Ableton Forum

I have just bought a new macbook pro 13" 2.53 with 4 gigs of ram. I have been using a powerbook G4 1.67 with 2gigs of gigs of ram for the past few years. I use it for 'live' performance ( live effects on acoustic drums and percussion, midified drums triggering vst's and looping)
although my old machine has served me really well, It's been playing up recently (cd/dvd not working/power supply playing up and general lack of cpu issues, I really push it to the limit). i do a hell of a lot of live shows and need 100% reliability,
so I took advantage of a 0% finance and the not too bad new prices and bought the new one.

questions and thinking out loud kinda things

1) will I see a big performance difference? will I finally be able to use live and arkaos on 1 machine?

2) all my gear is firewire 400, and the new mac has only 1 firewire 800 port. will a firewire 400 to 800 cable work for my audio card (a tascam fw1804 & m audio ozonic)? shit I didn't think about this till now!

2) how the hell should I go about transferring all my vst's and coutless bits and bobs that I have accumulated over the years. should I finally streamline and not bother putting on my old fetish vsts/vsti's even though I rarely use em? ( I do mostly live impro so I never know If I will use that old version of XXXXX or not......

3) should I keep my old powerbook and use it for emails/agenda, day to day stuff and not clutter up my new one...?

4) should I cancel my order ( its not in the shop yet) forget about computers and music and get a proper job?

oh shit... I haven't felt like this for years, my old machine is like an extension of my hands! I feel like I'm getting into a middle age crisis by changing her for a newer younger model....

feel free to comment or not! I'm venting here... I'm off to meditate.

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Own question answered i think
4) No, your shit is tight.
5) Buy the new Mac, for middle age crises management go to www.harley-davidson.com

UKRuss wrote:1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Own question answered i think
4) No, your shit is tight.
5) Buy the new Mac, for middle age crises management go to http://www.harley-davidson.com

+5

A middle age crisis is when you cant afford the MBP
Go for it
Enjoy much

I agree with everyone else here... plus....

I just bought one. Good buy, live runs beautifully right now. Watch this space for extended views; I haven't started to install plugins etc right now.

Go for it.

I can't afford it! my 6 week old son and 19 year old daughter are gonna have to go without... there again I could always sell one of the kids...mmm

its an easy thing to justify if you try hard enough:

- the old one is going to break eventually, its better to get started on a new machine first.
- if its your livelihood than you need good tools
- one should always have a backup machine (your old g4)

at least thats how i talked myself (and my wife) into the purchase of a mbp.

fingerprince wrote:A middle age crisis is when you cant afford the MBP
Go for it
Enjoy much

+1

2) Not necessarily. I use a Saffire LE without problems but I know that some cards had compatibility issues, at least initially. Also, the original unibody MBP models use a FW adapter brand (non TI) that some soundcards have issues with. Don't know what's in the new 13" models though.

Ergo: check with your cards' manufacturer.

thanks for bringing me back to the real problems slirak. I need to check the tascam and m-audio sites for the compatible drivers. by the way whats the latest mac os on the new macbook pro's? snow leopard isn't till September no? i'm still on 10.4.11 on my G4

Those are some of Apple's nicest laptops at the best prices ever. You won't regret it.

If you were really concerned about $, I would have suggested getting the $1199 model, since the extra mhz won't amount to any real difference.

Then just add ram and hd as needed for less money.

But either way, you will love it and the guilt will be forgotten.

polemans wrote:thanks for bringing me back to the real problems slirak. I need to check the tascam and m-audio sites for the compatible drivers. by the way whats the latest mac os on the new macbook pro's? snow leopard isn't till September no? i'm still on 10.4.11 on my G4

I guess it's 10.5.7 for all intel models? It is for my original unibody MBP anyway.

Oh, and I agree with everyone that they're awfully nice computers. Will whip that poor G4's ass!

Such an amazing computer for such a low price! The ONLY issue I can think of is that glossy screen - ugh!

If the 13" and 15" had expresscards and matte screens, the world would be perfect.

At this point I've talked myself out of getting a the new 13" MBP. Now I'm looking squarely at 1st generation 15" MBP unibody. I want a firewire interface and a firewire glyph RAID on separate busses. Many retailers will have backstock on the older models and there will be deals to be had. A little more patience and then I'm pulling the trigger.

tascam 1804 doesn't work, out of date drivers...no point in emailing them, It took them a full year to reply to an email last time. offer over 400 euros and the Tascam is yours....