The Evolution of The MacBook ... What's Next and When?

[beats me]

it's looking more and more like I'm going the route of the 13rmbp, but the thing I'm afraid of is this, if they made such a big deal about shrinking everything and putting it all inside the 2 pound 'new macbook', aren't they just going to comeback next year and take the very 13rmbp I get today and shrink it down and put it in a macbook air?

I don’t think the MBAs are ever going to match the power and expandability of the MBPs. If they did then everybody would stop buying MBPs and just buy MBAs. I’m sure Apple is well aware of that and it’s a conscious decision to keep them well separated by more than just thinness and weight.

If Jobs was still around he’d probably combine them into a single line but I don’t have that hope with Cook as he just threw in a third contender with the new Macbook.

I’m with MW as I see about 5 years as a good cycle for replacing your workhorse computer, and even then your current model shouldn’t be completely choking. But why wait until you are completely screwed?

[starving student]

see I kind of think we are going to move to a tablet society in a round about way, i think the plan is to make the macbook airs the new macbook pros eventually, and make the iPads take the place of the macbook airs, and of course there will be a macbook air/ipad combo like an air with a screen that folds back and works like an ipad eventually.

[H20nly]

Yeah, they just have to wait for all the people who know how to type properly to die off.

[jett.ilagan]

I just bought this retina macbook pro 2 weeks ago and I've been starting to get a hang of it now.
To be honest, it really cost me a LOT. I really read forums and discussion about the pros and cons of buying rmbp,
what I noticed is that the 15" macbook consumes battery faster than I expected, I can only like use ableton for like
2-4 hours :/ Maybe, the next rmbp will improve its battery life.

[beats me]

Whenever companies are releasing their estimated battery life based on usage I don’t think high end audio or video is ever part of that estimate because I don’t think it would look that great and it’s for niche users.

For me personally I always wonder how many people are often working on music or video for 4+ hours without having access to a power outlet or are they just too lazy or forgetful to plug it in? Like they want to work on music on the couch but running the power cable would just be too much of a hassle or unappealing.

[starving student]

I just bought this retina macbook pro 2 weeks ago and I've been starting to get a hang of it now.
To be honest, it really cost me a LOT. I really read forums and discussion about the pros and cons of buying rmbp,
what I noticed is that the 15" macbook consumes battery faster than I expected, I can only like use ableton for like
2-4 hours :/ Maybe, the next rmbp will improve its battery life.

doesn't the new 13"rmbp have a longer battery life? you've only had your 15 for two weeks you don't want to exchange it for a 13"?


@beatsme- but that's exactly the case isn't it, we have so many features now, the real issue is ergonomics, convenience, and piece of mind... people don't even like to have to think about the outlet cause when you have to do that it's always on your mind bumming you out.

[H20nly]

bumming

that really is the answer...

keeping a battery up there would take a short cable.

[starving student]

well aren't you in rare form ..... no

[starving student]

ok I got 3 easy ones.

where do you guys get your memory from?

would you just as well go with an i5 over an i7 on a 13"rmbp ?
I was thinking about going with the 3.1ghz i7 unless I could just as well go with ......?
I won't be purchasing another puter for 4 years minimum.

and is the hard drive on the 13"rmbp user upgradable cause I'd like a 512drive in it?

[starving student]

[Steve Glen]

Hey man, I want to talk to about my mac experience. I'v purchased to macs, primarily for producing music.
Upon the amazing track record of my imac 2008, and how I was crazy impressed with core Audio(!) I purchased an i7 mbp last summer.

I think the mbp might be a bit of dud, as it gets crazy hot when performing certain tasks even though cpu & ram percentage is under 10%. Also, Live reports a longer latency from the laptop to the same audiocard than the imac under USB. This I find weird because the laptop is 5 years newer and I was expecting faster connectivity.

Over the christmas break, I finally updated my imac from 10.5.8 to yosemite. Since the update I've notice that audio doesnt' keep up as well as it used to. For example, before, the system could be crashing and audio would still be playing. Now, when I rename a song in itunes, the audio skips. I'm suspecting core Audio as the culprit.

ok, so what? I get the general sense that apple is focusing less on 'Creatives' and more on the general public. The result is that Pro Audio concerns are less of a priority for apple. The upside is that with more people using the products, we will likey see more supportive software for apple OSX &hardware (see the ipad apps for controlling DAWs, traktor or standalone music apps.

It's still a difficult choice, but I thought I would give you some opinion, since you were asking.

I will propose an alternate scenario: purchase a laptop that meets the minimum requirements, and spend the difference on commercial music releases.
:Oh, it seems like you have a decent laptop already. Do a clean install and buy a bunch of new music. Buy genres that you want to do more work in, and explore more genres. You can even set up a schedule: purchase X amount every Y. I promise this will be a better investment of your time and money.

[starving student]

That's an intriguing scenario Steve, I've been a music collector for a while so that part is definitely covered, couldn't agree more about its importance though if I lost it I don't know what the hell I'd do vs losing a computer and only going a little hungrier but the other part of your suggestion..... My computer specs are pretty old and meager don't you think?

[Steve Glen]

For audio production? No, I don't think so. If anything, its your processor speed, not RAM amount(but y'know your RAM speed could be slow too). But here are the steps to find out what, if anything is causing you grief.
I would advise doing a clean install. Clean it out. Defrag, if you can. Delete junk files and organize your files. back-up your songs. all that.

You can use Activity Monitor (built-in) or a 3rd party app like iStat Menus to track your computer's performance in realtime. Check benchmarks before and after the clean install to see if it made any difference.

If it truly is your RAM that is the bottleneck, then you can adapt your workflow so that RAM dependence is minimized. I noticed that your computing needs have not yet come up in this conversation. (am i right?)...


Expected Result: have a better understanding of your tools, while saving money, and improving computer performance.

[starving student]

yep that is correct, and my use is pretty specific.

ableton
maschine
komplete
arturia v collection
m-tron pro
speakerphone

and i throw an odd video together every now and then but nothing proper.
also run a 27" thunderbolt monitor with it.

the video chip seems weak and It takes 384mb out of the entire 4gig of ram

[starving student]

ok so wtf, you can't upgrade the ram or hard drive on an 13"Rmbp after you buy it, and if you do it will void your warranty?