Should I go for a Macbook Pro?

[nicogrubert]

Hi guys

yesterday my 1,5 years old DELL XPS1330 notebook died (display keeps black) and I am thinking about to buy either a 15" / 17" MacBook Pro.

I wanna use the Macbook Pro for:
1) using ableton live 8 on stage with AKAI APC40 and Native Instruments Audiocontrol 1
2) office / internet / software-development with Python, PostgreSQL, Eclipse

I used Windows for more than 15 years but I'd like to switch to MacOS because it has already Unix on board. On my windows machine I had a lot of problems compiling packages for software-development.

However, I am pretty new to the Mac world.

The most important thing I care about the new MacBook Pro's are heat issues. I have read a lot of heat issues with the Macbooks. My girlfriend owns a new 13" Macbook (no Pro) and it gets pretty hot when I just surf a bit through the web. How hot will it be if I run ableton live at 70% CPU usage for 1-2 hours?

If you remember the heat in clubs on stage, I just wonder how stable a new MacBook Pro will be in these situations.

So my questions are:
1. Have you ever had crashes with a MacBook Pro on stage and if so, what kind of crashes?
2. Do the new MacBook Pros still have heat issues and if so, what do you do to cool down the Macbook on stage?
3. Do you prefer the 15" or the 17" Macbook Pro?
4. Harddisk: 256 GB solid state disk or 500 GB SATA with 7.200 RPM?

Edit: An alternative notebook to the Macbook Pro is a IBM/Lenovo notebook which I have in mind.

Thanks in advance,
Nico

[Allan A.Live]

Hi!

1. Have you ever had crashes with a MacBook Pro on stage and if so, what kind of crashes?

Never, if you are worried 'bout the heat: Take a cooling Pad (round € 30) under the Book.

2. Do the new MacBook Pros still have heat issues and if so, what do you do to cool down the Macbook on stage?

I heared not, 2 friends of mine have the new on in 13', rest see question 1.

3. Do you prefer the 15" or the 17" Macbook Pro?

I own a 15, but when a new one will be interesting for me (i think in 3 years, mine is two and a half old, no problems with it at the moment and fast enough for live I would buy a 13' Pro

4. Harddisk: 256 GB solid state disk or 500 GB SATA with 7.200 RPM?

The battery time depends also on the devices you connect with the book, soundcard for example needs power via USB/FW, but in Live-Pa Situations I thing it is better to take a charger with you. And regular 3 hours (for example working in a coffee without Soundcard) are not a problem with a new battery, mine stays for two and a half hour meantime.

If you have the money take the solid state, if you need more space at home take an external hard drive...

Rgs

[Tweaking Knobs]

totaly go for a mac book pro , and a 72rpm disc.

[Ball Sack]

I'm going for a shit

[nicogrubert]

totaly go for a mac book pro , and a 72rpm disc.

any reasons?
Why 72rpm and not SSD?

Thanks @ Allen & Tweaking Knobs!

[anybody human]

I don't think you'll be disappointed. I have a 17' G4 and now have a 15' Macbook Pro and prefer the 15'. The 17' gets a bit unwieldy.

[nicogrubert]

I read the performance thread and the lenovo notebooks seem to be a bit faster than the macpro's.
I can live with a performance difference of 10% (where the macbook pro's have 10% less power) because I bounce most of the things to audio clips to play them live.
The most important criteria is stability!

[MrShine]

The specs on the IBM/Lenovo are pretty good and price wise more than half of a Macbook Pro....

I'm sorry but as a consumer looking to buy a decent hardware system ( in the next few months )...a Mac book Pro is more a luxury than a necessity...

[Allan A.Live]

Hallo! Hab jetzt erst gesehen dass Du aus der SChweiz bist, ich täte Dir trotzdem zum Macbook Pro raten, vergiss das Lenovo-Teil, erstens rennt Ableton IMO auf OSX immer stabiler und wenn Du Dir es wirklich aussuchen/leisten kannst (und wer ein Lenovo kaufen kann, für den ist ein Mac auch kein Luxus mehr), greif zum Mac, deine restlichen Sachen kannst mit dem Mac tadellos erledigen (gibt so viel OpenSource Dinge an Software und stabiler rennt es immer, was Windows 7 bringt weiss kein Mensch....OSX ist eine bei Musikern seit Jahren bewährte Plattform auf der Live im Bühnenbetrieb rennt ohne gross abzukacken, ich bin froh vor einigen Jahren geswitched zu haben und habe es nicht bereut.

lg

[nicogrubert]

@ Alan
I keep writing in english coz this is an english speaking forum. I hope, that's okay for you. Thanks again!

"seit Jahren bewährte Plattform auf der Live im Bühnenbetrieb rennt ohne gross abzukacken" means: it crashed from time to time?

I just ask because in my windows notebooks I always had 2 seperate windows installations
1. audio only; all unnessary services de-activated, no other software than audio related installed.
2. office, internet and stuff like that

Since I am completely new to MacOS, I have a (maybe) dumb question:
Do you guys install all your software (audio, office, internet, etc.) on just 1 Mac OSX installation? Doesn't the system get slower the more stuff you install on it? Maybe a dump question, but windows user may know what I am talking about...

[Allan A.Live]

OK, I also feared the same, the guy in the mac store told me that i can make 2 accounts on osx, one for working regular and one for music, but this is not necessary, than i followed him, made only one account for all, this is running total clear since i have the book, no reinstallation of the osx required since i buy the book, can't remeber that windows ran so ten years before, every half year i had to install new, why do you thing that the most pros who are on stage with live use a mac!?....

just my two cents, no fear of the new system, it will be easier than you think...

[nicogrubert]

Alright. I am almost convinced.

My first hours with the mac of my girlfriend were pretty funny. I just thought much too complicated to get things working. I could not believe you install a program by just drag and drop to the "programs" folder. If you have worked on Windows for more than 15 years, you are a bit "damaged".

Any recommendations for a low-weight cooler setup for the macbook on stage?

[Allan A.Live]

Alright. I am almost convinced.

My first hours with the mac of my girlfriend were pretty funny. I just thought much too complicated to get things working. I could not believe you install a program by just drag and drop to the "programs" folder. If you have worked on Windows for more than 15 years, you are a bit "damaged".

Any recommendations for a low-weight cooler setup for the macbook on stage?

Take one you prefer from handling and design, but take one with 2 fan's...

I am also damaged, still must use windows (nt) in the office, I'm glad when I come home every day

[hereschenes]

The beauty about osx is that it runs just as fast as it did two years before regardless of what you have installed since.

Patently false. I own a November 2008 Macbook Pro, and it is absolutely not as fast (especially at bootup time) as it was when I first used a clean install. Why would it be? Every time you install a new application it leaves stuff all over your HD, like in ~/Library/Preferences, /Library/Application Support, etc, and often when you uninstall an application (which is often less-than-straightforward with OS X applications, for some mysterious reason) it doesn't bother to remove it. Applications that you think you have removed continue to leave daemon processes running... the list goes on.

I will agree that the slow-down-with-time effect is nowhere near as bad as with Windows though. OS X is awesome for sure; no need to defend it with false fanboyisms.

[nicogrubert]

@ hereschenes
I have some Unix/Linux background and I am wondering what exactly happens if I install a programm by just drag & drop the .img file to the "applications" folder and what happens if I uninstall it by just deleting the installed folder from "applications".
Is there any detailed information about this?