cubase performance on macos vs windows 10/11

[Proteinshake]

thank you very much Proteinshake!

It's just somewhat unexpected, TBH. I was expecting the opposite, as I've tweaked Windows according to Pete Brown's excellent guide, plus a few other things I didn't like about 11 to make myself "comfortable" to switch.

Now that's off the table, at least for me. Thanks to your question!

[skijumptoes]

i would like to know if someone has noticed (benchmark) a difference between cubase 11/12 on macos vs on windows 10/11 on the same computer (latest intel based mac or hackintosh or ryzentosh)

I guess that depends on how well the hackintosh drivers work doesn't it? You would imagine that Windows O/S would just run better with Windows hardware than MacOS on hacked drivers.

But then, maybe that is offset by the efficiency of MacOS a little? Plus any plugins and how they run within each O/S.

Not sure you're going to get a definitive answer heheh.

[rardier]

yes definitive answer will be hard to have but right now all results that were shared (on the video , the result here - hope they will be more - and result from another french website, i also ask the question on gearspace) seem to say that today (that was not the case ten years ago) cubase perfoms better on macos, BUT the number of results shared (around 5) is too little to conclude.. but that s the only explanation i can have for m1 been able to run so much track in cubase when i cannot see any correlation with geekbench/cinebench that i used to see with windows/cubase ryzen/intel

[skijumptoes]

BUT the number of results shared (around 5) is too little to conclude.. but that s the only explanation i can have for m1 been able to run so much track in cubase when i cannot see any correlation with geekbench/cinebench that i used to see with windows/cubase ryzen/intel

I moved from an i7 windows laptop to a 16" MBP with M1 Pro. And it's not so much the power of the CPU that's impressive, it's the lack of throttling, no fan noise and whether on mains or battery the power is identical in what i've experienced.

I think when you've got a CPU that is speed stepping, or has some kind of power or thermal throttle applied mid-way through running such benchmarks it can affect the conclusion, too. At least from a laptop perspective.

[rardier]

BUT the number of results shared (around 5) is too little to conclude.. but that s the only explanation i can have for m1 been able to run so much track in cubase when i cannot see any correlation with geekbench/cinebench that i used to see with windows/cubase ryzen/intel

I moved from an i7 windows laptop to a 16" MBP with M1 Pro. And it's not so much the power of the CPU that's impressive, it's the lack of throttling, no fan noise and whether on mains or battery the power is identical in what i've experienced.

I think when you've got a CPU that is speed stepping, or has some kind of power or thermal throttle applied mid-way through running such benchmarks it can affect the conclusion, too. At least from a laptop perspective.

yes that s exactly why i m thinking about buying the first apple computer of my life (i did had the first ipad and the third iphone)+ the fact that the dac is good so i could produce music with only a headphone and a small midi keyboard...on the other hand...the price is ...a bit hard cause i would like at least 32G ram and 2Tb of disk, and i would like to code Java/Vue.js and use docker i don t know yet if it s possible => if all the java/node-vue library i use is compatible...

is the mbp 16 screen is bright enough to be used outdoor?

[skijumptoes]

the fact that the dac is good so i could produce music with only a headphone and a small midi keyboard...

Well, now you're talking my language. See, on my windows laptop, using ASIO4ALL the internal audio would block it from using other applications (i.e. I couldn't have Cubase open and play a media file outside of it, or bring up a quick youtube vid etc.)

With Mac/Coreaudio this just isn't a concern, running from the built-in hardware is just brilliant.

I have the 16" and the speakers are so good you don't have to wear headphones the whole time, either. Which helps if you just want to give your ears a rest for a bit.

You can also aggregate devices so that you can use an audio interface to bring audio in, yet route it out through the macbook speaker too. Which is nice.

the price is ...a bit hard cause i would like at least 32G ram and 2Tb of disk

I got the 1TB/16GB and it's been superb, I use it for Cubase & Studio One plus JetBrains dev tools - And where my old laptop would give me 2-3 hours, this gives me 10+. Cannot sing it's praises enough, it's charges so quickly too - so if you're sat at the dining table or suchlike, it's very rare that you need a cable dangling from the wall.

I still have a windows desktop and using dropbox, everything seems to sync up nicely too - even my dev projects I can pick up between machines, which is very encouraging. I'm yet to see how Cubase projects move across though.

is the mbp 16 screen is bright enough to be used outdoor?

Funny enough, I sat near a window yesterday and had bright sunlight coming in by my side. The screen was hard to read, but then I was only on about 50% brightness and so closed the blinds. So, i'm not too sure - if it's sunny again later i'll try it on full brightness.

[rardier]

thank you!
the macbook m2 pro is out, but it s still 5nm, they seem to be more powerful but i m just afraid that they will make more noise than the m1
..now i hope that the price of m1 device will drop, i m just curious about how good will the apple silicon in 3nm

[skijumptoes]

..now i hope that the price of m1 device will drop, i m just curious about how good will the apple silicon in 3nm

You'll never buy if you keep waiting as there's always something better on the horizon, I'd swipe when you see a price that really appeals, because historically Macbooks hold their value so well.

I got the 16" (1tb/16gb) for £2k with this years black friday deals and no new models, it's usually around £2.6-£2.7k in UK and I see the new model is around £2.9k so very pleased I got in when I did. Plus it came with 2 year warranty.

The only thing that looks attractive on the newer models is the HDMI port rumoured to be HDMI 2.1 so can get over 60hz @ 4k. But really, i'm so impressed with this macbook that there's more chance of me getting a Mac Mini a few years down the line to replace my AMD/Windows desktop machine.

