Would a Macbook Pro 2019 8 GB Ram be sufficient to handle bigger projects in logic?

[Filip Orrhult]

Hi! 

I have a mid 2014 Macbook Pro w/ 8 GB ram and a 2,6 Ghz Intel Core i5 processor. I'm working a lot in pro tools and logic, and my computer is finally giving up on me. It just crashes no matter what I do now. This is fine, since it's been a real trooper from the get go up until now. However, I really need to find another solution, and I honestly don't have the financial situation that would allow me to purchase a new and fresh one from apple store. 

So I'm just wondering whether someone in this forum has any suggestions as to what would be the smart move for me here? For example I found a nice looking Macbook Pro from 2019. But this one has the same amount of ram as the one I already have. Would it still work better for my purposes?

Grateful for any help or advice,

All the best!

/Filip

 

[redgreenblue]

The general consensus here would be to not invest in an Intel machine, especially one with only 8 gigs of ram. Even a M1 MacBook Air will outperform an Intel MBP. 

Consider if you need portability, if not the Mac Mini is hard to beat, either the M1 or M2 version, but do yourself a favor and get 16 gigs ram.

[triplets]

+1 on no more Intel.

8 gigs is nothing nowadays.

[FLH3]

I'm currently happy with my intel macs (iMacPro Xeon w10 64G 2To 2018 and MBP 16'' i9 32G 1To 2019 ) they perform well enough today for what I do,  BUT if I had to upgrade one of them I would certainly go for a machine  with an Mchip inside.

No question.

And if I would be on a budget I would go for a cheaper refurbished one (MBAir, iMac, even in pink, or a Mini) with the maxium or RAM I can buy.

Edited January 30 by FLH3

[bailhe]

Don't know about using a PC, but on most any Mac, regardless of old or new, bare minimum is 16gb, but that'll choke depending on sizes of samples, plugi-in use, etc. Generally, 32Gb works well to around 30 tracks of orchestral samples from Spitfire Audio and others, multiple reverbs and plugins on channels, but 64Gbs is a better choice. It's my understanding that the unified memory on Mac M1 and M2 can do a lot more so pals of mine are doing fine on M1s with with less Ram than they used to use. Search YouTube for discussions of the M1/M2 with Logic for some tests and advice.

[FLH3]

An other solution when you have to deal with big orchestral libraries and greedy plugins is a medium sized mac to run Logic + an old one (or a cheap PC, or both), +big SSDs to run VEP server.

I don't work with that but I've downloaded a while ago the VEP demo version and it worked very well on an old broken screen MBP linked to my usual setup

Edited January 31 by FLH3

[David Nahmani]

I also join the ranks of the ones that recommend skipping the intel machine and trying to get an M1 or M2 if you can find one that you can afford. 

If your budget is limited consider a user Mac mini M1 16 GB, you should find one that's not too expensive, and it's easy enough to upgrade to a new Mac mini when you're ready (and keep your screen/keyboard/trackpad). 

[analogika]

11 hours ago, bailhe said:

It's my understanding that the unified memory on Mac M1 and M2 can do a lot more so pals of mine are doing fine on M1s with with less Ram than they used to use. Search YouTube for discussions of the M1/M2 with Logic for some tests and advice.

The Apple Silicon machines are apparently considerably faster at swapping to virtual memory than the intels were, but for large sample libraries and other things that need to stay in active memory and not swap out, RAM requirements have not changed. 

[FLH3]

That the difficulty in our art, music, we've a to deal with real time and the less latency possible, over 10ms it becomes a problem (performing, phases, etc...).

The videographers don't have such issue, furthermore they can benefit of GPUs which is not the case for us, so far (maybe GPU-Audio will succeed?)

So, big fast RAM + more big fast RAM 🙂

[enossified]

I had a 2020 MacBook Air (last Intel model) with 8GB and upgraded to a 2020 M1 MacBook Air with 16GB...huge difference in performance. 

A 2019 MacBook Pro will have the controversial butterfly keyboard. Unless it's crazy cheap ($500 or less?) I'd pass. If you are already using an external monitor, the M2 Mini is the way to go.

[Filip Orrhult]

Big thanks to all you guys! Really helpful advice and ideas. Will mull it over and see what's my best option.

Cheers!