Macbook Pro Quad Enough to handle?

Hey guys!

So I'm thinking about making the switch over to Mac just so I can run Logic. I am not to happy about switching to Mac, but lets cast that aside, as I am hoping that Logic will be worth it.

 

I'm looking into getting a Macbook Pro as I need to take my computer to clients for my work. This is what I'm thinking of getting: Macbook Pro 17'', 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB, 750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 RPM.

 

That being said, do you think I will be able to run logic pretty well? I would use a lot of sequencing, and live effects. Reason 5 would be a big play in my production as well as Reaktor, Absynth and more.

 

I'm talking about full songs too. guitar, vox, drums, synth. The whole 9 yards. How well do you think it could handle it? If its going to still have a hard time with all that, I figure I will just stick to PC as I could get a laptop of the same power for half the price, and settle with running Audition or something.

 

Thank guys!

Processing wise you will be fine, however If you will be recording and/or streaming large numbers of audio tracks (i.e. recording a band) I would make sure that you record to an external firewire drive (make sure it is 7200rpm). Also what sort of setup do you intend on running? Firewire audio interface that handles both conversion and mic pres?

s0niccurve: I wont ever really be recording more then 2 instruments at once. Think this still might be a problem?

I think I'll get a firewire Audio Interface that has a built-in mic preamp. Its pretty much a one man bad I got going here, so my main concern is how well it will be able to run a bunch of plugin's (such as reason, absynth, Reaktor, logic effects, ect.) without freaking out. want to avoid mixing down tracks as much as possible, and keep all sequencing programs bused in. Hope that makes sense. Thank you for your reply.

Conceptually you want your projects to be saved on a different hard drive than the system.

The best is a FW800 external hard drive for the MBPro.

You can daisy-chain a FW interface to that drive and use only one FW port on the laptop.

Hmmm. Interesting. Why is that? Because of the internal Hard drive speed on the Macbook pro?

 

Still would this computer be (more or less) powerful enough to hand everything? Thanks again!

If the system drive has to run the operating system, Logic, play back and record at the same time, it won't take too long until it chokes.

To avoid that you save and record to another drive, Firewire, not USB (too slow).

 

And yes, the laptop will be powerful enough if you follow those guidelines.

So logic should be installed on an external hard drive?

Anything else I should keep in mind?

Another thing I thought of... Dos'nt the Macbook pro, only have one firewire input?

If that's the case then Its imposable to record onto the external hard drive and use a firewire USB audio interface.

Conceptually you want your projects to be saved on a different hard drive than the system.

The best is a FW800 external hard drive for the MBPro.

You can daisy-chain a FW interface to that drive and use only one FW port on the laptop.

 

You can use one port with Firewire. Can't do that with USB.

 

I didn't say to install Logic on an external.

 

I said: "Record to an external drive, save your PROJECTS to an external drive"

 

A project is not Logic.

To summarize a lot of what triplets has written about...

 

Logic = app, must live on your internal HD. No way around that unless you're running your system from a bootable FW hard drive. But there's little point to that under most normal conditions. Best running Logic from the internal and saving/running projects from an external FW800 drive. FW800 = best thruput as compared with FW400.

 

Project = any song you created with Logic.

 

MPB = typically configured with a 5400 RPM drive, which is generally just too slow for audio production at anything more than the most basic levels. A 7200 RPM drive would be better, but still, you really don't want to be running projects from your internal drive. There are tons of topics here on LPH that discuss this, so you might wish to do a search to read up on the issue. But for one thing, as you eat up space on your internal with Logic projects, the drive has less space for the OS to access (which it does on a regular basis while your computer is running) and performance will grind to a halt at some point.

 

FW = all macs have only FW port. It's not just an input, it's bi-directional (so it's an "I/O", or input/output). The FW port can handle up to 255 devices, but as triplets pointed out, daisy-chaining them in the right way is critical. Still, if your audio interface's drivers are crap it can cause problems.

Right, I understand about the project files.

 

Sorry, I have never actually had a computer with Firewire, so this is kinda new to me.

Would I patch the Audio device into the FW hard drive, then that into my computers firewire? Thanks again for your help guys. Please tell me Logic is worth it. =)

Yes, you go from the computer into a FW800 ext. HD that has 2 ports or more in the back. Then you go from there to your interface, which is FW400.

You need a cable that goes FW800 to FW400 or just the adapter. The first comes included in FW800 drives when you buy them.

 

Logic is definitely worth it 8)

Another endorsement here for the latest Quad-core MBPs. Impressed at how powerful they are with Logic.

 

Definitely go for a 7200rpm drive as Ski explains it perfectly. But be warned that it'll reduce your battery life if the MBP is not plugged in to the mains.

 

Other than that it's a great machine and will do surprisingly well even when not running projects from an external FW800 drive.

Ahh, I see, that makes sense. To limit some of the pressure of the computer. Great.

Another question. Assuming that I get an external FWHD, do the think the Duo core might be enough? Sense the most powerful Macbookpro still can run logic with out more, and more, after everything it goes from $2300, to $3100. Hahaha. Thank again for you help guys.

I'd highly recommend going for the new sandybridge chips i5 / i7 over the older Core2Duo. I have both and notice a significant difference in Logic on the i7 chips. Also, C2D are not Quad core.

So the 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo would probably not be up to par eh?

Go for the new chips.

The Core 2 Duo is an old and slow chip already.