Thinking of buying a Mac for running Ableton

ashtonron · Post by **ashtonron** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:23 pm

I am thinking of buying a mac to use with ableton and was wondering
what peoples thoughts were on two alternatives I have narrowed it down to

13" Mac book
2 GHz Intel Core Duo
with 2Gb memory
120 Gb hard disk 5400 rpm

or

15" MacBook Pro
2 GHz Intel Core Duo
with 1 GB memory
100 GB disk 7200 rpm

this one is 350 dollars more

The main difference (besides the screen size - which is not that important for me) is that with the pro you can get the 7200 rpm disk. But I can't afford to get 2 GB ram with it.

So... it boils down to is it worth paying 350 dollars extra to get a Mac with a 7200rpm disk with less memory.

Will it perform worse than the mac with more memory and a slower disk... will I notice a difference...

I do a lot of different stuff from typical studio work (mixing down 32 tracks recorded @ 24 bit ) to music creation (I also use Kontakt 2 / Sampler + soft synths for my own music creations as well as various plugins (Ozone, Trash etc)

cheers

Ashton

leisuremuffin · Post by **leisuremuffin** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:50 pm

i know you've probably already thought of this, but what about an imac?

that's the way i'm thinking of going. Yes, it's more to lug to a show, but it's more bang for the buck.

as an aside, you can always get a fast external drive for your macbook, but then you're stuck with the speed of firewire 400... which isn't really bad at all.

for the memory, i only have a gig of memory and i'm doin ok, but i when i do buy a new computer i'm going to get as much as i can... esp. since sampler cal load multi-samples into ram, i figure i might end up with some pretty sizable multisamples in there.

i dunno. I guess if i had to go with one of your 2 choices, i'd buy the macbook pro. You can always add memory later when you can afford it.

.lm.

robin · Post by **robin** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:59 pm

I'd wait a month or so (new chips coming, allegedly), but if you can't then just make sure you don't upgrade that disk and memory with Apple. both memory and HD are user upgradable in this machine (not in the MBP though)

I'd get the smallest disk and memory config with apple possible then get a 160GB seagate momentus 7200.3 when they come out or whatever 7200 drive that you'd like. put the original disk in a caddy.

ashtonron · Post by **ashtonron** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:12 pm

leisuremuffin wrote:i know you've probably already thought of this, but what about an imac?

I hadnt thought about that actually... It could be the best solution....

I was thinking about being able to chill in the sofa and browse the web, but its a lot of cash extra for that luxury...

I am not really in a rush (before march next year) so maybe it makes sense to wait.. cheers for the advice

eddit · Post by **eddit** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:18 pm

ashtonron wrote:
I was thinking about being able to chill in the sofa and browse the web, but its a lot of cash extra for that luxury...

Airport express + Airfoil software = producing from the sofa as well

Sure you arent in the sweet spot for your monitors, but you ARE in the sweet spot for a beer and a relaxed vibe

ashtonron · Post by **ashtonron** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:24 pm

eddit wrote:
ashtonron wrote:
I was thinking about being able to chill in the sofa and browse the web, but its a lot of cash extra for that luxury...

Airport express + Airfoil software = producing from the sofa as well

Sure you arent in the sweet spot for your monitors, but you ARE in the sweet spot for a beer and a relaxed vibe

Thats what I'm after

woodman1200 · Post by **woodman1200** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:45 pm

LOL!

I'm a couch producer too. I'd highly recommend the 15" screen. I used L4 on an older iBook w/13" screen and while it was a useable configuration, I had 2 more tracks visible with the 15" and with less eye strain.

Definately do not buy memory from Apple as the jack up the price 3x the street value.

Good luck,

robin · Post by **robin** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:49 pm

I'm totally fine on a 12" powerbook. The extra width of the macbook would make it perfect for me.

Maybe have a look before you buy to see what suits you? We're all different.

nobbystylus · Post by **nobbystylus** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:09 pm

my MBP was worth getting for the extra screen size, and proper graphics chip (i do editing/motion graphics stuff also).. but if you're just using Live/audio a fully pimped up MacBook would be a nice option..

November looks like the Core2Duos by the way..

robin · Post by **robin** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:10 pm

nobbystylus wrote: November looks like the Core2Duos by the way..

I'd guess at that too.