Mac Book Pro with Logic 9?

[stevetothink]

Hey Folks,

For portability reasons, I want to replace my Mac Pro (2006) with a mac book pro but worry about speed in my studio. I'd love to hear from people who use a mac book pro successfully with logic 9 or from people who just have an opinion either way.

Here are the specs of my current mac pro:

- Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
- 4GB RAM
- 250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
- 500GB 7200 ATA

I'd buy a 13" Mac Book Pro with the following specs:
- 2.53Ghz
- 8 GB RAM
- 500GB Hard drive
- etc

I use apogee firewire devices to record with a ton of external USB stuff like keyboards, dongles, etc. I record up to 10 tracks at a time in all formats up to 192K, 24 bit.

Here are my questions:
1. Will a Mac Book Pro suit my needs?
2. Will a Mac Book Pro make too much noise to record with it in the room?
3. Can I easily add an external hard drive (1TB) and not worry about speed writing audio on the fly?
4. Anyone know what my Mac Pro is worth?
5. Any other suggestions/comments, etc?

Thanks,
Steve

[markham]

Originally Posted by stevetothink

Here are my questions:
1. Will a Mac Book Pro suit my needs?
2. Will a Mac Book Pro make too much noise to record with it in the room?
3. Can I easily add an external hard drive (1TB) and not worry about speed writing audio on the fly?
4. Anyone know what my Mac Pro is worth?
5. Any other suggestions/comments, etc?

Thanks,
Steve

I use a MBP (15") as my main studio machine with a large external monitor, and have been for just over a year now. I've been really, really happy with it. Here are my thoughts to your questions:

1. From what you've described, I think the answer is yes. Obviously you'll need a USB hub to have space for all your USB devices. I use a small 4-port Belkin hub, and everything has been working great for a long time with it.

2. Though I'm sure some folks will say it makes too much noise, in my experience, it's been fine. I record acoustic guitars and vocals here in my control room (I'm running a one-room space right now) all the time, and I've really been pleased. I have a laptop stand with a fan in it that I have my MBP sitting on, but it's pretty loud. When I'm getting ready to track, I just turn that fan off, and all is well.

3. IME, definitely. I use both FW800 drives and FW400 drives for record/playback of audio, depending on the situation, and everything is great. 10 tracks at a time certainly shouldn't be a problem. I have two Metric Halo interfaces, and my FW chain looks like this: ULN-2 --> 2882 --> FW400 HD. I have another setup where I run a FW800 HD off the FW800 port and the Metric Halos off the FW400 port. My MBP has both a FW800 and a FW400 port (though they're on the same bus, I believe, so it doesn't really matter). At any rate, the throughput should be fine for what you're describing. And as far as mixing only, I can playback a ton of tracks without a hiccup. Like, I don't even know how many, b/c I've never hit the limit. I don't usually have more than 36 tracks or so, but there's always a lot more throughput leftover. And your other option, of course, would be to go with a USB external drive. I've done that before a lot, too, and it was fine. Sustained throughput was not as good, though. It's a shame the newest MBPs don't have the ExpressCard slot. Mine does have one, though honestly, for my day-to-day work, I haven't needed it. It's nice to know I've got the option, but the FW throughput has been enough for me.

4. No idea. Sorry!

5. I would definitely recommend getting a laptop cooler. For peace of mind, as much as anything. I really have liked my setup--it's been awesome for me. You're coming from a pretty powerful machine, so who knows what your experience will be like from a power-comparison standpoint. But for me, the power has been good, and the portability has just been a great, great feature. I have to do a lot of work on this machine besides just audio, and it's been a real winner for me. I would recommend checking out the 15" version, as well. I know it's a bit more, and who knows whether it really makes any difference heat-wise, but I like the size of my 15".

Well, that's all i got for ya. Hope it helps in some way...

[stevetothink]

Originally Posted by markham

I use a MBP (15") as my main studio machine with a large external monitor, and have been for just over a year now. I've been really, really happy with it. Here are my thoughts to your questions:

1. From what you've described, I think the answer is yes. Obviously you'll need a USB hub to have space for all your USB devices. I use a small 4-port Belkin hub, and everything has been working great for a long time with it.

2. Though I'm sure some folks will say it makes too much noise, in my experience, it's been fine. I record acoustic guitars and vocals here in my control room (I'm running a one-room space right now) all the time, and I've really been pleased. I have a laptop stand with a fan in it that I have my MBP sitting on, but it's pretty loud. When I'm getting ready to track, I just turn that fan off, and all is well.

3. IME, definitely. I use both FW800 drives and FW400 drives for record/playback of audio, depending on the situation, and everything is great. 10 tracks at a time certainly shouldn't be a problem. I have two Metric Halo interfaces, and my FW chain looks like this: ULN-2 --> 2882 --> FW400 HD. I have another setup where I run a FW800 HD off the FW800 port and the Metric Halos off the FW400 port. My MBP has both a FW800 and a FW400 port (though they're on the same bus, I believe, so it doesn't really matter). At any rate, the throughput should be fine for what you're describing. And as far as mixing only, I can playback a ton of tracks without a hiccup. Like, I don't even know how many, b/c I've never hit the limit. I don't usually have more than 36 tracks or so, but there's always a lot more throughput leftover. And your other option, of course, would be to go with a USB external drive. I've done that before a lot, too, and it was fine. Sustained throughput was not as good, though. It's a shame the newest MBPs don't have the ExpressCard slot. Mine does have one, though honestly, for my day-to-day work, I haven't needed it. It's nice to know I've got the option, but the FW throughput has been enough for me.

4. No idea. Sorry!

5. I would definitely recommend getting a laptop cooler. For peace of mind, as much as anything. I really have liked my setup--it's been awesome for me. You're coming from a pretty powerful machine, so who knows what your experience will be like from a power-comparison standpoint. But for me, the power has been good, and the portability has just been a great, great feature. I have to do a lot of work on this machine besides just audio, and it's been a real winner for me. I would recommend checking out the 15" version, as well. I know it's a bit more, and who knows whether it really makes any difference heat-wise, but I like the size of my 15".

Well, that's all i got for ya. Hope it helps in some way...

Thanks - I appreciate the time you took to go through it in so much detail. The 15" definitely seems to have an advantage over the 13". For starters, the HD's in the 13" are 5400 and 7200 in the 15". I like the extra speed.

[Firechild]

Wait a couple of days before buying. New Macbook Pro´s coming very soon.

[holahola]

Originally Posted by Firechild

Wait a couple of days before buying. New Macbook Pro´s coming very soon.

Crap. I knew I should have waited.

[stevetothink]

Originally Posted by Firechild

Wait a couple of days before buying. New Macbook Pro´s coming very soon.

Good idea. I'll wait to see what comes out.

After doing some research, I'm relatively confident that a 15" mac book pro will have enough juice to suit my needs. The only thing that worries me is whether or not it'll make too much noise. I have a 1 room studio so everything gets recorded relatively close the mac book pro. Right now, I have my mac pro tower in another room to eliminate machine noise. I suppose I could do the same thing with the mac book pro...maybe I just solved my own problem.

[omoanya]

I have the 13" 2.53/8gb - i would go for the ssd drive. quiet and fast. Im running PT8 , and full suites logic and Ableton off of it and its strong and stable. Space wise I just keep the current sessions on the ssd and carry a little bulletproof transcend pocket drive if i need to open anything else. Regardless of digidelay in approving it, personally, i say ssd - all the way.