Ableton Forum

So I've been wanting a laptop because I want to do shows and other stuff.

I have a 20" 2.16ghz intel imac from '06 and have absolutely no problems with it running ableton with vst's and everything else, and iMovie. I'm pretty much minimal when it comes to resources.

Someone is sellng a macbook pro on craigslist for 900 bucks. It is also from '06 but has a 2.0ghz processor and 1.5gig of ram instead of my 2gig. It also has an 80gig hard drive instead of my 200. I would subsequently sell my imac to (even if it ends up being in part) reimburse.

My question is, will I experience much of a difference due to the processor most importantly? and the ram? I know I can always upgrade the ram but that costs money. Does this machine have the same competence as my imac in terms of firewire connectivity or any other things (will i experience more latency than I do now?) And I can always get an external hd and an external monitor.

My other question is, with the uphill expandability of apple's new models, how much power does one really need to run ableton well? I have no problems right now with my iMac but should I be investing in something newer than this macbook pro? The question stays in the back of my mind that I will change and will need more resources for my workflow. What exactly do you need 3ghz, 4gig ram and 800gig hd for?

I would just save up, if you can, and buy a new laptop. But I'm weary of ebay. I'm also weary of used computers.

I'm wacky like that. I'd rather spend $2000 and know exactly what I am getting into, than spend $900 and always wonder.

I've mentioned this viewpoint before. Its a small risk in my mind, to spend $50 or $100 to buy a used software vst/au... But I can't spend nearly 50% of 2000 dollars, and have to sit and wonder if I made the right choice...

How about a refurbished macbook off the apple site(which is a safe bet cause they refurb and check it and all that + it comes with apple care. Here is one for $950. http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/s ... ac/macbook As far as latency and all that goes it's going to be the same If you go to the MBP or the macbook. Just max the ram which is cheap. And both have fire wire. The only ones that don't are the brand new macbooks. Yes, you can always add an external drive if you need more room or even add a bigger internal drive which is way easy on the macbook in the link above.

Edit- the only thing is the macbook has a limited video card if your doing serious movie editing kind of stuff.

wow, that looks like a great deal!

liveISlife wrote:Edit- the only thing is the macbook has a limited video card if your doing serious movie editing kind of stuff.

comparing it to the one in my imac now, it seems it's superior. I won't be doing more than what I'm doing now.

iivanov wrote:wow, that looks like a great deal!

liveISlife wrote:Edit- the only thing is the macbook has a limited video card if your doing serious movie editing kind of stuff.

comparing it to the one in my imac now, it seems it's superior. I won't be doing more than what I'm doing now.

Heck, then I'd say go for the refurbished macbook off the apple site then! It's got a faster prosesser, same amount of RAM ( I think you can max it to 4 Gigs as well!), only thing is less hard drive space. That is not really a big deal though because you can either get an external drive and run all you samples and keep your tunes on it or just install an internal which is real easy on the macbook. Looking at how to do it it's as easy as putting ram in.

the only thing is leopard. I'm on tiger now and I just love it. I remember hearing about so many problems with leopard I don't want to deal with and I like how everything is just simple with tiger right now. the craigslist sale comes with tiger.

iivanov wrote:the only thing is leopard. I'm on tiger now and I just love it. I remember hearing about so many problems with leopard I don't want to deal with and I like how everything is just simple with tiger right now. the craigslist sale comes with tiger.

When leopard first came out it was real buggy. I downgraded back to tiger because it was so bad. I then went back to leopard after a few upgrades and it is rock solid now. No problems what so ever. You can always downgrade the macbook to tiger if you want. Only thing about leopard is it uses a bit more ram and virtual memory. Which is really no big deal with the 2 gigs but you will notice a bit more performance with 4 gigs.

iivanov wrote:the only thing is leopard. I'm on tiger now and I just love it. I remember hearing about so many problems with leopard I don't want to deal with and I like how everything is just simple with tiger right now. the craigslist sale comes with tiger.

