New Macbook Air vs Pro for TP2

[tombarton]

Just wondering whether the new Air with the following specs:

11-inch : 128GB
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
4GB memory
128GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 3000

would be a good choice to run traktor pro 2 with an s4 or would I be better with the base model MBP?

[Topps]

They will both run Traktor equally well

[tombarton]

Really? Is the 1.6 processor enough? Is the base model MBP fine for traktor and ableton?

[l337m4573rpyr0]

FWIW, I was running TSP2 on a 3 yr old windows laptop with a 2ghz core 2 duo up until last week and I don't think I saw much more than ~25% CPU utilization at any given time. I just installed it on a new lenovo T420 with an i5 and 6GB RAM and I haven't seen my CPU usage go much over 10% while running the program so far. Yes, you have a lower clock speed but, there are other features of the CPU that make it faster than a previous-gen @higher clock (hyper-threading, faster bus speed, larger cache, etc.)

TL;DR - I wouldn't worry about any core i-series being able to run traktor.

[fullenglishpint]

All I'd worry about is not having space for all my tunes. The clock speed of the current range of intels seems to bear no relation to their performance when compared to older ones, so don't read too much into the 1.6GHz.

[tombarton]

So which one would you guys go for if you were buying now? I have an external HDD for my tunes so that's not a problem. The main issue i do see is the 11" screen being too small for traktor? Is it wise to buy a MBP now or is there going to be an update anytime soon?

[Audeo]

People getting their panties in a bunch over Ghz these days.. Have you been under a rock for the past 10 years?
Efficiency per Ghz has gone trough the roof in the past couple of years. Thinking back to the 3.5Ghz Northwood Pentium IV's.. compairing them to the i5 1.6Ghz processors we have today. But the Pentium has way more gigahurtz you say? Correct. But not even nearly as fast, cool, awesome and powerful as the "low gigahurtz" 1.6Ghz i5.


EDIT: Oh I totally forgot, the updates just happened, External HDD won't be an issue as long as you use a decent brand and make sure it's a powered HDD.
Might even be cool to use a Thunderbolt HDD.

[ksandvik]

I think if it's OK with an external hard disk then *any* MacBook Air is fine. Even if you lose some performance with the firewire transfers you gain a lot with the fast Solid State disk paging instead.

[tombarton]

Anyone used the 11" screen for traktor? Never even thought i'd have this decision to make! It was 100% MBP last week until I actually started looking into these new airs! Think the Pro is still in front slightly as i can't afford the 13" Air.

[EchePalante]

Just wondering whether the new Air with the following specs:

11-inch : 128GB
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
4GB memory
128GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 3000

would be a good choice to run traktor pro 2 with an s4 or would I be better with the base model MBP?

Alright. The thing that most people (including me) worry about the most probably is space. You are going to have a ton of music and i'm sure your music will take up 85% of the space on your computer. I'd go with the new one though because it has the new Intel Core i5 processor and it runs like a bamf (bad ass motha F****) so yehahh.