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New 'puter incoming - MBP


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Yup... I needed a faster laptop. A 15" Macbook Pro 2.2 GHz quad core i7 should be here by next Tuesday. This isn't the brand new one with the retina display; it's a refurbished unit of the model from October 2011 - the model that was "current" before they announced the new ones at the WWDC last Monday. Apple's refurbished computers are usually a good deal. They carry Apple's normal one year warranty, and you can get Apple Care for them too if you want. And they're usually 15% less expensive than the non-refurbished models.

 

I'm really excited to see how it does with Pro Tools. Apple says it maxes out at 8GB (it comes with 4 installed), but Crucial says it will take 16GB. A quick Google search seems to suggest they may be right. 16GB would totally rock.

 

Are any of you running the same (or similar) computer? If so, how do you like it?

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Awesome. Totally jealous!!!! I have one of the last non-unibody macbook pros. Bought it the day they announced the unibodies off apple's refurb section. Super deal and have been totally happy. Was hoping I could do the same when they announced the new ones. The one like you ordered really has all I need. Firewire and a quad-core hyperthreading i7. The thunderbolt port is nice also. I just don't have a use for it. Yet. ;) Should be a beast.

 

And if Crucial and/or OWC says it will run 16GB it def will. In fact sometimes Crucial plays it safer than OWC. I don't remember on what model, but there was something where Crucial said 8GB was the max and OWC said 16GB. Could be the MacBook Pros. Maybe Crucial was just getting their info from Apple and hadn't tried more at that time. Not for sure. Anywho let us know what you think.

 

Any plans for a portable HD rig with a Thunderbolt to PCIe adapter? Or just gonna run HD in "Native" mode?

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Any plans for a portable HD rig with a Thunderbolt to PCIe adapter? Or just gonna run HD in "Native" mode?

 

I hadn't really thought about that in too much depth. :idk: My current HD rig is built around a PC tower I assembled several years back. It's actually a very slow system by modern standards I suppose - an old Athlon 64 4200 X2 with 4GB of RAM running Win XP SP3. PC systems were stuck with PCI HD / HD Accel cards forever, and did not work with HD Accel PCI-e cards for a large part of that product's lifecycle, so I never switched over. IOW, my HD2 Accel setup is PCI card based, not PCI-e. That makes any upgrades... complicated. If I was going to switch that over from PC to Mac, I'd first need to convert the cards from HD Accel PCI to HDX PCI-e.

 

I'd like to be able to do something like what you're suggesting, but that will kind of depend on where Avid goes next. I am hoping they come out with a Thunderbolt based HD setup. I believe they showed a prototype of a HD style interface that they had connected to a MBP a year or two ago... there's a YouTube video out there somewhere. If they do that, it would be easier obviously. If they don't, then I'd have to upgrade to HDX, then get the Magma chassis once it is supported. Avid's definitely working on that, at least according to the Magma site.

 

It would be a monster though - at least compared to my current rig. Quad core i7 with 16GB of RAM running a HDX rig via a Magma chassis? That would totally rock!

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Didn't realize you were on PCI TDM cards. And moving to HDX will def be a commitment lol. So I do agree waiting right now would probably be best. And yeah they did show a HD system hooked straight to a MacBook Pro. Don't remember exactly what interface. An Omni maybe?

 

I think moving the DSP into the interface is a great idea. Metric Halo has been doing it for years, and UA now has the Apollo. In fact most interfaces these days have at least a basic mixer built-in. Scalability might be the hardest part of that. No way impossible, just the most difficult. I am interested to see if Avid doesn't release something like a Thunderbolt Omni when PT11 comes out. And honestly it could essentially have a HD/Native card built in. And not utilize DSP, but I would like to see some form of DSP available over Thunderbolt. Maybe wishful thinking, but it would be cool.

 

Also what version of PT are you running? If you have PT10HD you'll have access to the new (to PT, I know it's not a new idea) disc cache feature. That would definitely make good use of that 16GB of RAM. ;)

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http://www.technewsworld.com/story/75378.html

 

Yeah this is about the new Retina MacBook Pro. Not the regular MacBook Pro as Phil is getting. The most off putting thing to me about the Retina Models is the fact they've soldered the RAM onto the board. Making it all but impossible to replace. So I guess if you're going to get one of those you don't really have a choice but to overpay Apple for more RAM.:facepalm:

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http://www.technewsworld.com/story/75378.html

 

Thanks for the link Zooey. I had heard some of that info about the retina display model MBP - especially the issues concerning the screen and how it's mounted, as well as the soldered-in RAM. I think the RAM issue is due to the form factor of the case - there just isn't enough room to mount it into sockets, so they apparently solder it straight to the board. Kinda sucks if you ask me, but Apple didn't ask me... ;)

 

Fortunately, by getting the older model from October 2011, I avoid all these issues entirely. :D

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Didn't realize you were on PCI TDM cards. And moving to HDX will def be a commitment lol. So I do agree waiting right now would probably be best. And yeah they did show a HD system hooked straight to a MacBook Pro. Don't remember exactly what interface. An Omni maybe?


