Advice: Mac Pro or Mac Book Pro?

[Hardcoder]

Greetings all,

I will purchase either a Mac Book Pro or Mac Pro, purely for music production. Originally I was going to buy the tower, since I get more power for a similar outlay of money. However, I figured it may have so much power that I may never even come close to using it all, making it a bit of a waste. Therefore I maybe better off getting the Mac Book Pro (17" with max RAM) giving me the added benefit of portability (and hence 'gigability')

I have reviewed the LIVE 5 performance test results in this forum (and obviously 6 is better) but would like to hear about REAL-LIFE scenarios, whether or not people ever find the power of a Mac Book Pro limiting. Do you ever run out of tracks? Do you ever run out of CPU? Do you ever pine for the greater horsepower of a Mac Pro with 4 cores? Is it outmoded too quickly?

I believe Live 6's 'deep freeze' feature will be quite a boon. I will probably start using more software synths/effects than I had in the past (NI, etc - I'm very used to hardware) I had also anticipated purchasing Logic Pro, but given how Live is progressing, I may never need to! Any other advice is also graciously accepted.

Thank you kindly for your help!
Troy.

[fatrabbit]

Everyones situation is different, and people require different things. I have a Macbook Pro and am very happy with it. I run Live6 with plugs like Massive, Guitar Rig and various other VSTs/AUs like Native Instruments things (and they are CPU heavy) but it hasn't slipped up. As you say, Freeze is a great feature of Live, should you run into any problems.

I wanted a laptop as portability to Uni and for live music was a big concern. If you just want a machine for your studio, it might be a better option to get a tower.

[buzzcock]

Although people do it, I can't imagine gigging with a tower. So if you plan on leaving the house, I'd go with the laptop. Being protable has revolutionized my approach to production work also. I can work on projects anywhere and I get a lot more done. The MBP has all the power I need.

As for Logic, If you want to buy my Logic 5 dongle and licence, you can upgrade to the latest version for $300. I haven't used it in years...

[shaneblyth]

one other option is of course the Imac
a bit cheaper and it has a huge fast HD option... just throw that in the mix.. if you dont need a laptop then they are very expensive and the imac is a lot more bang for the buck and faster.. I am not too sure what the story is with the firewire 800
that may or may not be a consideration and an imac or a macbook pro should have an external drive for audio.
again the Macpro is a great option and has alot more flexabiliy than both the other options. I can bet that one day you will max out the cpu on any of these options especially if you hang on to it for 5 years. The Mac pro of course will be the most upgradable followed by the iMac then the Macbook Pro.

[kineticUk]

MacPro without a doubt. Seriously Troy think about it a lot first, (My Laptop sits on my computer desk and hardly moves...ever). What do you need ?
Xeon's 3.02 Ghz Dual Core x2 (Something around that spec)....in a few words fuckin' ridiculously powerful computer. But to me thats a very good thing cause it will last forever or something (You know it'll hold its own for so long). Bus speeds are massive, architecture is tweaked to perform, that is the production computer. Damn if I had the money.
If its MacbookPro Vs Macbook, I just don't think the price difference is worth the extras. Apple has purposely crippled the MacBook by the lack of graphics card to maintain competition, CPUs the same basically (Clever Apple...bar-stewards). MacPro is much better than the MacBookPro Specs wise (Although the MacBookPro is a beautiful Laptop, its just not the same as having Xeon's for the price)
Well I've been thinkin about this alot lately too so theres my opinion.
Hope this helps, but remember to think hard yourself and also go into a shop and test something laptops etc or friends if they have any, if thats possible.
d.

[Hardcoder]

thanks for the advice everyone

much appreciated.

[-art-]

If you get a MacPro, i doubt you will ever run into problems.

With laptops, if you push it, you might.

Thats all.

If your soley studio based, go the tower.

If you perform live, get a lappy.

Ultimately, you would want both. A MacPro for home, and a MacBook Pro for live.

$$$

I run an ibook and that is getting a bit slow for these days.

Might have to upgrade soon.

Financial restraints restrict me to a macbook i think.

[Left Eye Dominant]

For studio work the tower deffo, its expandability will mean that you will be able to stay with the base machine for quite a few years - so it is a good financial investment. I am planning to get a tower and a Macbook for portability/live work. A macbook with an external drive is a good option for gigging as I only run audio and don't run loads of plug-ins. Two new Macs. I am happy but my girlfriend and bank manager certainly are not.

[muscleandhate]

If it is for production solely, buy a desktop. Trust me, over time surplus power soon becomes needed.

[DJ VAKIS]

If you do live gigs then a macbook or pro is the way to go,if not then macpro

[Tarekith]

Yep, easy decision.

Studio only = Mac Pro
Any chance of live play = MacBook Pro.

FWIW, I use a new MBP in my studio for producing, it's WAY more than fast enough there if needed.

[musick]

... I figured it may have so much power that I may never even come close to using it all...

Haha, that's what people buying there first C64 also said

[frisbeedisk]

... I figured it may have so much power that I may never even come close to using it all...

Haha, that's what people buying there first C64 also said

Or the spectrum 48k - fuck me its got 48k of memory......

As everyone else is saying - lappy if your playing out . tower studio only.

But youve got to future proof yourself to..will you be playing out soon, you never know....I would go lappy personally..

[musick]

I would wait a few months till the quad core Xeon gets released and buy the Mac Pro Octal core