Advice on macbook pro?

[MattSessions]

I have a 15 MBPS from mid 2010 still solid!

[mostapha]

Go with a 2012 non-retina, and put an SSD in. People think "oh, my MacBook is old, I should upgrade because it's slow." I'm rocking a mid-2009 white unibody MacBook with 4GB of RAM and an SSD, and it runs like new. Retina is not necessary unless you're doing photography or something on the side as well, and it also means you can't upgrade components down the line. Go refurbed, get an SSD, and enjoy OS X at half the cost.

This.

My mid-2011 is chugging along just fine with 700-something GB of SSDs (replaced the optical drive) and 16GB of ram. It's a fine computer. I don't plan on upgrading it for a few years yet.

[Ryan Ruel]

Dunno, I use a retina 15 for DJ'ing and a retina 15 for work as well. Once your eyes get used to retina, it's hard to go back. It really does help with eye strain, not to mention photos and such.

A bonus for djing is that on the retina 15 you can run at a scaled 1920x1200 resolution. This means you can fit four decks, four effects units, etc. all on screen at once and super sharp.

The retinas are also very slim and easy to carry. And the PCIe ssd is much faster than the last generation. I can get almost 1GBs reads (yes, gigabyte in one second).

[mostapha]

yeah...2560x1600 is much better than 1366x768.

How does Traktor deal with the scaling? If you set the display to it's native resolution, does it actually work right (small UI elements, not garbled UI elements)?

[Ryan Ruel]

yeah...2560x1600 is much better than 1366x768.

How does Traktor deal with the scaling? If you set the display to it's native resolution, does it actually work right (small UI elements, not garbled UI elements)?

I don't use the "native" resolution (way too high!), I use OS X's "looks like 1920x1200". OS X's scaling algorithm is awesome, and Traktor looks great at any of the scaled resolutions.

[mostapha]

dang.

Yeah...I just don't believe in the scaled resolutions. I played with a 5K iMac and as far as I'm concerned it's only usable at native. Same with my 4K on OS X, though it's a much bigger screen.

Then again...I generally hate eyecandy-only UI elements.

[Ryan Ruel]

dang.

Yeah...I just don't believe in the scaled resolutions. I played with a 5K iMac and as far as I'm concerned it's only usable at native. Same with my 4K on OS X, though it's a much bigger screen.

Then again...I generally hate eyecandy-only UI elements.

Lol, what you talking bout? I'm quite sure you didn't use "native" on the 5K, you wouldn't be able to see anything.

The "scale" that huge 5K resolution down to 2550x1440, in the "best for display" setting. 5K is actually 4 times the number of pixels for 2550x1440.

I'm running 4K now on my Mac Pro, at "scaled to look like 2550x1440". Here is a macro shot of my new Dell screen, I cannot see those pixels with my naked eye:



Scaling on HiDPI screens is nothing like scaling of the past, which looks terrible.

[Student]

I wouldn't go for the old Macbook and update the drive. You're forgetting you can display much more on a 13" retina display than on a normal 13" macbook one, handy for using dj and producing software.

Purchase the basic retina with 128gb ssd, upgrade the 4gb ram to 8gb, and buy a transcend jetdrive in a 480gb (320usd) or 960gb (530 usd) capacity. That is the cheapest way to save on your ssd space and you get a macbook which is lighter and easier to resell in a year or three.

[deanb]

I have a 13" MacBook Pro i use Serato and Ableton live 9 on. I took it to the Mac store and had them install the 16gb ram though. Really makes a difference. P.S. Ill buy the ddj your selling

[mostapha]

Lol, what you talking bout? I'm quite sure you didn't use "native" on the 5K, you wouldn't be able to see anything.

The "scale" that huge 5K resolution down to 2550x1440, in the "best for display" setting. 5K is actually 4 times the number of pixels for 2550x1440.

...

Scaling on HiDPI screens is nothing like scaling of the past, which looks terrible.

No, OSX still gives you an option to run at native resolution. it's the last one on the more space side. And that's what I did in the apple store when I was considering buying one. I ended up not liking the computer and just bought a video card for my hackintosh instead.

And, yeah, UI elements were small, so just increase the font size. I do the same thing on my big 4K at home. I'm already using subpixel font rendering (explanation), which makes things look fine. The only real difference is that my 39" 4K screen defaults to font sizes of like 18-24 whereas my laptop defaults to 11. And, really, I don't care about seeing title bars, close buttons, menus, or any other crap. OS X has too much of that anyway.

I like having the space. I mean...look at what Pro Tools can do with it (note: not actually doing anything, just showing off)



All of the little elements are usable. They're small, but they're usable. Synths show up just fine. Plugin windows show up just fine. The only problem with the 5K iMac is that the screen is too small.

Or how I usually use it under linux...



Note that the images are 39" diagonal, so stuff is small but very very usable. Also, the complete lack of mouse controls. That's what keyboards are for on a real OS.

It's obviously a personal preference thing, and IMO the 5K iMac screen is a bit too small. But 120 DPI or so is just fine. I sit like 4" back from the screen and can't see pixels either. 300+DPI only matters if you're going to shove your nose in it. It kind of makes more sense for phones and tablets than desktops.

The cool part is that those 2 windows at the corners (screenfetch and irc) are just barely smaller (pixel size) than my laptops (about 1200x700ish) and are right at 12" diagonal. So, it's sharper than any non-retina screen and has 4 times the usable space of an FHD monitor.

It's also like using a vertical 1440p monitor with 4 laptop screens outsie it, no bezels, and more space at the bottom.

I hate scaling modes.