Leopards been out fer a while now. I wasn't going to upgrade, I'd just wait till I got a new comp, but Leopard has definitely not had the same crash/backlash as visa, and I am under the impression that Leopard is pretty smooth.


What plug ins do you have that you are concerned about?

reaktor and guitar rig are the ones that eat up the most cpu of all the vst's I use.

I just thought of something else, do all macs come with those apple audio plugins? I use the matrix reverb and the AUpitch all the time. If not I guess I could take the actual files from the folder on my imac and put them on the laptop.

So, really, what is the difference between a macbook and a macbook pro of the exact same specs?

iivanov wrote:reaktor and guitar rig are the ones that eat up the most cpu of all the vst's I use.

I just thought of something else, do all macs come with those apple audio plugins? I use the matrix reverb and the AUpitch all the time. If not I guess I could take the actual files from the folder on my imac and put them on the laptop.

So, really, what is the difference between a macbook and a macbook pro of the exact same specs?

When they were first released, macbooks and macbook pros, had little difference. Apple has since invented differences by removing more features, and supplementing those features with corporate greed.

Anyways,

Reaktor is a cpu monster OK, but I'm sure NI has made 10.5 updates. And I believe the AU plugs come with all apples. I have the Apple AU pack on my system, that is fer sure....

cool, I may go for this. the only thing is the damn glossy screen. can these be swapped?

This is probably a REALLY stupid question but...when using an external monitor, the resolution CAN go bigger than 1280x800 right?

From the specs you posted in the OP, it kinda sounds like it was the very first MBP released. It might be missing the Magsafe and the FW800 connector. Also, later models have better resolution. Plus, it's almost out of Apple Care. I'd go with a younger machine if I were you. Like, a late '07 or an '08.

iivanov wrote:cool, I may go for this. the only thing is the damn glossy screen. can these be swapped?

This is probably a REALLY stupid question but...when using an external monitor, the resolution CAN go bigger than 1280x800 right?

Yup. The highest resolution MBPs put out is 2560x1600 I think.

iivanov wrote:reaktor and guitar rig are the ones that eat up the most cpu of all the vst's I use.

I just thought of something else, do all macs come with those apple audio plugins? I use the matrix reverb and the AUpitch all the time. If not I guess I could take the actual files from the folder on my imac and put them on the laptop.

So, really, what is the difference between a macbook and a macbook pro of the exact same specs?

Those vst's will run fine. Yes, all the macs come with those plugs. The main difference between that macbook on that link I posted and a MBP is the macbook does not have firewire 800, express card slot, no light up keyboard, no dedicated video card ( it has the integrated video card that shares ram, no biggie unless you do heavy video editing or if you game) and it has a smaller screen.

iivanov wrote:cool, I may go for this. the only thing is the damn glossy screen. can these be swapped?

eh, o yeah it has a glossy screen... it would probably be quite the project to swap the screen. Maybe you may want to wait around for a non glossy screen to come around on there. I'm sure they have new macbooks on there often.

liveISlife wrote:

iivanov wrote:reaktor and guitar rig are the ones that eat up the most cpu of all the vst's I use.

I just thought of something else, do all macs come with those apple audio plugins? I use the matrix reverb and the AUpitch all the time. If not I guess I could take the actual files from the folder on my imac and put them on the laptop.

So, really, what is the difference between a macbook and a macbook pro of the exact same specs?

Those vst's will run fine. Yes, all the macs come with those plugs. The main difference between that macbook on that link I posted and a MBP is the macbook does not have firewire 800, express card slot, no light up keyboard, and no dedicated video card ( it has the integrated video card that shares ram, no biggie unless you do heavy video editing or if you game)

but I watch a lot of dvds and expect them to be presented flawlessly.

still wondering about the external 20" monitor though, whether it can go bigger than 1280x800