Hoping for some purchasing advice for an audio person

fat chance getting guitar rig to be retina-optimized. if audio software is your main usage, be prepared to just look at a blurry mess for a long time as none are updated for retina. i doubt applications like pro tools ever will be. just get the regular mbp.

 

I have the RMBP to use for graphic work and to be honest even in that field the screen isn't much of a help. It's still too small to do real work on (never mind the fact that it will probably take adobe ages to get all their apps updated, if ever).

I haven't tried it with my RMBP yet but I'm kind of worried by the fact that just powering the screen requires extra cpu resources which may affect audio latency. (PS having an SSD drive won't affect recording latency at all as that's more to do with audio driver/CPU/and the softwares IO buffers).

For audio work, retina display seems to be even less worthwhile unless you're always plugged into an external monitor (which I am). I guess if you're using this for live performance with guitar rig (I own 4 but I imagine 5 has the same larger UI live setting) it really doesn't matter if it's going to be slightly fuzzy to look at. You do gain some minor benefits like having a lighter system to haul around.

The only audio application I have installed on my RMBP (my other audio stuff is on my Mac pro hackintosh) is adobe audition and let me tell you, just resizing and dragging UI assets around is dog slow (running at the "like 1920 res" setting).

And I doubt resale value will be any greater than any other Mac, considering next year it's expected the next RMBP is going to dwarf the current one (much like how the initial MBA was relatively horrible and really only got good in the next years iteration).

 

Im running logic pro and its optimized for retina and looks fantastic. I use a lot of color coding for tracks and its so easy on the eyes. I layed down three songs already using only the retina screen and its very pleasant on the eyes on a 15 inch screen, mostly because the text is so crisp. SSD drive is MUCH better performance than my RAID drives.

USB hasnt caused a single issue for me, I use it for midi, the occasional mic, and my apogee duet (which performs flawlessly on the rMBP). I also use cubase on the windows side and it too has performed flawlessly, both in parallels and on bootcamp straight.

I do a LOT of audio on this machine, and its the main reason I bought it, because of the weight difference and size difference to the classic (dont let anyone tell you differently, it makes a big difference - almost 25 percent thinner and a lot lighter)

Still the choice is yours to decide. The classics screen is a tad brighter and you can opt for matte finish if youre on stage and lights are a problem. I personally could never go back to a non retina screen, it looks that good to me..

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I dont get this. Are you saying that retina isnt good unless its plugged into an external monitor? that doesnt make a lick of sense.

 

Just a heads up apple's 13" and Retina MacBook Pro's no longer support audio-in functionality.

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

For more info on the matter check out this thread:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1389284&highlight=audio+in

 

im on a rmbp and i have audio in. I can use an external mic and instrument feed. I only use my apogee duet for recording but i can most definitely use the audio in port form the mini jack on the side. dont know about the 13, but the rmbp 15 no problem here. strange.

 

Ah wel I already found it strange, but some people seem to have issues, and the apple specs no longer seem to mention it. But I guess it works fine on rMBP.

 

i'd like to know what magical version of logic pro you're running thats retina optimized. do you have a different version than the one described in this article?

and SSD drive has no affect on latency at all. the only real benefit gained from an audio context is probably faster loading of plugins. so i'd like to know where this "MUCH better performance" rant is coming from.

and yes, the retina screen is practically useless right now since no major productivity apps are available for it. even so, its still a tiny 15" screen. an external larger monitor will always be better unless you're constantly on the go.

 

Aren't all products sold by apple already retina optimized?

 

definitely not. pages etc were updated recently. logic pro hasn't.

 

seriously man, couldnt you have just left out the "magical" part? theres no reason to be sarcastic about it. It looks extremely sharp to me and i thought it was optimized.

heres a screengrab of what it looks like to me. if its not retina it looks good enough to me, and not blurry at all.

 

well, thats why i thought it was optimized. It looks even cleaner than the screen grab. Im running some non retinized apps and they look pretty fuzzy, compared to logic.

Its a tough call as far as which system. But for some reason, others seem to get really angry about the retina macbook in these forums and theres quite a heated division on the pros and cons. Just go with your gut. Only problem ive experienced to date is a bit of stutter from the UI. Producing music on this has been a dream, the I/O is quick quick.

Good luck and keep kickin tunes!!!!

 

Sounds like a good choice. Upgrade ram to 16 will be really cheap to do. Thats a really great machine. Just remember 5200 rpm drives can cause some minor issues with recording audio. Have fun!

 

I'm not sure what Avid's issue may be with regard to approving SSDs. I'd think that would be the perfect solution for digital video. I can tell you I'm getting extraordinary throughput to the 768GB SSD on my MBPr.

As for MBPs retaining their value, yes. I usually buy a new machine every year and sell off the old one on eBay. Usually costs me about $50 per year in price delta. I keep them in good shape, keep the original packaging, and include Applecare.