2GHz macbook w/ PTLE

[egan.]

New macbook w/ 002r--
Anybody using this config?
I've been thinking about a laptop for remote stuff, but I don't want to spring for the Pro if I don't have to.
Obviously I would max out RAM and use a second monitor if I actually did any mixing on it.
Speed?
Issues?
Thoughts?
Thanks.

 

[006]

I ran my PowerBook G4 w/ 1.33gHz PPC and 768mb RAM with a Glyph GT external, a 002R and a pair of OctoPres with signals from the board for about a year straight for venue recordings of bands. Later replaced drums with Drumagog and reamped guitars at the house. Never had a problem. The average track count during tracking on location was about 11-13 tracks, and the most I ever had to bring in one time was all 16 inputs, only because I wanted seperate inputs for each keyboard instead of the stereo input the soundguy wanted to use (bleh). Ran perfectly fine, never had any issues or worries.

I'm sure if I had that kind of performance with that, the MacBooks should perform extremely well.

~e.a

 

[JeffTD]

Egan, I don't know about the 002R, but I can tell you my 1.82 w/2G of RAM runs Logic Pro absolutely beautifully with my FirePod.

It's fast as hell, and stable as hell. I've never had any problems recording with it, and consistently can record 10 (so I've tried) tracks to an external HDD with no hiccups, running Logic at 64 for the buffer rate.

If you do get one, you've gotta have an ext HDD, but I'm sure you knew/figured that already.

The only thing the Pro offers over the standard is the PCMCIA express port (I can't think of anything a recording engineer would need that runs off that), a bigger screen, a FW800 port, and the capacity for 3G of RAM (you'd have to find a 2G stick, though, which is likely to be expensive as all hell.)

I went for the MB back in June, before it got the C2D processor, and I still have no qualms with how it performs.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I think that computer would work great for remote recording. You may want to invest in an exsternal drive though.

 

[egan.]

Thanks guys. Yeah, I was assuming that I would get an external drive for data. I'm actually a little bummed that I can't get a 7200 spin in the laptop as well.
The only other things that really bother me about the macbook are that it has no FW800 and uses integrated graphics. Other than that it seems like a bargain-- especially the new C2D ones.

 

[JeffTD]

I hear you on the integrated graphics - I can't play Call of Duty without tons of lag .


But that's not what you buy a Mac for, I suppose.

 

[SPLASTiK]

Thanks guys. Yeah, I was assuming that I would get an external drive for data. I'm actually a little bummed that I can't get a 7200 spin in the laptop as well.

You can buy after market 7200 drives for laptops and put it in yourself if you want though.

 

[JeffTD]

Yeah, that's something I've been really considering - Getting like a 160G 7200RPM drive and having a small partition for the OS.

 

[egan.]

You can buy after market 7200 drives for laptops and put it in yourself if you want though.

True, but it sucks to void the warranty from the get go.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

The FW 800 isn't that big of a deal unless you plan to mix on it also.

 

[RootBoundApollo]

I switched to exactly that setup after the Macbook came out and it ROCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

and I only have 1 GB of RAM

I can run 30 tracks with multiple plugins each without issue, but I haven't tried maxing it out yet.

 

[JeffTD]

Haven't tried maxing out my system, but it runs fine when mixing at 128 sys buffer, 30 tracks, 6 bus's, total of 50 plugins, including drum replacement and pretty system-heavy plugs.