Members Ancient Mariner Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 I know quite a few use their Macs for recording, so it seems appropriate to ask the question here. has anyone installed Mountain Lion yet, and especially, did you do it on a machine where you had installed an aftermarket SSD? I'm looking at doing both, and wondered what your experience was. Mods - if this seems too far OT then feel free to delete the thread. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bad Robot Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 Yes, ML works better than Lion, for Logic Pro, anyways. No to the SSD. I am waiting for their prices to drop before I take that plunge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted July 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 They've become acceptable here now. Samsung 830 128Gb for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xrleroyx Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 I'm pretty pissed off about Mountain Lion. I just bought Lion. {censored} me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bad Robot Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 They've become acceptable here now. Samsung 830 128Gb for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bubkus_jones Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 I want a couple of 512s, and the price is pretty steep for those, at least as far as I've read. There is also a question of reliability.Why be pissed off? It costs 20 bucks. Why not just have a smaller SSD for the OS, programs and whatever recordings you're working on at that particular moment, and a nice big mechanical drive for all the long-term storage? Just transfer whatever you're working on at that particular time from the magnetic drive to the SSD, and then transfer back when you're done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members warriorpoet Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 An SSD will change your life. Not joking. Now as far as your options on a Mac, they seem pretty limited. I'd personally stay away from anything SandForce based (OWC, Corsair, etc.), and stick with more reliable controllers (Crucial, Samsung, etc.). The suggestion for a smaller OS drive and larger storage HDD is a good one for a balance of speed/ space. A 128Gb OS drive and 1Tb+ HDD is the current hot ticket. I personally roll with 120Gb SSD OS (plus programs), 256 SSD fast storage (DAW and plugins, Finale, etc.) and 750Gb HDD cold storage (work files, docs, music, etc.). I'll probably double up on the cold storage space later this year to reduce my dependency on external storage (5Tb). Good SSDs are more reliable than HDDs (no risk of mechanical failure, overprovisioning for bad blocks, etc.). The technology has come a long way very quickly, and there are several essential server farms running SSDs now that would never dream of introducing reliability issues (I'm thinking of several courthouses and hospitals that I'm personally aware of, along with anandtech and others). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cheezit66 Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 $20 too much, really? What I don't like is that they spend ship much time on iPhone features, and I'm not any iPhone user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bad Robot Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 Why not just have a smaller SSD for the OS, programs and whatever recordings you're working on at that particular moment, and a nice big mechanical drive for all the long-term storage? Just transfer whatever you're working on at that particular time from the magnetic drive to the SSD, and then transfer back when you're done. Hmmm. Yeah, I suppose, but I am awfully close to 200 gigs already on my primary drive (a 2011 Mac Mini Server), and that's without storing data, which goes on the 2nd drive. I'll wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bad Robot Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 $20 too much, really?What I don't like is that they spend ship much time on iPhone features, and I'm not any iPhone user. I agree with that. Also, I had to use a credit card to log into the App store to get free updates for iMovie, iPhoto, and something else that escapes me right now. It's the wave of the Apple future, being able to sync all the iDevices' data together. I don't particularly like it, and am becoming a little annoyed at Apple's business M.O. right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted July 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 It's for my work macbook. Presently I have used just 70Gb of the 160Gb HDD it came with, and a 120Gb SSD is pretty much ideal. I was considering a 256Gb device, but that's not necessary, and by the time I move the machine on in 12-18 months the drive will be out of date anyway. I understand the frustration with having just bought Lion - surely they ought to offer you a free upgrade to ML. It's also bad that you could have waited and gone direct from snow leper to ML for $20/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members warriorpoet Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 It's for my work macbook. Presently I have used just 70Gb of the 160Gb HDD it came with, and a 120Gb SSD is pretty much ideal. I was considering a 256Gb device, but that's not necessary, and by the time I move the machine on in 12-18 months the drive will be out of date anyway. I understand the frustration with having just bought Lion - surely they ought to offer you a free upgrade to ML. It's also bad that you could have waited and gone direct from snow leper to ML for $20/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elantric Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 The biggest issue with Mountain Lion is making damn sure you have a Mountain Lion Driver for your Audio Interface - before you make the mistake of upgrading Note these threads which explain the issues: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/07/what-to-know-about-mountain-lion-so-far/ http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/07/audio-woes-now-on-new-apple-os-not-just-new-apple-laptops-ni-driver-fix-in-beta/ http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=6678.0 Here is a Press Statement from Roland regarding OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion http://www.roland.com/support/article/?q=information&id=62472717 The drivers for OS X Mountain Lion (10.8 ) are different than the drivers for Mac OS X 10.7 or earlier. You must use the dedicated driver for each OS version. It's happened with my TASCAM US-1800 that worked fine under 10.7.4. Upgraded earlier today, came home, plugged in, and while the USB indicator light is on showing a connection, Mountain Lion doesn't see the interface at all in audio properties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bad Robot Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 I have a Duet, and their Lion driver works fine with ML. