Which MacBook Pro? 13" or 15"

[shaddj]

Last weekend the dreaded happened. Computer froze on me during a set. Thank god it was at least towards the end and the next guy was set up and ready to go.

Any way. I have a brand new 13.3" MacBook Pro with intel i5 & 8gb memory. The high end 13" available right now. I believe the problem was that it over heated while using Traktor pro 2 with an s4. Once it cooled everything was good. Im considering replacing it with the 15" Mac with I7 and 16gb of memory. These are the solid state drives and thought this kind of problem didn't happen as much. The computer was flat and the club was hot but nothing I hadn't experienced before. With my older 13" that just got stolen.

I'm looking for advice. I never had this problem with the older 13" Mac disc hard drive that I played with for a few years.

[tilldrop]

So you say you have a new 13" Mac and want to replace it with one with a larger display because the harddrive freezes? :O No logic in there mate. I'm not a professional, but have a MacBook myself, had it droped at the airport and had to buy a new harddrive and replace the old one. I did that myself, it took about 5 minutes. So if you are sure your HD is broken go get a new one.

However if your Macbook is brand new why don't you just go to a store and get it repaired? They should be able to locate the problem (if there even is any), take care of it and even pay for it if you're still covered by warranty.

[deevey]

However if your Macbook is brand new why don't you just go to a store and get it repaired? They should be able to locate the problem (if there even is any), take care of it and even pay for it if you're still covered by warranty.

+1 I'd be getting it checked before deciding anything else as it could be anything from a busted fan, to dust, to a bad hard disk to faulty logicboard.

Most Apple stores can run a quick diagnostic which checks the status of all the components for issues and will run the checks even outside warranty (in my experience).

[shaddj]

Sorry, let me clarify.

This is less about the size of the screen and more about the processing power.

I had been using a 13" MacBook Pro with a standard hard drive and 8GB of RAM for the last couple years. I never had any issues with over heating.

Recently my house was broken into and the computer was stolen (back up your hard drives ladies and gentlemen)

I replaced it with a 13" Macbook pro with a solid state hard drive, an Intel I5 processor and 8GB of RAM. I played out with it for the first time last weekend and towards the end of the set (about an hour) it froze on me. I restarted it and it was fine. I assume that it over heated causing the glitch. I never had this problem with the previous computer.

The 15" has 16GB of RAM and an Itel I7 processor therefore (I'm assuming) allowing the computer to run at similar speeds but not pushing as hard therefore reducing the chances of freezing/overheating.

I just bought the 13" so I can still return it and replace it with the 15" (more RAM/better processor) for a little extra $.

I assumed that the solid state drives allowed for speedier processing and minimal heat but its been suggested to me that during heavy use (like a live set using Traktor) that the opposite is true. Again, I never had this issue with the older, standard HD computer. Has anybody heard of the solid states having heat issues? I'm trying to find out if I'm on the right track as far as not allowing this to happen again.

I am a little gun shy now and want to prevent it, obviously.

Does this make more sense?

[Timbo21]

You can run a hardware test

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509

I have a 13" 2011 Macbook. The standard drive was 5400rpm, which is pretty slow. I did get Traktor behaving erratically. Cues didn't respond well and I got freezes. When I put an SSD in all the problems went away, so if you have a 5400rpm drive I would definitely recommend something faster

[frankle]

Do you have an S4mk1 or Mk2 ... If it's a Mk1 then the issue might actually be that there are compatibility issues between the Haswell USB3 chipset and the older S4mk1 chipset.

If you have the S4mk2, please check the firmware version as the latest revision solves a few problems (led freeze issue).

[shaddj]

The Mac I have now is a SSD.

Im using the MK1 so I'll look for firmware updates when I get home.

Thank you.

[deevey]

The 15" has 16GB of RAM and an Itel I7 processor therefore (I'm assuming) allowing the computer to run at similar speeds but not pushing as hard therefore reducing the chances of freezing/overheating.

2009 macbook pro core2duo has never frozen on me mid-set even in tropical heat and ableton running similtaniously.

I'd check the firmware on the S4 first as Frankle suggested and do an Apple hardware check.

Even with all 4 decks running with keylock and effects you are only using around 20% of your CPU (NI forum)

So ruling out overheating, which I doubt, I'd guess its more likely something else at play like a background process, power spike, dodgy USB cable, bad SSD etc ...

Check the logs before jumping to conclusions

[frankle]

Because I'm pretty straight up about this stuff I'll give you the bad news ... There is no current firmware update for the S4mk1 to make it work reliably with MacBooks running Haswell processors (all 2013/2014 models), and due to the older chipset in the S4mk1 it cannot be fixed by firmware.

Here is the Sticky on the topic at the NI Forum:

http://www.native-instruments.com/fo...e-2013.220538/

Here is one of the MANY threads about the issue:

http://www.native-instruments.com/fo...freeze.212811/

Don't waste your time with hubs or hacks to OS, I've been through them all with one of my mates and they all fall over sooner or later. He upgraded to the S4mk2 which does not have these issues.

Before you go on the "how could NI do this" tangent, the S4mk1 came out well before the current USB3 chipsets and it works flawlessly on USB2 that it was designed for. This is nothing that NI could have helped, if you'd like to blame anyone it's Intel for creating a USB3 chipset that is not entirely backwards compatible with ALL USB2 devices.

[shaddj]

So what you're suggesting is, in order to eliminate this problem, I'll have to upgrade to the S4 MKII?

I did update a few things last night. played for a few hours in my studio and didn't have any issues.

Playing out again Thursday so we'll see.