That said, i've scaled down from a 55" inch 4k screen which is in my studio outside, to fully working from the Macbook indoors since getting it end of Nov. Mainly as it's really cold outside, and costs a fortune to heat.

I've been working so efficiently even with a smaller screen - I think the trackpad gestures are just so well refined that swiping between apps and screens is so natural, and as such feels like a multi-monitor setup as you can take a peep at the screen next to the one you're on, if you just need to grab a reference value or something.

I've not heard a single fan noise from my M1, so don't know how M2 will be. It was my understanding that the gains with M2 comes from being more efficient rather than Apple bolting on to it - so in my mind it's able to do more but still within that same envelope of noise/thermals?

[rardier]

..now i hope that the price of m1 device will drop, i m just curious about how good will the apple silicon in 3nm

You'll never buy if you keep waiting as there's always something better on the horizon, I'd swipe when you see a price that really appeals, because historically Macbooks hold their value so well.

I got the 16" (1tb/16gb) for £2k with this years black friday deals and no new models, it's usually around £2.6-£2.7k in UK and I see the new model is around £2.9k so very pleased I got in when I did. Plus it came with 2 year warranty.

The only thing that looks attractive on the newer models is the HDMI port rumoured to be HDMI 2.1 so can get over 60hz @ 4k. But really, i'm so impressed with this macbook that there's more chance of me getting a Mac Mini a few years down the line to replace my AMD/Windows desktop machine.

That said, i've scaled down from a 55" inch 4k screen which is in my studio outside, to fully working from the Macbook indoors since getting it end of Nov. Mainly as it's really cold outside, and costs a fortune to heat.

I've been working so efficiently even with a smaller screen - I think the trackpad gestures are just so well refined that swiping between apps and screens is so natural, and as such feels like a multi-monitor setup as you can take a peep at the screen next to the one you're on, if you just need to grab a reference value or something.

I've not heard a single fan noise from my M1, so don't know how M2 will be. It was my understanding that the gains with M2 comes from being more efficient rather than Apple bolting on to it - so in my mind it's able to do more but still within that same envelope of noise/thermals?

well the m2 is out and benchs show that on the base models m2 is "worse" than m1 for logic as it runs hotter (and noisier) but you can run quite the same amount of tracks + the speakers are less clear and less powerful, you have performance improvement in all other area (except when the speed of ssd is involved because the speed of ssd is slower when 512gb on m2 than 512gb on m1) but at the expense of more wattage usage..exactly what i was afraid of, if it s ony for music production don t upgrade from m1 to m2...

[Atlatnesiti]

Does it really matter..?
Just use whatever you have and create music rather than be obsessed with meaningless benchmarks

[rardier]

Does it really matter..?
Just use whatever you have and create music rather than be obsessed with meaningless benchmarks

i m not obssessed, but you re free to use an 20 years old computer if you want , you will still able to make music with it...but to me until the day i will not have to think about loosing time bouncing , changing buffer size..yes it will matter..( i don t stop make music and i always use what i have ) and that kind of benchmark is not meaningless if you don t want to spend money for nothing, if you have an mbp m1 for example and buy an m2 expecting to have better perfomance for music production, you ll simply loose your money.

[skijumptoes]

well the m2 is out and benchs show that on the base models m2 is "worse" than m1 for logic as it runs hotter (and noisier) but you can run quite the same amount of tracks + the speakers are less clear and less powerful

Really? I presumed the hardware was basically the same in regards to speakers. That's surprising.

I had a quick google and there's people saying the M2 Pro is silent, and others saying the fans run 100% of the time. I guess we'll see what the verdict will be in a few weeks once the dust has settled.

If people are pushing their machines to the extent, then the single core speed should yield improvements within most DAWs who's channel strip is limited to a single core is my basic reasoning... Now, whether this brings additional noise and how acceptable that is, is up to the individual I guess.

But you'd hope running a system at 40-50% between M1/M2 would be pretty much the same experience.

[jonljacobi]

The M2 seems to test about 18% faster single thread, and offers both 8K encoding and decoding support as well as surround over HDMI. It also supports more memory. But of course, it being Apple, you pay through the nose for every configuration upgrade.

[Tronam]

well the m2 is out and benchs show that on the base models m2 is "worse" than m1 for logic as it runs hotter (and noisier) but you can run quite the same amount of tracks + the speakers are less clear and less powerful, you have performance improvement in all other area (except when the speed of ssd is involved because the speed of ssd is slower when 512gb on m2 than 512gb on m1) but at the expense of more wattage usage..exactly what i was afraid of, if it s ony for music production don t upgrade from m1 to m2...

I have an M2 Max MBP arriving in a few days and will let you know. I find most tech reviewers a little untrustworthy when it comes to music production because they usually just run benchmarks that push the CPU/GPU to 100% for extended periods of time. This doesn't reflect audio application behavior at all.

[rardier]

well the m2 is out and benchs show that on the base models m2 is "worse" than m1 for logic as it runs hotter (and noisier) but you can run quite the same amount of tracks + the speakers are less clear and less powerful, you have performance improvement in all other area (except when the speed of ssd is involved because the speed of ssd is slower when 512gb on m2 than 512gb on m1) but at the expense of more wattage usage..exactly what i was afraid of, if it s ony for music production don t upgrade from m1 to m2...

I have an M2 Max MBP arriving in a few days and will let you know. I find most tech reviewers a little untrustworthy when it comes to music production because they usually just run benchmarks that push the CPU/GPU to 100% for extended periods of time. This doesn't reflect audio application behavior at all.

great! do you have an m1 pro/max to compare with? i also see that m2 pro/max in "eco mode" is as good as m1 pro/maw in "power mode", and that could be one of the main advantage