new macbook pro w/ new I/O: could be DAW game changer

[beats me]

OK, I sort of wrapped my head around this Thunderbolt thing, but let me ask you PROs some questions.

So this is like the swiss army knife of connections and you'll need all kinds of adapters to use with your current external hardware?

As it stands now there isn't anything on the market that uses this I/O directly, so once you get these adapters to use with your current external hardware it's pretty much zero value added other than they will work with their current bottleneck speed?

To get the most out of this at some point in the future you are going to have to replace all your external hardware with hardware that supports this I/O natively?

This sounds like classic Apple except for the fact they didn't already remove currently used I/Os. Glad that got that asshole move out of their system.

[LoopStationZebra]

Well, dude. The MAGIC has to start someplace. The first firewire ports appeared and there was like....eh....nothing really available right away (except some super high end drives at the time?)

Again, the MAGIC has got to start somewhere.

I think you're overlooking the fact that APPLE is bringing the magic first. As is their usual MO.

Steve is not going to be happy with your performance this past week.

[dazzer]

Don't understand the bitchin about the updates or Thunderbolt (said in the obligatory stupid voice to match the name).

TB looks like it could be a runner and the new MBPs look lush.

I told my wife about it all and asked her "How is old is my MacBook now?" She replied "Only 2 years It's still new". Damn.

[beats me]

Steve is not going to be happy with your performance this past week.

Well, I’m not too happy with Apple right now either. I’ve been daydreaming about getting a Macbook Air for quite some time now and the pocket burning money is about to be free in my account in about a week. Then this happened. Maybe Apple’s “coming in 2011” announcement next week will include what kind of spec bump will be hitting the Macbook Airs and when, but I doubt it because if they said “coming in June…..” most people wouldn’t buy a Macbook Air in the next 4 months if they knew for sure a noteworthy improvement was going to be released soon. I don’t see Apple shooting themselves in the foot in the short term like that.

And I’m the kind of princess that would choose the form factor of the Air over the obvious performance advantages of the Pro.

NEVER in MY history with Apple have I been sitting on this fence. I’ve always just got what I wanted when I wanted it with no concern of what improvements might be coming out in the future. In fact I’ve scoffed at those who are permanently in a state of hesitation paralyzed by the thought of their purchase now being obsolete in 2 months. That’s a terrible way to live your life.

[LoopStationZebra]

And I’m the kind of princess that would choose the form factor of the Air over the obvious performance advantages of the Pro.

I get you, I do.

But getting an Air over even a simple MacBook for running audio apps is nothing short of MADNESS.

Once again.

MADNESS.



Just saying, bro.

[Khazul]

OK, I sort of wrapped my head around this Thunderbolt thing, but let me ask you PROs some questions.

So this is like the swiss army knife of connections and you'll need all kinds of adapters to use with your current external hardware?

As it stands now there isn't anything on the market that uses this I/O directly, so once you get these adapters to use with your current external hardware it's pretty much zero value added other than they will work with their current bottleneck speed?

To get the most out of this at some point in the future you are going to have to replace all your external hardware with hardware that supports this I/O natively?

This sounds like classic Apple except for the fact they didn't already remove currently used I/Os. Glad that got that asshole move out of their system.

What will probbaly happen is that someone (belkin and the like) will start producing Firewire and USB adapters for thunderbolt rather than thuderbolt audio interfaces appearing in the near future. Think of it more like an external PCI-express bus ith a couple of bi-directional channels. So its kind of like the USB2 vs FW vs PCI card argument all over again - very few current audio interfaces are designed well enough to hugely benefit from direct PCI-e card implementation and those that are are allready doing pretty well with their FW and USB2 versions anyway.

Thunderbolt may however have far more of an impact when high end future refresh of mac pros get used in commercial studio wanting to run 48-96 channels through an SSL 9K for example, or film post production staudio wanting to run 8/16 or more channels of 192Khz audio. Today PCI express host MADI systems are probably what get used. Maybe thunderbiolt just free up the reliance on sticking cards inside the main studio DAW computers -but were talking high end commercial studio here with 100K or more investment in audio hardware.

[beats me]

And I’m the kind of princess that would choose the form factor of the Air over the obvious performance advantages of the Pro.

I get you, I do.

