Concerns about the Macbook Pro 13" audio in/out combined plug

[LicoriceTea]

Hello,

I own a 1st generation 1GHZ PB Aluminium 15" G4 with 1 gig ram. This one must be 6 years old or more already. Tough guy.

It's still working "ok". But i'm started to get some performance issues and also I have a failed ram slot (never acknowledged on my model by Apple). Also, connected external items, such as my iPod Nano & HD, are often getting disconnected by themselves. Not because of sleep, but I think that the power that goes to the USB port might be dying. Apple Hardware test says all is fine. One night last week my mouse didnt have power, i restarted and it was ok. I dont know if its my gear or the computer (most likely logic board).

I reinstalled everything (running 10.5), seems fine atm. I'm glad my PB still works but I'm aware that it might die soon.

So I was looking at the new line-up. I'm pretty poor atm but wanna keep the wheel rolling, and will lose my job in a month... Anyway, my question is regarding the 13" Macbook Pro. I do design and music. It only has one plug for in/out which i supposed is switched in system preferences?

I find this pretty cheap honestly. How can I connect my guitar or mic and hear myself with headphones to record? I don't understand. The 15" dropped in price, so it is also attractive. I'm not really looking for an iMac because when i do shows I need a laptop. Mine is ok live, but it's running at 99% (from iStat Pro) and I have to be careful it doesnt crash.

I'm also worried about the quality and life of new apple hardware. At work I am on a Mac Pro tower (Xeon), but honestly it needs its cache to be emptied all the time and doesn't seem that much faster than the previous double-G5 I worked on. All the programs are also pretty only runs on 32-bits, so even with Snow Leopard..

I read about people having some performance issues with the new 13 inch PB so i'm worried it might just not even be much faster than this old beast I have.

So is there a way to have both audio in and out at the same on the 13" mac book pro? And how is the integrated graphic chip performing? I'm kind of scared about that too, for graphic intensive programs and video.

thanks a bunch,

Licorice Tea

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Any Intel Mac will run circles around the fastest PPC Mac, no question about it. There is no way to have both audio in and out simultaneously for the 13" MacBook/Pro. The NVIDIA 9400M won't play Crysis on high settings, but for mid-range video work (non-FCP) like Premiere Pro, FCE, iMovie, etc. it will perform just fine. Video-editing isn't about who's got the faster GPU, it's who's got the faster CPU to render effects/filters. GPU plays a very small role.

 

[tofagerl]

Get an external soundcard. You have both FireWire and USB to choose from, even if you can't get an expresscard one anymore.

 

[TheQuestion]

you could look for a refurbished or used 13in original unibody MB (the predecessor to the current MBP). This my machine now, and the new ones rate only slightly faster in comparison tests. Of course no FW if that's an issue. For this matter you could look for old stock white macbook (and it has FW 400) Both have separate audio in/out

 

[joms]

But how about video conferencing ? How can you use a headset with a mic at the same time?

 

[tofagerl]

You can either use the iphone headset, or a usb headset.

 

[LicoriceTea]

hmmm...

thanks everyone for the info's. I prefer no to get used hardware, it makes me worry about the lifetime. Not that it looks like Apple new gear has much quality to it nowdays..

i wonder how much they save by having just one plug. At around 1200-1300$CDN for the cheapest model, this is ridiculous.


I guess I will have to wait. My PB internal hd is faulty. I can't repair it with disk utility. blerg. So I'll wait the day it bust on my face.. and stop working.. maybe try to get some credit.. for a 15". =/

thanks anyway guys, appreciated.