Ableton Forum

Ok, I'm no computer genius, but I'm trying to work out the real difference in value (not just $$) between the macbooks & the pro's...

The difference bewteen the intel chips & the PowerPC chips I can easily feel - no problem there. And the difference between a 1.83 & a 2.16 should speak for itself.

I've read the comparison bewteen the 7200rpm internal drives available for the pro's & the 5400rpm internal drives on the macbooks http://www.barefeats.com/5472.html (thanks kidbeyond!) and that much all makes sense...

Thus far I can conclude:

1. 7200 is much better for audio, and pro's are the only option there

2. FW800 much better than FW400, and while the pro 17" is the only hardwired option, the 15" has an ExpressCard Slot available for using a Serial ATA or FW 800 card

3. Macbooks (regular) seem limited to FW400 and 5400rpm, with no options for ExpressCards


So - can anybody tell me:

what the difference is (performance-wise) between hardwired FW800 and using ExpressCards?

is Serial ATA or FW800 better for audio?

are there any options like this for regular macbooks?

how much does any of this really matter?!

And for the price of 2 regular macbooks, are these performance features on 17" Pro worth the extra $$?

Thanks
B.

No one has responded so I will add my two cents:

First of all, you can easily modify your MacBook with a 7200 rpm drive.
Go to www.ifixit.com and watch the step by step tutorials for your model.
I would recommend this, because you will see and feel a difference in the performance of your Mac.
FW800 is better than 400 for sure, but marginally.
I bought a cheap SATA card and associated drive for my MacBook Pro, and that setup SCREAMS.

I do video, and video is where you notice the difference, because it is far more taxing than audio, and requires LONG rendering times.

First of all Serial ATA is a connection type. FW 800 can be IDE or SATA. You can have a SATA drive in a FW800 box, but it will only be as fast as the FW 800 protocol. You can have a SATA Hard drive in a USB2 box, and your speed will be bottlenecked by the USB 2, regardless to whether your drive is 4500 RPm or 15,000 RPM.

Does it matter?
That depends. If you are doing multi track recording, you can bet your bottom dollar that it's important. You will get faster playback, shuttling, and more tracks at higher bit rates.

17" Macbook
The benefit is that you have more screen real estate. In Ableton that isn't necessarilly a concern, but I cannot imagine using Final Cut Pro, or Digital Performer or any other professional DAW on a 13" screen.
You are not going to get the same battery life on a 17" however, as there is more screen to power. I find the 15" MacbookPros to be heavy enough in my breif case, and will only get a 17" once I start getting more HD projects.

One word of caution on the SATA front:

Know that accidentally bumping the SATA card, cable. or drive while your laptop is on,
will FREEZE your system, and you will be told to hold down and restart.
Risky for shows?

Leave worrying about all the scary numbers to PC users, they are doomed with creepy stuff like BIOS. Macs just work (tm)
The real questions are: Macbooks are black or white, and the Pro versions titanium steel, so, what kind of clothes do you wear and which Mac would best go with that?.