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted July 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 Most of the in-store Airs run Toshiba (read: SLOW) SSDs and have cut-down hardware. Pop a 256Gb Samsung 830 in your MBP and you'll be good for another couple years; keep in mind higher capacity drives are usually faster as well. You're running a 5400RPM HDD right now, right? Night and day to an SSD, and, frankly, a 7200 RPM HDD, which is what you probably have on your home machine. I ran it for a year with a Caviar Black in there, but TBH there wasn't a lot of difference, except the Caviar vibrated constantly and was noisy. This is just the early unibody Macbook, rather than the 'pro'. About every 12 months it requires a rebuild to restore performance, just like any other PC, and the last time I had to do it early because the caviar actually failed in use. I'm hoping the combination of hardware & software will make me want to keep it for another 12 months +. If the current crop of more sensibly priced 'ultrabooks' had decent screen resolutions I'd be happy embracing the world of Microsoft again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted July 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 Most of the in-store Airs run Toshiba (read: SLOW) SSDs and have cut-down hardware. Pop a 256Gb Samsung 830 in your MBP and you'll be good for another couple years; keep in mind higher capacity drives are usually faster as well. You're running a 5400RPM HDD right now, right? Night and day to an SSD, and, frankly, a 7200 RPM HDD, which is what you probably have on your home machine. I ran it for a year with a Caviar Black in there, but TBH there wasn't a lot of difference, except the Caviar vibrated constantly and was noisy. This is just the early unibody Macbook, rather than the 'pro'. About every 12 months it requires a rebuild to restore performance, just like any other PC, and the last time I had to do it early because the caviar actually failed in use. I'm hoping the combination of hardware & software will make me want to keep it for another 12 months +. If the current crop of more sensibly priced 'ultrabooks' had decent screen resolutions I'd be happy embracing the world of Microsoft again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members warriorpoet Posted July 30, 2012 Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 I ran it for a year with a Caviar Black in there, but TBH there wasn't a lot of difference, except the Caviar vibrated constantly and was noisy. This is just the early unibody Macbook, rather than the 'pro'. About every 12 months it requires a rebuild to restore performance, just like any other PC, and the last time I had to do it early because the caviar actually failed in use. I'm hoping the combination of hardware & software will make me want to keep it for another 12 months +. If the current crop of more sensibly priced 'ultrabooks' had decent screen resolutions I'd be happy embracing the world of Microsoft again. In that case: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5843/asus-zenbook-prime-ux21a-review Another: http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/asus_zenbook_prime_ux31a.aspx Display Click to EnlargeIf you have the means, splurge for the $1,399 configuration of the Zenbook Prime. Not only is this 1920 x 1080 matte panel sharper than the MacBook Air--and most other 13-inch laptops--it's superbright and offers generously wide 178-degree viewing angles. When we hit the UX31A with our light meter, the display averaged 423 lux, which is brighter than the older UX31 (391 lux) and well above the ultraportable average (219 lux). The Zenbook Prime also handily beats the MacBook Air (285 lux) and Samsung Series 9 13-inch (355 lux). To compare picture quality, we put the Zenbook Prime and MacBook Air side by side and played "The Avengers" trailer in full HD. We preferred the warmer colors on the ASUS, which made skin tones look more natural and explosions pop more. In addition, the Prime's matte screen allows for wide horizontal and vertical viewing angles, on a par with the Air. Is 1080p on a 13-inch notebook overkill? Not to us, because you get full HD video playback and the ability to see more content on screen when surfing the Web and when snapping two windows side by side. The trade-off is that that you often need to zoom in to read text. 1920 x 1080 ought to be enough for a 13" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted July 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 30, 2012 Thanks - those look interesting, if toward the more expensive end of things. I was hoping for something more around the price point of the HP Envy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members warriorpoet Posted July 31, 2012 Members Share Posted July 31, 2012 Thanks - those look interesting, if toward the more expensive end of things. I was hoping for something more around the price point of the HP Envy. That's the problem with a 13" 1080p IPS screen: it costs money Is this the envy you're talking about?: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256025 ...or the ultrabook?: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834158264 Personally, I'd spend the money on the Asus over the Envy Ultra for the screen alone, but you might have different priorities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members deanmass Posted July 31, 2012 Members Share Posted July 31, 2012 I have a 500 hybrid in my 2010 mbp 13. It 's ok. Faster, but, did not blow me away. I am holding off on Mt. Lion til a patch hits. I might be selling his mbp anyhow and switching to a mini for home, and air for " out". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted July 31, 2012 Members Share Posted July 31, 2012 I have tried Mountain Lion. More like chicken than say beef. Can get a little stringy though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted July 31, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 31, 2012 That's the problem with a 13" 1080p IPS screen: it costs money Is this the envy you're talking about?: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256025 ...or the ultrabook?: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834158264 Personally, I'd spend the money on the Asus over the Envy Ultra for the screen alone, but you might have different priorities It was the ultrabook. The thing is, a 1080P screen will make characters too small to read on a 13" screen, for me at least, and TBH it's also got the wrong dimensions - 16X10 or even 15X10 makes a much better business laptop- 16X9 is for toys - devices to entertain rather than work on. Yes you can work on it, but it isn't ideal. In this respect the Macbook Air 13.3" is a MUCH better proposition at 1440 X 900 - the fonts won't be too small and the proportions are right. This Macbook at 1280 X 800 is better in some ways. Apple have sorted this with their retina displays so that the extra resolution makes everything sharper instead of funny sizes. See the other thing is that we're now right in macbook pricing territory, but with a machine that, apart from screen res, isn't any better. There was once a theory that Macbooks were expensive and you were paying a premium for the apple badge, but that doesn't seem to be the case now other makers are trying to create similar machines, often with serious design flaws. It's not enough to make something that is somewhat like a Macbook: it needs to be at least as well designed if you want to sell it for the same money. I'd be willing to spend Macbook money on something that wasn't Apple - I already HAVE a Macbook (to be replaced) - provided it was at least as good, but these don't hit the spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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