I think moving the DSP into the interface is a great idea. Metric Halo has been doing it for years, and UA now has the Apollo. In fact most interfaces these days have at least a basic mixer built-in. Scalability might be the hardest part of that. No way impossible, just the most difficult.

 

The 3rd Gen Mbox line all feature onboard software mixers / routers, as well as basic DSP so that they can provide confidence 'verb in the headphone feed while still maintaining near-zero latency monitoring.

 

I am interested to see if Avid doesn't release something like a Thunderbolt Omni when PT11 comes out. And honestly it could essentially have a HD/Native card built in. And not utilize DSP, but I would like to see some form of DSP available over Thunderbolt. Maybe wishful thinking, but it would be cool.

 

I absolutely agree with you! With Thunderbolt, it becomes easier to develop and use "smart" peripherals that handle more of the work, and network them to the host via the super fast pipe that Thunderbolt provides. I'm certainly hoping that companies take advantage of this ability and start developing more smart peripheral Thunderbolt audio products. Things like the U/A Apollo are certainly interesting - and hopefully only the tip of the iceberg.

 

BTW, have you seen Craig Anderton's Pro Review of the Universal Audio Apollo? I'm following it closely, and with considerable interest. :)

 

Also what version of PT are you running? If you have PT10HD you'll have access to the new (to PT, I know it's not a new idea) disc cache feature. That would definitely make good use of that 16GB of RAM.
;)

 

I'm currently running PT9 on my early 2008 white MacBook (2.1GHz C2D), but I plan on going to PT10 with that on the new MBP. My old PC HD rig is still running the last version of PTHD 8. As I saw it, there weren't a ton of advantages in upgrading to PT9 for HD users, and it would have meant converting over to Win 7 - again, something I'll probably eventually do on the PC side, along with a new tower build... but I want to see how things play out with Avid first. Depending on what they do, I may move to their next generation product, or I might consider sticking with what I have (PC side) and going to a UA Apollo and run that with PT10 on the MBP - that will partially depend on how fast it is and how much it can handle natively too. I'd hate losing some of my TDM plugins though. I suppose I will anyway when PT11 hits - unless they all get upgrades. :idk:

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That's the MB Pro I'm currently using for work. I run 16gb of ram on it, and I do some fairly extensive editing in FCPX without any hiccups (other than those that result from issues with FCPX that Apple hasn't addressed). It has been a very dependable computer for me.

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Just got to read the Apollo review. Def an interface I've had my eye on and will continue to keep up with Anderson's review. I must admit I'm a little disappointed with the mixer. Not that you can't do a lot. You can just do more with the MIO console. You can put plugs anywhere, and build as many sends as you want. Much like the pro tools mixer. It also has a plug in to store your settings. ;)

 

However I'm sure the Apollo has a lot more overall DSP power. And no doubt the UA plugs are top notch. However for me adding the Ua satellite box probably makes more sense. Will be interesting to see how it sounds. I bet that it's no slouch in that department either.

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I'm running a MBP of the same vintage. I don't do much tracking with it - mostly editing and sound design. Oddly, the UI on my MBP seems to be slower to respond than my older (but still good) PC, but Pro Tools seems to have more horsepower.


-Dan.

 

That's interesting. Maybe your PC has a better graphics card in it? Or maybe it's the slower system disk. The MBP has a 5,400 RPM drive in it, and most desktops from the past several years had 7,200 system drives in them. I don't know that you'd really be able to notice that though... :idk:

 

One thing I really miss from the PC when I'm working in Pro Tools on a Mac is the lack of the center mouse button click for cycling through your cursor tools. I'm used to doing various keyboard shortcuts with my left hand while driving the mouse with my right, but it slows me down a bit on the Mac to have to use the left hand to hit the esc key to cycle the tools. I guess it's just what you get used to, and I've spent more time editing in PT on the PC than the Mac... but I do wish they supported that on both platforms.

 

OTOH, the MBP's multi-touch trackpad will be a big improvement over the trackpad in my current MacBook. I'm really looking forward to playing with that.

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That's interesting. Maybe your PC has a better graphics card in it? Or maybe it's the slower system disk.

 

 

Yeah, it could be either - the PC definitely has a better graphics card.

 

 

One thing I really miss from the PC when I'm working in Pro Tools on a Mac is the lack of the center mouse button click for cycling through your cursor tools.

 

 

Why not use a PC mouse?

 

-Dan.

