gpaulino Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 Hi everybody! Here's a free review for you. Hope it helps someone out there. I was wondering if anybody out there has ever tested the new MacBook with logic, because last week I had the opportunity to purchase one of those machines. I had read reviews on Future music on the MacBook Pro, pretty exciting by the way, but I wasn't sure of whether the MacBook would be as good, though the specs are pretty similar (actually I believe the only difference is the lack of dedicated video memory on the MacBook model). I've been using my old Dual 867 G4 with 1.7GB ram and two 7200 rpm HDs. And, given the price at which the MacBook was announced and the review on Future Music, I though I could change my tower for the book, since I don't use any PCI cards, anyway. I took the risk, bought the 2.0GHz MacBook, with 1GB ram. Yesterday I tested my Logic 7.2 on it, using a FW-1082 interface. Installation of both logic and the interface was a snap. Everything worked perfectly. Once Logic was up and running I loaded the "G5 version" FT demosong, that came with Logic CD. It's a 50 track song with many insert fx on each track, sculpture and guitar amp intances, etc. Please note that my Dual G4 would not even start to play it. I configured the FW-1082 drivers for a mere 2ms latency and hit play. It behaved quite well but had a hickup in the end of the song when it gets heavier. I then realised I was running on batteries and I had not tweaked the configuration. I plugged it into the power outlet disabled the autosleep for the HD and hit play again. It played perfectly, no hickups, all perfect. I believe that was a pretty good performance for such low latency in a "non-pro" notebook machine. The review on Future Music tested a 2.16 GHz MacBook Pro with certain test files with progressive multiple instances of sculpture and space designer. Their conclusions were that the MacBook Pro would run significantly more instances of those plug-ins than a 2GHz G5 PowerMac. If any of you know where I can get those files, please let know so I can do further tests on my MacBook and share those with you. Also, please let me know the results you're getting with your machines. It seems that the MacBook was a good acquisition. I do recommend this machine if you are thinking of upgrading from a G4 and you don't need PCI slots. Great bang for the buck, and I might actually sell my G4 (here in Brazil) for more than the $1299 I paid for the MacBook. Sounds like a good trade. Hope it helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antdroid Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 thanks for the review, sounds good, hopefully ill be very happy with my macbook. it should arrive next tuesday in uk. i was going for a 17" but it occured to me that the 13" was the same processor and bus speed, and i didnt need the extras or need to play games on it (ill get a ps3 for that) so for about the same money ill get the 13" (more protable..even tho it never goess anywhere lol) and get the 23" screen, so in many ways ill be better off thats the theory, ill let you know in practise if all is well and i dont get any hicups... i think the black looks amazing, in photos... and i can put a fast hd in there too... cant wait for it now, tho im ready to send it back if its not 100% perfect without whine and defects lol i had 3 quads !! im selling it, logic didnt even bother to make it so it uses all 4 processors, so its like its running as if it only had 2 processors... so i figured if its running like a macbook 2.0 duo, then i shouldnt notice the difference...right ?/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzooo Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 That's great guys! I'm just about to pick up my MacBook Pro 2.16. What speed drive do you have, gpaulino? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpaulino Posted May 26, 2006 Author Share Posted May 26, 2006 I got the standard 5400. I'll buy an enclosure for the drives I carry on my Dual G4. But so far running on the 5400, and pretty happy. I just made a test track and I'll post a topic about it. take a look if you have a chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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