My old MacBook Pro died, what should I get?

[Sebastian]

So I aint gonna spend $$$ for a new MacBook.

Im questioning if I should even do laptop.

I def want a powerful machine (Memory, RAM, processor)

Mac Mini? But it doesnt have firewire port.
My interface is Firewire.....(RME).
Will using an adapter create latency issues?

I have most Native VSTs, decent sized Ableton sound library, external hard drive.

thoughts?

[jlgrimes]

I hear the Mac Minis are pretty good (the newer ones but can't confirm).

I would think they would probably be more equivalent to a MacBook Pro in performance but not sure. Main drawback is no included monitor but plus is that the Mac Minis are the most sensible, affordable solutions. They are relatively low cost (from an Apple standpoint) but they don't tend to skimp on performance like a MacBook Air would.

I'm on a PC gaming desktop now and a Windows gaming laptop both of which perform pretty well but to be honest if I could do it all over again I probably would have just spent more money on a high performance Windows gaming laptop over a high performing desktop.

Windows has its own set of Pros and Cons though.

[miyaru]

I'm on a Win10Pro Machine. I bought it almost 3 yrs ago. It is an i7-7700 based machine with 16 GB ram and two m2 drives along with a HDD for backup. It is housed in a 19 Inch/4HE housing, with excellent silent cooling and PSU. It is build for music making and performs perfect!

A specialist over here in the Netherlands build it for me.

I prefer it over a Mac for the lower cost.

[TLW]

I’ve been using an RME UFX connected to an MBP by a Thunderbolt 2 to firewire adaptor for years without any problems at all down to 32ms latency. I can’t think of a reason why going TB3->TB2 adapator->firewire adaptor wouldn’t work. So the lack of a dedicated firewire socket isn’t a problem. And good luck trying to get firewire to work on a PC, it’s a lottery whether you even get a usable firewire chip in a dedicated firewire card and PCs stopped having firewire as a standard feature years ago.

If you don’t need laptop portability portability then I’d suggest looking at an iMac. No more expensive than fitting a good 4K or 5K screen to a Mini and generally with better graphics.