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If it's doing well with Final Cut Pro X, it should also do well with Pro Tools. Video is certainly quite demanding! How fast does it render?

 

 

As long as I don't use Compressor and render straight from FCPX, the times are pretty quick. I was rendering 5 minute training videos (mv4 for distribution on our internal website at work) and the total time was 17 minutes per video. I was also watching Season 15 on South Park on Netflix at the same time.

 

Pro Tools should scream on it. I need to install PT on that computer. I've have been able to edit the audio pretty well in Garageband and then kick it back over to FCPX, but everyone I work with knows proper mic technique and is used to doing voiceover work. PT10 would come in handy when I eventually have to use an inexperienced person.

 

I have PT and FCPX on my iMac at home, and PT is nowhere near the resource hog that FCPX is, so you should be happy with the performance you get out of that machine. I'm still running the last version of LE, but I can't imagine PT10 being that much more of strain.

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Why not use a PC mouse?


-Dan.

 

I do! Well, sorta - it's a universal mouse - it's supposed to work with both Macs and PCs. Like me. ;)

 

I'm currently using a Logitech M315 with my white MacBook. It's got the center button / scroll wheel, along with both left and right buttons. The problem is, Pro Tools 9 running on OS 10.6.8 doesn't recognize that center button and assign it to cycling through the cursor tools. On PTHD 8.1 running on Win XP SP3, it does. For some reason, they don't assign the center mouse scroll button to that function in Pro Tools under OSX.

 

I can still cycle through the editing tools... I just have to use my left hand to do it via the ESC key. I'm just more comfortable doing it with my right hand as I mouse around; which leaves my left hand free to do other things.

 

It's not a gigantic deal - just a personal annoyance.

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Refurbs are the way to go, particularly if you use PT. Avid always takes a while to qualify computers, and buying the latest/greatest Mac always seems to give PT users fits (at least based on what I have read at DUC).

 

I often wonder how many people are out there still rocking Digi001s and old G4 towers. That particular interface was sort of like the Tascam PortaStudio of digital audio.

 

Sorry to take the thread off topic Phil. I was in a sentimental mood.

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No, that's okay - I remember the Digi 001 of course. Like probably tens and tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of others, I had one myself for a while. The converters were pretty bad, and I never used the mic preamps for anything other than scratch parts, but it was one of the first affordable, multichannel Pro Tools interfaces. 24 bits, 44.1 / 48kHz, and a 24 audio track limit with the bundled PTLE 5.

 

Can you believe it's been over twelve years since it was first released? :lol::facepalm:

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Very nice.

 

I just returned from a two hour drive to the nearest Apple store. I am considering a Mac Pro tower. Loaded (three 1TB hard drives, two 27" monitors, 32 gb of ram) it runs north of 6K. Thankfully, the company is paying for it and not me. I was recently charged with creating the musical motif for our "branding" after the higher ups were displeased with what the vendors created. The head honcho wanted something identifiable, just like HBO, Microsoft, and THX, yet totally different from all of those (I felt like I was living in a chapter from mixerman's diaries). He liked what I put together and told me to buy what I needed to continue moving us away from external vendors and marketing companies for internal media productions.

 

Given a semi-blank check, I couldn't bring myself to tell him I did the entire project in Garageband on a MB just like the one you have. I'm incredibly rough on my MB, and it has traveled across the country many times. On my experience, I'm convinced it is one of the better machines Apple has built.

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This was probably the simplest system migration I've ever done. I've got to say, I am really impressed with how easy Apple makes it to go to a new machine.

 

I did a Time Machine backup to an external drive on my old MacBook the night before the new machine got here. When I fired up the new one, it asked I wanted to migrate from another Mac. I pointed it to the Time Machine backup on the external drive, and it went to work. About an hour later, I had everything from my old Mac installed on the new one.

 

The one exception to that was Pro Tools. However, there was a good reason for it. The version of PT9 I had installed on the Macbook had been running on Snow Leopard, and it needed an update to work with Lion. I went to the Avid site, downloaded the recommended update (9.0.6), installed 9.0 manually from the disks, then the update and hardware drivers, and it's working perfectly. Even most of my plugins and virtual instrument installations seem to be intact, although I imagine a few will need Lion related updates too... :idk:

 

All in all, this was soooo much easier than doing a OS9 or Win XP install, then installing your apps, etc. etc. I'm really impressed with just how well Apple's current Migration Assistant does. :phil:

 

I went to Best Buy to get a fitted hard case (Speck) for it, but they were out of stock locally. I did get a Incase zippered neoprene sleeve for it. I still want the Speck too... and RAM. It's got 4GB, but as soon as I can get 16GB into it, I will. Again, the local Best Buy didn't have the 2x 8GB sticks of RAM in stock, so I'll have to get the cover / case and RAM online.

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