KVR Audio

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:32 pm

I'm thinking of getting a new Macbook air (13 inch with dual core i5 1.4GHz Haswell CPU, 4GB RAM and SSD) and I wondered if there is a consensus on suitability for a bit of light DAW usage and perhaps using Traktor for DJing.

I've already established that the CPU is quicker than my 4 year-old desktop PC (according to passmark website) so that's a good start. The laptop would only have 4GB RAM but I'm not a power user with regard to music production. I noodle around a bit with various DAWs and do a bit of DJing for my own entertainment, but I'm not running 50 tracks and 10s of the latest plugins. It's an occasional hobby, so I have hobbyist level needs.

One thing I'm not clear on is whether there is any issue with getting samples, MP3 etc on and off the Macbook. This is probably a naive question but my Ipad makes it bloody awkward at the best of times, so I don't want to be forced to use any weird proprietary method to transfer files, for example. I've used windows and linux for 20 years so recent excursions into OSX (on my work macbook) have been a bit strange at times.

Any polite feedback welcomed. Thanks!

P.S. Just realised - wrong forum section, apologies!!

Philly · Post by **Philly** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 9:08 am

You wont have the probs you had with the iPad - just plug in an external HDD or DVD drive and you're all set.

I'm using a Mac mini at the mo - awesome machine

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 10:15 am

Either your old desktop was already weak when you bought it four years ago or the benchmarks are wrong, but anyway. You will not have any problems with files on Mac OS X. You can plug any hard drives through USB (even NTFS formated drives, provided you have the system extension) and you can use any file format (WAF, AIFF, MP3, FLAC, whatever).

rod_zero · Post by **rod_zero** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:44 pm

Honestly, given that there isnt a huge price (and weight) difference between the Macbook pro 13" and the Air I would go for the former.

bill45 · Post by **bill45** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:57 pm

Philly, What are The tech specs of your mac mini?
What software are you using with it? I'm thinking of getting a cheap mac for logic
and uad compatibility.

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:58 pm

I've got a 2012 MBA that I use for scratch tracks, when travelling, etc. I'm running Logic Pro X, Ableton Live Lite, and Studio One Producer and it's never even given me a hiccup with my lightweight use. My only regret is that I went with the 128 GB, rather than a larger SSD because I filled 3/4 of that pretty quickly with my DAWs and some of my main soft synths and sample libraries (e.g., Alchemy, Battery 4).

Septimon · Post by **Septimon** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 5:03 pm

I would strongly recommend to get a 13'' Macbook pro. You never know how your "leightweight DAW" develops...

Cintronic · Post by **Cintronic** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 6:00 pm

13" is just dual core, thought that was a no no for music with soft synths?

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:10 pm

Cintronic wrote:13" is just dual core, thought that was a no no for music with soft synths?

I agree, but so is the Air the OP mentioned (and with only 4 GB of RAM). These Macs are VERY underpowered for music - you cannot do anything more serious in them besides just sketches - and they are very expensive for sketch books.

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 3:48 pm

Yes, my old desktop is pretty underwhelming by today's standards.

After a chat with a colleague I realise that the Macbook Pro Retina is probably the way to go. If you take into account the relatively small difference in price and the dramatic difference in spec it makes sense really.

This is going to be 80% for work anyway (web development) and I use (reluctantantly at first) a Macbook Pro at work so the learning curve is half done already.

Thanks all for the input.

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 7:13 pm

quincy wrote:Yes, my old desktop is pretty underwhelming by today's standards.

After a chat with a colleague I realise that the Macbook Pro Retina is probably the way to go. If you take into account the relatively small difference in price and the dramatic difference in spec it makes sense really.

This is going to be 80% for work anyway (web development) and I use (reluctantantly at first) a Macbook Pro at work so the learning curve is half done already.

Thanks all for the input.

If you still can, get the 15" quad-core i7 (I think it comes with 16 GB of RAM already). And don't spare on the SSD, or you will regret it later. Bigtime.

Philly · Post by **Philly** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 12:16 pm

bill45 wrote:Philly, What are The tech specs of your mac mini?
What software are you using with it? I'm thinking of getting a cheap mac for logic
and uad compatibility.

It's from Jan 2012 - so the model before the current ones - I upgraded the RAM to 8GB - I mainly use Live9 but have Logic9 - they're great little machines

damoog · Post by **damoog** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 5:31 am

Septimon wrote:I would strongly recommend to get a 13'' Macbook pro. You never know how your "leightweight DAW" develops...

yeah,totally agree,i was going to get the 11" air until i actually put my eyes to it in currys store,for a couple of hundred pounds more i could get the 13" pro

i always stretch i few pounds more when it comes to computers as it always pays off and if you going to spend £700 anyway then £900 isnt to bad

Macbook Air 2014 - reasonable for lightweight DAW & DJ fun?