Looking to upgrading from PC to Mac?

This topic has 4 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 6 months ago by DJ Vintage.

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September 12, 2015 at 10:37 pm #2253941

Dom James
Participant

I think your best bet would be tell us your budget 🙂

September 13, 2015 at 12:02 am #2253951

Caleb Grayson
Participant

hey DJ Doin’Bad,

Traktor is not very demanding, but for production when using a lot of tracks with plugins and automation, you may need something more powerful than what Traktor requires.

Multicore processors make redundant tasks go faster — like analyzing multiple songs at once or paralle processing of multiple tracks/plugins. Also, the bigger the level 3 cache the lower the latency.

funny thing about the Mac is it hasn’t really improved very much since 2012, although the NEA processors coming out for Intel will change that. in the mean time, Apple has made it harder to upgrade RAM and batteries and have made a few other manufacturing decisions that make upgrading and self repair much more difficult. Retina displays have also arguably added more load to a system with little benefit — especially for music applications.

All this to say, I’m really happy with my MBP 15″ QuadCore i7 non-Retina with 6MB of level 3 cache that I bought last year for $1000. the SSD makes it scream and it can handle a lot of tracks with many demanding plugins in Logic.

If you need more info for comparing models see EveryMac.com. for buying used, it is an indispensable resource.

since music production is so much more demanding, I suggest you check out production web sites and see what they recommend.

see the LUG logic-users-group.com or he user’s forum of whatever production software you plan to use.

September 13, 2015 at 2:59 am #2254031

bob6397
Participant

Specs you want

Processor – i5 or higher, preferably over 2.0GHz

RAM – 8GB or higher. Most DJ’s can manage on 4 but 8 will mean that you will never run out..

Hard Drive – SSD preferably. They are faster and (important), have no moving parts.. Meaning that they cannot skip due to vibrations from the speakers.. Size? Over 256GB, Maybe even 1TB if you want to avoid using an external drive… I have a 500GB HDD personally and use about half of it day to day.. (Windows Laptop) If I had a 256GB HDD I would struggle..

Screen – 13″ or 15″? Retina or Non-Retina? All Macs 2012 and later have a Retina screen – which I think is worth paying for, it’s just so sharp… I would also go for a 15″ screen if you can strech your budget to one – It will make things easier to see..

bob6397

September 13, 2015 at 11:40 am #2254211

DJ Vintage
Moderator

On the SSD, while less important than in the early models, the “lower end” (=affordable) SSDs are betterr at write once read many operations then they are at write many. There is a limit to the amount of writes you can do. So, while SSDs are great for having your OS, your programs and such on, using them for massive write actions on a daily basis Would not be my reommendation. With the speed of USB 3.0 or equivalent for external HDs you are pretty much guaranteed high enough data transfer rates for even the most demanding tasks. So, OSX and your software on the SSD and a big, high speed external HD for tracks.

Just my two cents as usual.
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