbook pro generation with new processors and new enclosure comes sometime between june to september.
who knows...
i am saving...