macbook 13" graphic perfomance running live?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Post Reply
August
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 9:53 am
Location: Denmark
Contact:

macbook 13" graphic perfomance running live?

Post by August » Tue May 30, 2006 8:00 am

What are there to say about the talk and tests concerning the new Macbook 13" having a bad graphic card? Does that affect LIVE at all?
In other words are there any good reason not to buy it in comparison to the Macbook-Pro - other than the missing chance to get firewire 800.'
/August

Mika
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Apr 28, 2006 2:25 am

Post by Mika » Tue May 30, 2006 8:09 am

Look up this benchmark, it seems the only reason to buy a pro 15" is if you plan on playing games where the vidcard makes a difference.

http://www.geekpatrol.ca/blog/118/

frahnque
Posts: 266
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:32 pm

Re: macbook 13" graphic perfomance running live?

Post by frahnque » Tue May 30, 2006 8:22 am

August wrote:What are there to say about the talk and tests concerning the new Macbook 13" having a bad graphic card? Does that affect LIVE at all?
In other words are there any good reason not to buy it in comparison to the Macbook-Pro - other than the missing chance to get firewire 800.'
/August
I tried the Macbook out at the local computer store and ran Live on it and I can tell you that I had no problems running it at all. Smooth as silk. If I'm going to buy a mac it's gonna be the Macbook (as it looks right now) with 2 Gb ram and the applecare option.
Live 8.1 Suite + M4L and C'74 MAX5
Macbook Air 13", 4 Gb Ram - Lion
Thinkpad W510 Core i7 720-QM, 8 Gb Ram - Win7 64-bit

Soundcloud-> http://soundcloud.com/frank-bolero

August
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 9:53 am
Location: Denmark
Contact:

Post by August » Tue May 30, 2006 8:24 am

Thats interesting reading. But still they did no GPU test. My concerning is, when having a heavy session, having a lot of files, like a full live set in one session, my older powerbook can get pretty slow on drawing. If I go to the finder and back again it can take a long time for the machine to get all back ready to run. I have a feeling it's the graphic drawings of all the files that makes it slow. I don't run a lot of tracks or a lot of plug ins. just a lot of files ready to be played as the live set goes on.
Can this be an issue on the Macbook as well?
/August

forgie
Posts: 444
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:10 am

Post by forgie » Tue May 30, 2006 8:53 am

It's not going to be an issue. Part of the graphics is offloaded to the second CPU core, and Intel's Core Duo has a 667MHz bus. That's a faster bus AND an extra processor core. The only thing that's slow about the whole system is 3d rendering. Live is not 3d, so there's not a problem.

Anyway, Live offloads GUI stuff onto the second CPU on a dual core machine, so it should be smooth as silk, even when you REALLY push it CPU wise.

noisetonepause
Posts: 4938
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2002 3:38 pm
Location: Sticks and stones

Post by noisetonepause » Tue May 30, 2006 9:05 am

It's not a bad graphics card anyways, you just need to get more RAM. I'm quite sure it compares nicely to the ones in the last PowerBooks, actually...
Suit #1: I mean, have you got any insight as to why a bright boy like this would jeopardize the lives of millions?
Suit #2: No, sir, he says he does this sort of thing for fun.

August
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 9:53 am
Location: Denmark
Contact:

Post by August » Tue May 30, 2006 10:20 am

Allright thanks for the advices. Know there is only left to wait for a less noisy model of the macbook. It seems like they are a bit noisy. Eventhough I hardly can't wait, my powerbook at a crash to the floor last week, glued together now, looks like an African homemade computer. 8O

shaneblyth
Posts: 437
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 10:02 am

Re: macbook 13" graphic perfomance running live?

Post by shaneblyth » Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:30 pm

August wrote:What are there to say about the talk and tests concerning the new Macbook 13" having a bad graphic card? Does that affect LIVE at all?
In other words are there any good reason not to buy it in comparison to the Macbook-Pro - other than the missing chance to get firewire 800.'
/August
what a lot of crap.... a bad video card! it is better than the ibook card ..
this whole thing is not true.. I am always amazed at all the crap spread about.. this card has been used in pc's a friend has one and loves it.. he could add a dedicated card to his pc but said he doesnt need to.. he even plays 3d games regularly..
MacbookPro Core2Duo 17" 160 gb SATA 2gb ram.
Korg M3
1 Terabyte External Drive
Presonus Firebox
Live 6,

Krugger
Posts: 422
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 1:16 am
Location: London

Post by Krugger » Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:28 pm

got a MacBook 1.83Ghz

chucked in 1GB of RAM recently and left 1 256MB chip in there.
total 1.25GB, letting the video chip to chew on the 256MB extra RAM

video problems? WHAT video problems?? We're in 2006, ANY video chip can run an interface as simple as Ableton!!!!

there's nothing wrong with onboard video chips. it just doesn't come with all the hoohah allowing for Doom 34 or AutoCAD 87.

cuh!

robin
Posts: 2141
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2004 2:43 pm
Location: UK

Post by robin » Thu Jun 01, 2006 4:07 pm

Krugger wrote:got a MacBook 1.83Ghz

chucked in 1GB of RAM recently and left 1 256MB chip in there.
total 1.25GB, letting the video chip to chew on the 256MB extra RAM

video problems? WHAT video problems?? We're in 2006, ANY video chip can run an interface as simple as Ableton!!!!

there's nothing wrong with onboard video chips. it just doesn't come with all the hoohah allowing for Doom 34 or AutoCAD 87.

cuh!
The bottom line I think, if you are worrying about this is just to go out and buy a Xbox 360 to play your games on.

scientist
Posts: 1338
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2003 2:06 am
Location: seattle

Post by scientist » Thu Jun 01, 2006 4:14 pm

yeah, you will have no graphic problems running live. i've loaded it up on cpu and disk access (running upwards of 40 stereo tracks at once), and the graphics never choke (including with an attached external monitor). on my powerbook 12" live would have graphic slowdowns once the cpu got up to about 60%. i installed 1 gig of ram to go along with the other 256, and a 7200 rpm drive. and the pricetag fully pimped (minus spinners and ground effects) was about $1400.
and don't worry about the noise... the hum of other equipment in my studio is louder than any noise my computer makes and its way quieter than my old powerbook. also, the cpu difference between the 1.83 and 2.0 models is nominal. you're much better off spending the money on ram and a fast drive.

Post Reply