MOTUnation.com

Hi,

Well, here I was ready to jump on the Eventide train of affordable fun when my MacBook (2007) finally died. Actually I could probably put a new drive in it, but since it can only run Snow Leopard and older versions of most software I own, I should just move on.

If I'm being honest, I really only use it as a sketchpad these days, and then usually (speaking audio here) just on vacation. But I do enjoy having most of my studio available along with VIs etc., so that would necessitate getting a model with at least a 512g flash drive, which definitely bumps up the price. Obvious candidate would be the Retina 13 MB Pro, but I wondered how many of you use the MacBook Air for sketches and audio work? And the non-Retina MB Pro would probably suit me fine with a couple upgrades, and it would be much faster than my '07 in any case.

All I really need to plug in is an Axiom, mobile recording would be nice as an option but 99% of the time I wouldn't be dragging around interfaces and external drives for that purpose.

Anyway just wondering what the current scuttlebutt is vis a vis your mobile Mac rig these days.

Here's another question: assuming I could only afford one $200 upgrade, what would be the best option: A) Doubling the RAM from 8g to 16g, or B) Bumping the i5 processor up to an i7?

I also use my MBP as an audio sketchpad, using the same apps and some of the plugins as my desktop. But I think when it dies, I'll look into what sort of sketchpad I can make out of a tablet. I won't be able to use DP unless an iPad etc version is created, but there are a lot of low cost audio apps that might do the job. There is nothing else I do on a laptop I can't do on a tablet just as well or better, so if I can do basic audio too, why keep a laptop?

Tobor wrote:Here's another question: assuming I could only afford one $200 upgrade, what would be the best option: A) Doubling the RAM from 8g to 16g, or B) Bumping the i5 processor up to an i7?

If you're synth and/or fx heavy, i'd say get the i7. From your sig it looks like you're more sampley though.

Then again, the other thing that makes this a little tougher to answer is that Mavericks seems able to make 8GB go further than it used to. I'd lean towards the i7 myself.

The conundrum is that, with the Retina MBs, there's no upgrading the CPU or RAM after purchase.

You will notice the biggest difference between the i5 and i7. The published speed difference is 30% but that's misleading. On disk intensive tasks there will be no difference but, on many CPU tasks, you will notice the i7 is a great deal faster. I wouldn't have believed this but I happen to own two similar iMacs - one with an i5 and the other an i7. I've AB'd the two many times.

I will be selling my MBP mid 2010 2.66Ghz after I finish transferring my data to a new MBP I purchased. Interested? Let me know.


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