| Author |
Which MacBook should I buy? (Solved) |
| Pase |
Never had one.
I’d like a model suitable for music production but don’t have (and don’t want) to spend an insane amount of money.
The idea is to use it with Maschine.
What’s the best compromise?
EDIT:
At the end of the day I bought a base model MacBook Pro 13”, with dual core i5, 8gb RAM and 256gb SSD.
Nothing fancy but it’s the maximum that I could spend atm for a new machine.
Plus it was on offer with a discount of 250€, So I paid a reasonable 1550€.
I will have it here on Monday.
Thanks for your help! |
|
| roger |
All of them are capable to run Maschine with no trouble whatsoever. However, if you intend to use softsynths and effects, you'll soon notice a huge improvement if you got one of the i5 or i7 cpus, which are just faster than the m3, with quad-core being better than dual core.
Have a look
here for an indication on which modell is up-to date.
With that said, I personally would go for a macbook pro 13", which seems to be the best deal of them all.[/url] |
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| JAO |
Try to get a used macbook pro 13" 2015 model (A1502). The specs have not improved much since that iteration. It has dedicated hdmi, card reader and usb 3 ports. Expect to pay between 500 - 800 euro.
Any of the three machines on this page |
|
| colossal |
| JAO wrote: | Try to get a used macbook pro 13" 2015 model (A1502). The specs have not improved much since that iteration. It has dedicated hdmi, card reader and usb 3 ports. Expect to pay between 500 - 800 euro.
Any of the three machines on this page |
Thanks for the tip, I'm on a 2011 MBP and its starting to get slow when using Maschine + Traktor + Chrome etc etc. £700 for another 4 years seems like a pretty decent investment. |
|
| BlondieFurrey |
| colossal wrote: | | JAO wrote: | Try to get a used macbook pro 13" 2015 model (A1502). The specs have not improved much since that iteration. It has dedicated hdmi, card reader and usb 3 ports. Expect to pay between 500 - 800 euro.
Any of the three machines on this page |
Thanks for the tip, I'm on a 2011 MBP and its starting to get slow when using Maschine + Traktor + Chrome etc etc. £700 for another 4 years seems like a pretty decent investment. |
Consider to switch off Chrome? Great browser, but can ruin even my mbp 2014. This is the main reason I started using safari, and it turned out very well. |
|
| darwingrosse |
| BlondieFurrey wrote: | | colossal wrote: | | JAO wrote: | Try to get a used macbook pro 13" 2015 model (A1502). The specs have not improved much since that iteration. It has dedicated hdmi, card reader and usb 3 ports. Expect to pay between 500 - 800 euro.
Any of the three machines on this page |
Thanks for the tip, I'm on a 2011 MBP and its starting to get slow when using Maschine + Traktor + Chrome etc etc. £700 for another 4 years seems like a pretty decent investment. |
Consider to switch off Chrome? Great browser, but can ruin even my mbp 2014. This is the main reason I started using safari, and it turned out very well. |
Yeah, those mid-2015 machines are the ticket, but Chrome will eat the lunch of anything. I can't tell you the number of times killing Chrome made the rest of the system happier...! |
|
| colossal |
|
| amnesia |
| 17 inch MBP 16gig RAM, here with over 2 TB hard drive SSD and standard, use it with ableton live, audio much etc still going strong! |
|
| rondell |
Hmm I don't think its Chromes fault. Do you run many extensions? I'm on a 2010 mbp and Chrome is way smoother than Firefox which I feel is less responsive and slow. |
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| colossal |
|
| BlondieFurrey |
Yes, I used this extension before, but even with it, chrome still a hog (with windows machine Ive still using it). Mainly because he is use flash all the time (and as you point RAM too).
Anyway after a couple of years with safari now chrome looks like dinosaur. Safari just looks beautiful 
If I can remember, I saw somewhere extension for chrome that create your "tabs history" and you can simply view all your tab in that "tab extension", if what I'm saying sounds meaningful But I can't remember name of that extension... |
|
| Franks |
I got a 2016 13" mbp and I love this baby.
If you can handle only having 4 usb-c ports and nothing else, the new MacBooks are great. but since you probably want those (I sure don't, most of my work is on hardware) and you want to save money, JAO has the right idea. the 2015s were a fantastic model and they're probably decently cheap since its been a few years.
