Members mhuxtable Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 I'm looking at getting a MacBook Pro. This will be mainly for recording & music editing. Gat Dayum they are expensive....I know they usually go on sale in the fall for students & you can get a free ipod or something...so i may wait until then. So I wanna get just the 13....my questions are this: 1. for recording, is it necessary to 2.8GHz i7 over the 2.4GHz i5....they're both dual core. 2. would the 2.2GHz quad core in the 15 be a huge improvement over the 2.8GHz dual core in the 13? 3. And I'm assuming I'd wanna go ahead & upgrade to 8gigs of RAM? I'll be using this probably to record my band which means eventually a lot of tracks/plugins running at the same time. Help me Mac gurus. Oh and is it worth it for Apple Care? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members goodhonk Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 thought you were gonna start dating black chicks. misleading thread title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mhuxtable Posted February 21, 2012 Author Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 {censored}ing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KoskineN Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 Two of my bandmates are using a basic 13" with no problems so far for recording (GarageBand and Logic). Addding some RAM would be a good move I think. I'm gonna get one myself soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members who235 Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 Don't upgrade the RAM. I mean do upgrade it, but buy it from Crucial for $50 instead of shelling out the $200 Apple wants for it. 10 screws and 15 minutes is not worth $150. As for the processor, bigger is usually better but you can get away with the less expensive option if you aren't running some crazy recording setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members homestar_kevin Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 Don't get your RAM from apple, get it somewhere else like OWC, or crucial for tonssss cheaper. I have a year or two old now 2.8 i7 imac, and it's stupid fast. It's definitely enough to process what you're doing, and if you need more in the future, hopefully they will have some thunderbolt solutions worked out by then. But that doesn't matter, the 2.8 i7 will be more than enough room. Get that, get a RAID array or some other {censored} to back up on, and do it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mhuxtable Posted February 21, 2012 Author Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 what's a RAID array? I usually was using LaCie HDs. thanks for the heads up on the RAM. I thought $200 for 4gigs was a bit ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pewtershmit Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 Not that I'm anti mac, but why do you feel you need a mac? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Saturnine10 Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 RAID is a couple of HD's that are basically wired so that they are one HD.. At least i think so haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members houseofglass21 Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 I'd look on craigslist for a good used Macbook pro. Make sure you use the Macbook only for recording. Don't start downloading a bunch of music and such. The less stuff the hard drive has on it the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TravvyBear Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 You should be fine with any model you get. Just make sure not to buy Apple RAM and you're all set. Welcome to the dark side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 Not that I'm anti mac, but why do you feel you need a mac? sound quality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mhuxtable Posted February 21, 2012 Author Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 I'd look on craigslist for a good used Macbook pro. Make sure you use the Macbook only for recording. Don't start downloading a bunch of music and such. The less stuff the hard drive has on it the better. i don't trust strangers on CL to buy a Mac especially since my buddy bought one and a year later the cops showed up. It was stolen & had a LoJack installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HP Hovercraft Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 FWIW, it's rumored that there will be a huge redesign coming this summer. To answer your questions: 1. No. Barely noticeable. People have been recording on Core 2 Duo MBPs for years now. An i5 is significantly better than that. 2. Yes. Plus a quad-core is more future-proof with everything moving to 64-bit now. I'm going to assume that next-gen MBPs will all be quad-core, including the Airs. 3. No. Get it from Crucial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fetch Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 I'm not even gonna ATG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members homestar_kevin Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 RAID is a couple of HD's that are basically wired so that they are one HD.. At least i think so haha This is pretty much it. It's running several hard drives together to act as a unit. There are a bunch of varieties, I'm currently running with a RAID 5 for all my back ups. It uses 4 hard drives to back everything up, so if one dies or is corrupt, you can put a fresh new hard drive in and it will rebuild all the files so you don't lose anything. If you have more than one external and back {censored} up more than once you should be fine, but starting to consider a RAID array might not be a bad idea Just make sure to create redundancy in back ups. You want several copies of everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members homestar_kevin Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 i don't trust strangers on CL to buy a Mac especially since my buddy bought one and a year later the cops showed up. It was stolen & had a LoJack installed. How did that go down? Did the dude get any money back or it was a total loss? After a YEAR!??