Ableton Forum

I am thinking of getting this Mac Air. Would its tech specs suffice to record?

I dont plug ins much, Kontakt sometimes. I am not a professional studio.

An Apple rep tole me they are coming out with a Bolt to Firewire adapter which is what my Fireface 800 uses. Your thoughts? Thanks

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http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html

256GB flash storage

1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache

4GB of 1600MHz DDR3L onboard memory

Configurable to 8GB.

$1499 model configurable to dual-core 2.0GHz Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz) with 4MB shared L3 cache.

Two USB 3 ports (up to 5 Gbps)
Thunderbolt port (up to 10 Gbps)
MagSafe 2 power port
SD card slot

The connection on the Mac Air is called Thunderbolt

You'll want an extra hard drive just for space. And efx and soft synths will be comparatively limited. But my travel laptop is a MBA and I've done some serious audio on it.

1500$ is way too much for a Macbook air. If you can get it for under 800$ go for it but I would not spend more.

Why not put your money in a decent desktop? Your 2ghz Core 2 duo Imac is terribly outdated.

Hi,

Still wondering, MBP 13 inch vas Mac Air 13 inch.

I do have a 1TB iMac I use to back up all, so Im not that concerned, 256 GB on the Air would be fine.

Im not so concerned with storage as I am with Air handling multiple tasks on Ableton. I Dont expect to use plug ins other than the Ableton ones and maybe one day Kontakt/Komplete by Native.

What I like about Air is the weight of course, solid state drive and comparing at store, the Air has better built in speakers (for Skype, watch movie on laptop etc). The speakers on MBP 13 suck. But Air has now FW so would need adaptor.

Other than Ableton, I use laptop for work stuff: internet, word, office, pages, powerpoint, skype, etc.

What do you all think? Below I copy pasted comparison


MacBook Air
13-inch: 1.8GHz

$1,499.00

Hardware
Processor

1.8GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz
2.0GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz [Add $100.00]
Memory

4GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM [Add $100.00]

Hard Drive

256GB Flash Storage
512GB Flash Storage [Add $500.00]


MacBook Pro
13-inch: 2.9GHz

$1,499.00

Close
Save this Mac

Hardware
Processor

2.9GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz

Memory

8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB

Hard Drive

750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm [Add $100.00]
128GB Solid State Drive [Add $100.00]
256GB Solid State Drive [Add $400.00]
512GB Solid State Drive [Add $900.00]

The Thunderbolt/FW adapter supports only about half the bus power than the MBP FW port, is your RME bus powered?

HI

I couldnt fig out if my interface is bus powered...


http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_fireface_800.php

if it is powered from firewire it is bus powered. if it requires a connection with a seperate plug to mains power then not.

I think I undersdtand. It need a wall plug to power on.

What is the overall implication of the powering vs the Thunderbolt/FW +adaptor?

So if it requires wall power, Thunderbolt + adaptor wont work with my FW Interface?

Bus powered means the soundcard draws it power from the computer through the (firewire) cable. The RME draws power from a wall outlet, so is not 'bus powered'.

You should be fine powerwise. I suppose data rate should be ok as well...

FYI last week I got Apple's long-promised $30 Thunderbolt/FW800 adapter.

Works perfectly on my new iMac (i5 quad) with Live 8.2.

I am not using bus power BTW.