Also if you're gonna be on the battery a lot, try using Safari. Its a night and day difference in how long the battery lasts compared to Chrome. |
|
| LameAim |
| Been debating this myself. I have a 2013 MBP that's been getting a bit long in the tooth and can't help but wonder whether I should jump on something new now or wait for the next revision. I'd rather have something that maxes out at 32GB of RAM, but not sure if it'll be worth waiting for. |
|
| drowld |
beware the new keyboard is awfull. The trackpad is really nice tho.
They'll go back to magsafe port next year and probably improve the keyboard again.
As some pointed, right now 2015 version are the way to go for optimal quality. |
|
| sduck |
| drowld wrote: | beware the new keyboard is awfull. The trackpad is really nice tho.
|
The keyboard used on the first gen of the touch bar models was pretty flaky. The 2017 version that came out recently is 100 times better - just got one, and it's probably the best laptop keyboard I've used. I don't actually use it much, as I'm a mechanical keyboard type guy, but I also have a 2015 mbp, and this new one is the one to beat. I typed a whole bunch of stuff on my lunch break today, and was amazed at how effortless it was.
| drowld wrote: |
As some pointed, right now 2015 version are the way to go for optimal quality. |
I also think they hit a really sweet spot with the 2015 models - I've beaten the snot out of my 2015, and everything still works like a charm. Remember the 12 inch Powerbook G4, that got all the best of the decade reviews? I had one, and think the 2015s are on a similar level. |
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| luketeaford |
Recently got a 2017 mbp and can confirm that the keyboard is a lot better (I am not an Apple fanboy and really hated the first version of this new keyboard).
It's worth going to a store and trying the keyboard though because it is much different from the 2015 models.
I primarily use mine for programming, so I would also caution that you may need dongles for the USB-C to something more widely used.
Also a bit annoying that the headphone jack is on the right... |
|
| digitalohm |
My wife has a 2015 MBP with the dual core i5 and 15GB of RAM and it is OK for running ableton with some M4L items. I wouldn't make it my primary studio machine, but it's OK. The build of that unit is great though, actually having ports that don't require dongles is awesome. If possible I would definitely recommend shooting for the quad core i7.
That said, after trying out the latest mbp with the max upgrades a couple months ago I ended up sending it back within the 14 days. There are some very powerful pc laptops, or desktops you can build at this point in time for the cost of a mac, and imho you end up getting more value. For less than that mbp I have a Lenovo ThinkPad, 64GB of RAM, 1TB PCIE SSD, 1TB SATA SSD, and a Xeon (I went with the xeon for virtualization purposes, for just studio purposes I would suggest the i7). Sure the touchpad isn't as nice, but it's not really affecting me much since it's almost always docked, and when it is on the lap the touchpad isn't horrible, it's very useable.
also the dongles drove me crazy, especially when you have to get third party dongles to add functionality like charging while using dual monitors :( |
|
| Gribs |
Do they continue to have screen coating issues?
Make sure that you do not wipe the screen with a cleaning product containing alcohol. I would not clean the screen with anything but a microfiber cleaning cloth moistened with just a few drops of water. |
|
| declutter |
| SSD makes a massive difference to speed but go bigger than the standard 128GB or you'll run out of space immediately. |
|
| SmokyClap |
| It’s worth ponying up for the upgrades. Mines top of the line 2013. Got it refurbished for like 20% off and its still as fast as the day I got it and I throw a lot at it. Never had one issue. It’s the 3.0 ghz i7 16 gb ram 500gb storage. Pretty good specs even still today. |
|
| CopperHydra |
| Might I suggest an ITX Hackintosh? |
|
| flipper16 |
|
| Pase |
… At the end of the day I bought a base model MacBook Pro 13”, with dual core i5, 8gb RAM and 256gb SSD.
Nothing fancy but it’s the maximum that I could spend atm for a new machine.
Plus it was on offer with a discount of 250€, So I paid a reasonable 1550€.
I will have it here on Monday.
Thanks for your help! |
|
| BlondieFurrey |
| Pase wrote: | … At the end of the day I bought a base model MacBook Pro 13”, with dual core i5, 8gb RAM and 256gb SSD.
Nothing fancy but it’s the maximum that I could spend atm for a new machine.
Plus it was on offer with a discount of 250€, So I paid a reasonable 1550€.
I will have it here on Monday.
Thanks for your help! |
Congrats! Good discount. Do not think that your new mbp 'Nothing fancy', because it pretty decent machine, based on your needs you can use it about ±10 years ahead. |
|
| Decurion99 |
| Would also consider the new Microsoft Surface ... MacBook isn't the only beauty in town anymore IMHO |
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