got a new mac as a gift! how are the specs for producing and mixing?

[steve123]

so my mac got stolen a while back and i kinda completely fell out of the scene. I'm really trying to get back into it and just got a new mac and was wondering what you guys think of the specs?
Macbook pro 13in 2012 model
Processor: 2.5ghz Intel Core i5

Memory: 16gb 1600 Mhz DDR3

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB

Harddriver: 2TB Samsung SATA

Thanks everybody!

[deevey]

so my mac got stolen a while back and i kinda completely fell out of the scene. I'm really trying to get back into it and just got a new mac and was wondering what you guys think of the specs?
Macbook pro 13in 2012 model
Processor: 2.5ghz Intel Core i5

Memory: 16gb 1600 Mhz DDR3

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB

Harddriver: 2TB Samsung SATA

Thanks everybody!

You'll have no issues whatsoever and with that for a long time to come. Also with that model you can replace the CD drive with an "Optibay" and install a second hard disk (SSD SSD SSD!)

The last of the self serviceable Macs.

[djproben]

Congratulations. If I were to buy a Mac today for DJing, that's pretty much exactly what I would want. Keep it at OS X 10.8 or maybe 10.9 and use appropriate versions of Traktor or Ableton or whatever for best results - the drawback to an older mac is not being able to run the "latest and greatest" without slowing things down too much. Flip side is the bugs have been worked out for older software; you'll be free of the problems people have with some of the newer OS/hardware combos. To me the 13 inch size is a sweet spot - I love my 11 in MBA for carrying everywhere for writing and internet, but a little extra screen space is really helpful for music software, and it will be nice having a real HD so you don't have to worry about running out of space. Definitely do the optibay upgrade if you can - the SSD will make power up/down time basically nothing and it will overall be a lot easier on your HD. Have fun!!

[inaudible]

It will run anything you can chuck at it and more.

I'm jealous

[steve123]

Thanks so much guys! I was planning and upgrading to a SSD at some point, I didn't know that you could take out the cd drive and put one there thats awesome! Once I have some cash I will definitely have to do that!

[Pippo91]

Put the ssd drive where is your hdd now... It's always better...

[deevey]

the drawback to an older mac is not being able to run the "latest and greatest" without slowing things down too much.

Shenanigans! My trusty old 2009 MBP runs everything faster and more stable on Yosemite than it has with any other previous OSX iteration - including the most up-to-date versions of Traktor/Ableton/VDJ/Serato/Logic/Photoshop etc. Its farrrrr more streamlined IMHO, Native TRIM support doesn't hurt either. Unless you are running older 32 bit plugins or something I really don't see the need to cripple other apps that have been written for 10.10

Garageband for some reason is the only thing I've thrown at it that noticeably chugs for some weird reason :-S

Unfortunatly I'm pretty sure they'll drop support for core2duo Macs within the next one or two OSX updates and i'll have to let the old girl go

I was planning and upgrading to a SSD at some point

Theres almost no feeling as good as a 10 second reboot

[c0nsul]

Theres almost no feeling as good as a 10 second reboot

So true!

[tilldrop]

I have learned that "beeing able to run aynthing on it" is simply not true for music production on any PC/Mac. Try loading a synth pad sound with 8-voice unison on more than one oscillator and play a chord - 99% of the CPUs used for music production will not be able to run this at a somewhat decent sample rate/buffer size. However any PC will be able to bounce such track and you will be fine. So instead of worrying about getting a better CPU it will almost always be much smarter to think about how to work with what you got. That beeing said the i5 of a 2012 13" MacBook is ok. You have to bounce stuff just like everyone who bought a new i7/Xeon desktop CPU in 2015, unless one can live with a maximum buffer size.