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 trying to be even more like me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I'm looking at getting a MacBook Pro.This will be mainly for recording & music editing. Gat Dayum they are expensive....I know they usually go on sale in the fall for students & you can get a free ipod or something...so i may wait until then.So I wanna get just the 13....my questions are this:1. for recording, is it necessary to 2.8GHz i7 over the 2.4GHz i5....they're both dual core. 2. would the 2.2GHz quad core in the 15 be a huge improvement over the 2.8GHz dual core in the 13? I THINK the quad core is the faster of the two. In general, I'd get the fastest CPU you can afford, with as many cores as you can afford. A couple hundred bucks extra now means very little over the several year lifespan of the computer, and upgrading the CPU later is hard or impossible... The other thing you may appreciate is the extra screen real estate. I have a 13", and Pro Tools is tiny on that screen... but I am old and have old man's eyesight - it might not be an issue to you, but DAW software has lots of small icons and buttons - a bigger screen never hurts.. 3. And I'm assuming I'd wanna go ahead & upgrade to 8gigs of RAM?I'll be using this probably to record my band which means eventually a lot of tracks/plugins running at the same time. Yes, but buy it from Apple with the bare minimum amount of RAM they sell it with. It will be cheaper to buy the RAM at Best Buy or Newegg and install it yourself - it's easy, doesn't void the warranty, and will save you a gripload of cash since Apple basically rapes you on the price of RAM. Help me Mac gurus.Oh and is it worth it for Apple Care? You can buy Apple Care any time prior to the expiration of the regular 1 year warranty - in general, it's a good idea IMO, but if funds are short now, put it into the fastest CPU and largest screen you can get and then save up for the Apple Care extended warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 BTW, unless they've changed it very recently (Pro Tools 10), Pro Tools does NOT support RAID drive arrays. I just back up stuff to an external USB HDD at the end of the day. Time Machine can automate the process for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mhuxtable Posted February 21, 2012 Author Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 I THINK the quad core is the faster of the two. In general, I'd get the fastest CPU you can afford, with as many cores as you can afford. A couple hundred bucks extra now means very little over the several year lifespan of the computer, and upgrading the CPU later is hard or impossible...The other thing you may appreciate is the extra screen real estate. I have a 13", and Pro Tools is tiny on that screen... but I am old and have old man's eyesight - it might not be an issue to you, but DAW software has lots of small icons and buttons - a bigger screen never hurts.. Yes, but buy it from Apple with the bare minimum amount of RAM they sell it with. It will be cheaper to buy the RAM at Best Buy or Newegg and install it yourself - it's easy, doesn't void the warranty, and will save you a gripload of cash since Apple basically rapes you on the price of RAM. You can buy Apple Care any time prior to the expiration of the regular 1 year warranty - in general, it's a good idea IMO, but if funds are short now, put it into the fastest CPU and largest screen you can get and then save up for the Apple Care extended warranty. nice tip on the apple care. thanks phil. another question to all! Does Apple usually raise their prices when they redesign things? right now i can get a MBP 15 right now with a quad core for 1800 vs. the 13 i7 at 1400 if they raise their prices, i'll go ahead & get a 15 now with the quad core at 1800. if they don't usually, i'll wait & see if the 13s get quad cores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Saturnine10 Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 Dont forget to check the refurbished Mac's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HP Hovercraft Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 Prices usually stay the same. Occasionally they're lowered. Dont forget to check the refurbished Mac's Good point! There's a refurb store on Apple's site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Yes, they sometimes raise their prices when new models are released. Here's something you might want to consider - get a refurbished machine. They cost less and carry the full warranty. That's what I did with my MacBook, and it's been a good computer overall, although I did have a battery die and take the HDD with it. Still, they fixed that all under warranty. You'll need to check back from time to time as stock varies constantly, but it's worth having a look IMHO: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?afid=p219|GOUS&cid=AOS-US-KWG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members macadood Posted February 21, 2012 Members Share Posted February 21, 2012 1. i wouldnt buy it used off CL2. i would wait until this summer for the new ones to come out so at least if youre shelling out that much money you get the cream of the crop. and like you said the student discount/free ipod or whatever. 3. i5 is probably gonna be fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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