But getting an Air over even a simple MacBook for running audio apps is nothing short of MADNESS.

Once again.

MADNESS.



Just saying, bro.

Oh I don’t know about that. The very respectable Sound on Sound magazine did a full report on the Air and music production in their January issue and they said it passed with flying colors. In fact as far as the Airs not being up to the task the only things I’ve read towards the negative side are people saying you shouldn’t be able to just based on reading the specs (something I too did early on), but I haven’t seen or read anything saying it can’t based on actual practice.

[necho]

I buy the best Mac I can afford every four years. No amount of upgrades or marketing can break that cycle. So there.

[beats me]

I should also mention I have access to an Apple educator’s discount…but only until June.

That’s almost as upsetting as when my UAD connection purposely got himself fired so he could collect unemployment and travel all over Southeast Asia for 6 months. Selfish a-hole!

But then again if an Apple discount is 10% and CA tax is 9.75% then all you’re really doing is not paying tax and I can already do that when I buy things through Amazon AND Amazon is the only place I know that sells Apple products for less than what Apple sells them for…in the case of computers, $20 to $50 cheaper.

[LoopStationZebra]

And I’m the kind of princess that would choose the form factor of the Air over the obvious performance advantages of the Pro.

I get you, I do.

But getting an Air over even a simple MacBook for running audio apps is nothing short of MADNESS.

Once again.

MADNESS.



Just saying, bro.

Oh I don’t know about that. The very respectable Sound on Sound magazine did a full report on the Air and music production in their January issue and they said it passed with flying colors. In fact as far as the Airs not being up to the task the only things I’ve read towards the negative side are people saying you shouldn’t be able to just based on reading the specs (something I too did early on), but I haven’t seen or read anything saying it can’t based on actual practice.

The thing is, the specs don't lie. Those aren't magic processors in that thing. They have LESS raw power than my 4 year old MacBook.

Got a link to that Sound on Sound piece? I can't imaging running a 20 track, 10 scene set with lots of plugs on an Air without performance hits.

[mstealth]

Argh, I don't want to give my money to apple. I better buy a used piano. Not. hmrpfhmfprhm)

good decision, which i made a year back

[beats me]

The thing is, the specs don't lie. Those aren't magic processors in that thing. They have LESS raw power than my 4 year old MacBook.

Got a link to that Sound on Sound piece? I can't imaging running a 20 track, 10 scene set with lots of plugs on an Air without performance hits.

I don’t have a link to the SOS article but it was the cover story in the January issue.

And if we’re talking Live 8 I don’t have any expectations of it running smoothly on any computer once you get past 10 tracks with multiple third party plugs. It’s shit.

But honestly for me, much like the iPad, I see the Air as another useful Apple accessory. I’m not looking to replace my full production MBP right now. And when I am ready to replace my full production computer I think I’m going to do it with the latest Mini because honestly my MBP only leaves my desk maybe 3 or 4 times a year, and that’s only for when I go out of town and want quick and easy access to my media library at the destination. So the price of a MBP wouldn’t be worth it and also the price of an iMac simply because it has an Apple monitor attached to it wouldn’t be worth the price either. Really the Mini is probably the best deal out there in Apple land and doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

[Khazul]

Complete article at http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan11/a ... ok-air.htm

Moving onto the processor tests, I was able to run 128 PlatinumVerb instances and 38 Space Designer instances. As a comparison, the 17?inch MacBook Pro I tested three years ago, which had a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, managed 150 PlatinumVerbs and 54 Space Designers. Looking at software instances, the MacBook Air managed 144 Sculpture voices (18 instances each playing eight voices), 768 EXS24 voices (using 16?bit samples) with the filter disabled, and 448 voices with the filter enabled. The 2007 17?inch MacBook Pro was capable of 160 Sculpture voices, and 896 and 512 EXS24 voices with filter enabled and disabled respectively.

[beats me]

Before anybody else says it, LOL at me for rambling on about certain Mac models not being worth the price for my usage and yet I’m willing to slap down the $$ for an Air which is probably the least useful of the lot.

But it’s a goddamn piece of art genius and the ladies love a man that loves art, and I can only say this based on distant memories, but I recall it's supposedly important what the ladies love.

[Hidden Driveways]

$200 Netbook Hackintosh > Air