MBP or Mac Pro for recording and editing music?

sounds like you will appreciate the portability, so i would say the MBP+display is good.
Make sure you get the biggest HDD available, because music, video and photo production eat HDD space for breakfast. 2GB RAM will suffice, but if you can afford it, 3GB might be worthwhile.
For the display, people have different preferences. I love the glossy on my MacBook, but some can't stand it. Have a look in an AppleCentre and see what you reckon is best 🙂

You Might Want To Wait And See What's Next For Logic

Were it not for your need for portability, I would say Mac Pro. Can you wait until all the new hardware and software come out by June? Menawhile you will be buying the past and not the future. This will likely include a new Logic 8.

MBPs May Be Last Due To Santa Rosa Not Out 'Til May

DrGonzo2121 said:

yeah, i'm pretty much pulling my hair out waiting for the new stuff to come out... im hoping for new mbps but havent heard when they're coming. has anyone heard anything lately?

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May 9 is the Intel Santa Rosa release date. So I think we'll be waiting until June for a new MacBook Pro and MacBooks.

The MacBook Pro is more than capable for producing and editing music. You will be amazed at how many plug-ins you can run. It really depends on whether you plan to produce on the road at all or if you will only use the computer in the studio. If it's only in the studio, get a Mac Pro because it is more powerful now, which means it will last you longer in the future. But otherwise the MBP will do the job. And personally, I prefer the matte screen. Glossy has too many reflections and gets fingerprints on it too easily.

It all depends on what kind of music you are going to produce. If you are producing up to 48 track stuff with an average number of plug-ins.. then an MBP is fine.. (maxed out with RAM of course) Instead of a huge hard drive, I would recommend a hard drive that spins at 7200 rpm.

You can always connect an external firewire drive (7200 rpm) that has more gigabyte space to record your sessions, and to store them (also keep a backup drive)

I prefer the mac pro for my production needs because most of my stuff goes beyond 64 tracks. I also tend to use a lot of plug-ins. For all that, I record on 10,000 and 15,000 rpm SCSI drives. Additionally, for the lowest latency and a general solid audio performance.. I prefer a PCI audio interface as compared to the plethora of firewire/usb interfaces out there. Firewire/usb interfaces are affordable, and work great.. but if you want ultimate performance and no freezes or slowdowns.. PCI can't be beat.

There *is* a solution to work with an MBP and SCSI drive and a PCI interface. Check out http://www.magma.com. They sell pci enclosures.. and they connect to the mbp via an expresscard (although the current one only has 1 pci slot.. good for a scsi controller card)

On the MacPro using SCSI drives and PCI interfaces.. I've gone upto 256 tracks with plugins, virtual instruments, etc. and the system performed flawlessly.

If you're just starting out though, I would recommend an MBP.. as its a laptop.. you will take it everywhere with you. Its a lot more convenient to sit on your bed and work on a session on your laptop.. than confine yourself to a room where the MP is.

Multimedia said:

May 9 is the Intel Santa Rosa release date. So I think we'll be waiting until June for a new MacBook Pro and MacBooks.

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I just wish they could come up with laptops with an optional internal 10,000 rpm drive (yes, it would absolutely suck away battery life) and 2 express card slots.. ahh I can go on (basically i want a portable mac pro!) 😛