MacBook Question

Tomcat · Post by **Tomcat** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:59 am

I just bought an Apple Certified Refurb MacBook 2.2GHz that I intend to put 4 gigs of ram into and to replace the HD with a 7200 rpm one. I hope to use my Firebox with an external HD for sample streaming and a powered USB hub for my mouse, dongles, etc.

My question is, is this machine strong enough to run Digital Performer? I've never used a Mac before so this is all new to me and I don't know just how powerful a computer DP needs.

Thanks for any info,
Tom

beautypill · Post by **beautypill** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:09 am

You made an excellent choice!

The MacBook is a thing of wonder. And Digital Performer itself is a very CPU efficient program. It depends on what you want to do, but 4GB is a hell of a lot of RAM for most situations. You probably will never have to think about RAM again.

I recently had some pretty intense surgery and am in recovery, so I have been spending a lot of time lying down. So I have been, in a sense, living entirely within the world of my MacBook Pro (hence my more frequent posting here) and I'm constantly blown away by how powerful it is.

My wife has a MacBook (not the Pro version) and other than the screen size (mine is the 17" high-res, whatever that means), I don't feel that there is a huge difference in power between them.

Go ahead with DP, you're going to love it.

- c

daniel.sneed · Post by **daniel.sneed** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:01 am

I've sliped a 7200rpm in mine and 2Go and this Macbook 1.83 is a rocket with DP5.13.
Are you shure you can set 4Go inside yours ?
Mine is 2Go max I believe.

Limitations will arise with some virtual instruments and some third party plugins. These are not made equal CPU wise.
DP stock plugins and Reason are feather light on CPU.

An second external screen is handy for long time sessions though.
I went with a cheap Samsung 20" wide and it's a nice set.

BTW, I always track to an internal partition (100Go / 8 partitions !). Even my samples are on another internal partition. Never a glitch. My external FW drives are still for backup purpose only.

sdfalk · Post by **sdfalk** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:04 am

I've a black Macbook with 4gb of ram and DP runs like a champ.
If DP couldn't run on a dual core processor, that would be ridiculous.

jeronimo · Post by **jeronimo** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:08 am

Also a macbook user here.
DP runs great on my Dual Core 2Ghz 2 year old black macbook, with internal 5400 HD and only 1.25 Gb of RAM.
I plan to make it 7200 internal HD and 2 Gb of RAM soon, if I don't go the MacbookPro route...

doodles · Post by **doodles** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:17 am

yep, 4 gigs in my macbook. (2 lots of 2 gigs). just use it for a couple of softsynths, but works a treat.

Tomcat · Post by **Tomcat** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:30 am

Thanks everyone for the info; now I need to go in search of someone who will sell me a crossgrade version of DP based on my ownership of Cubase 4.

Tom

rcannonp · Post by **rcannonp** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:34 am

Tomcat wrote:...now I need to go in search of someone who will sell me a crossgrade version of DP based on my ownership of Cubase 4.

audioMIDI.com - Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) - Digital Performer 5 Competitive Upgrade

Tomcat · Post by **Tomcat** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 9:03 am

Thank you; I just ordered it!

Tom

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 5:13 pm

Tomcat wrote:Thank you; I just ordered it!

Tom

Or you can order it from me and get our technical support along with it

But as to the MacBook running DP, you're absolutely fine. I use one with an Ensemble and DP as well as Logic, works great.

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:18 pm

Been using an original Core Duo Macbook with DP (aside from my upgrading all my systems to 10.5) It was hassle free.

More than enough power. It ws actually faster than my old G5.