Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacBook pro vs wait for mac pro (for logic studio)

M

Matt Waters

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 25, 2011
15
0
UK
Can anybody tell me how the MacBook pro performs with logic studio in comparison to the mac pro?

I currently use a 2005 Power Mac and normally have Logic Studio running with Ableton Live together, my 2006 MacBook pro always struggled with this.

Anyway now apple is practically stopping all support for my old power pc, it feels like its time to upgrade but I'm not sure what to? I don't want an iMac and the current offering of mac pros are 2 years out of date. This seems to leave two choices

1. Go for the mac book pro (but will it cope, how will my dual screens work and how do I manage the current 600GB of music content?)
2. Wait for a new mac pro (could be waiting a long time, are desktops now a becoming obsolete?)

Thanks
 
The current MacBook Pros will do fine running Logic Pro. I have a 2010 2.66 i7 and it runs it well. The biggest bottleneck here is not CPU but rather the storage medium. If you are using Logic for serious work (sounds like you are) I would strongly recommend getting an SSD at least for the 50+ GB application files. A 2010 Mac Pro would be fine for this too, however I would bet that a MBP with an SSD would run faster than a MP with more CPU power and disk drives. Whatever you decide on getting I would get at least 8GB RAM (more if you can).
 
It is my opinion that desktops are not obsolete as of yet. If the macpro line is updated this is absolutely the direction I will be headed.

Here are my 3 personal reasons for not going with a lap top solution:
Lack of Pcie support in lap tops.
Limited to 16gb of ram
I like having as many of my hard drives internal as possible. An internal hard drive is cheaper to replace than its thunderbolt counterpart.

Zwhaler said:
The current MacBook Pros will do fine running Logic Pro. I have a 2010 2.66 i7 and it runs it well. The biggest bottleneck here is not CPU but rather the storage medium. If you are using Logic for serious work (sounds like you are) I would strongly recommend getting an SSD at least for the 50+ GB application files. A 2010 Mac Pro would be fine for this too, however I would bet that a MBP with an SSD would run faster than a MP with more CPU power and disk drives. Whatever you decide on getting I would get at least 8GB RAM (more if you can).
Click to expand...


I might add that a good bet would be to get a external solutions (thunderbolt preferably or firewire if that is your budget) to write to, and to pull samples from. System drive for applications, external drives for writing to and pulling samples from.
 
Last edited:
Zwhaler said:
The current MacBook Pros will do fine running Logic Pro. I have a 2010 2.66 i7 and it runs it well. The biggest bottleneck here is not CPU but rather the storage medium. If you are using Logic for serious work (sounds like you are) I would strongly recommend getting an SSD at least for the 50+ GB application files. A 2010 Mac Pro would be fine for this too, however I would bet that a MBP with an SSD would run faster than a MP with more CPU power and disk drives. Whatever you decide on getting I would get at least 8GB RAM (more if you can).
Click to expand...

Cheers,

So you don't think there is a noticeable difference other than storage space?

Problem with ssd is reduced capacity.
 
Any quad core or greater CPU will run Logic Pro fast. The program doesn't utilize an excessive amount of rendering and filesizes for audio are generally not that big. That being said, I would get the fastest clock speed you can because that will make a slight difference overall and help improve speeds. If you can get an SSD plus 2TB hard drive or something like that you will be good to go. I wouldn't suggest SSD or HDD only because then you miss out on the benefits of the other (speed vs capacity). Let us know what machine you plan on purchasing. If you wait for the next gen Mac Pro, you will get by fine with a fast 6 core or something to that effect (next gen equivalent to the current 3.33GHz 6 core) for professional use. I would also recommend the best GPU you can get, this will make a big difference running multiple monitors!
 
Cheers,

I must admit, I'm still not convinced about the mbp option, seems like a bit of a false economy by the time I have everything I need (again).

Love the idea of being flexible about where I work but don't think it is realistically practical for what I want. There just seems to be too many compromises with the hd storage and limited display options.

Problem is, my current power pc is really starting to slow up and feel as though we'll all be waiting forever for the new mac pro.
 
Matt Waters said:
Cheers,

I must admit, I'm still not convinced about the mbp option, seems like a bit of a false economy by the time I have everything I need (again).

Love the idea of being flexible about where I work but don't think it is realistically practical for what I want. There just seems to be too many compromises with the hd storage and limited display options.

Problem is, my current power pc is really starting to slow up and feel as though we'll all be waiting forever for the new mac pro.
Click to expand...

I agree with your assessment. Personally I just have my Mac Pro racked. If I need to take it with me that badly then I can. The issue here is that we don't know if the MacPro will be updated or not. There is an above average chance that it will be shortly. if you can hold off for a few more months and portability isn't paramount, you will be better off with the new updated mac pro (if it is released).
When you do the math for a lappy solution and add up all the peripherals you will need to make the system do what you need it to do, you are better off with the macpro. Not to mention that it can grow with your needs, thus making your investment last longer.
 
Flood123 said:
I agree with your assessment. Personally I just have my Mac Pro racked. If I need to take it with me that badly then I can. The issue here is that we don't know if the MacPro will be updated or not. There is an above average chance that it will be shortly. if you can hold off for a few more months and portability isn't paramount, you will be better off with the new updated mac pro (if it is released).
When you do the math for a lappy solution and add up all the peripherals you will need to make the system do what you need it to do, you are better off with the macpro. Not to mention that it can grow with your needs, thus making your investment last longer.
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks that's just what I was hoping to hear. Although I do have to wait longer now...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back