MacBook Pro SSD Retina is it worth for Production?

[sw84244]

After my decision to start with music production, I am going to change over from my current MacBook Air to a MacBook Pro. Main reason is that my Air does only have 2GB RAM and a 64SSD drive which is not enough at all. On top of that, it's just an 11.6" and it also has less ports.

Does it make sense to go wit an older Pro model instead of a brand new one? I don't see any big issues with an older CPU as it's at least an i5 @ 2.5Ghz.

However, I am not sure about the SSD drive and the retina display. The SSD is much faster than a traditional 5.400 RPM hard drive, but I am not sure if it is worth? Same thoughts on the retina display. As the retina has a much higher resolution, does it just bring much more sharpness, or will you get more on the screen in total?

Thanks!

[Kaek]

It was a bit short sighted to buy the base model air. Its more for road warriors.

An Air can be used for music production, you can get an air with 8GB of ram now and a large SSD.

If you need more ram then you are going to need to buy a new machine. There is no cure for that in an air.

If you need more hard disk space then I would recommend getting a usb3 hard drive or a thunderbolt one if you can spare the extra cost.

I've waited 5 years to upgrade my old early 2008 MBP. I'm going to get one of the new 13" RMBP. Looking forward to the smaller size, lower weight and improved graphics performance. I'm definitely going to have at least 8GB of ram and 256GB of disk.

[sw84244]

Thanks. However, it sounds like you would always recommend the MBP instead of the MBA. Just to be clear, my MBA was there before my thoughts of music production.

[StephanV]

However, I am not sure about the SSD drive and the retina display. The SSD is much faster than a traditional 5.400 RPM hard drive, but I am not sure if it is worth? Same thoughts on the retina display. As the retina has a much higher resolution, does it just bring much more sharpness, or will you get more on the screen in total?

Thanks!

An SSD won't give you that much advantage over an HDD for music production. That said, getting an SSD is a really really good choice. Overall performance and responsiveness of your computer increases enormously. It's the one upgrade that I advise pretty much everyone to get. But you can easily buy the old MBP, and replace the HDD for an SSD yourself at a much lower price.

Regarding the retina: it gives you either more sharpness, or more screen estate, but probably not both at the same time. You can use the native resolution of 2560x1800 for maximum screen estate, or the "pixel-doubled" resolution of 1280x800 for maximum sharpness. Alternatively, you can use something in between, with a trade-off of sharpness for screen estate at different scaled resolutions.

[Student]

If you want an SSd drive and an upgrade in RAM a Retina MBP is pretty much always your best pick considering the price. Especially now they made the Retina's cheaper. Furthermore, they weigh less, look better and have a better resale value. So yeah I'd go with the retina. Probably since I have one already though...

[Coldfuzion]

I upgraded to a retina as soon as it was available. Absolutely love it for production. Everything loads faster, & it performs very well. The only issue I had is the lack of space on the SSD. I currently have 3 external 2TB hard drives that I use to hold my samples, etc. Just make sure you get USB 3.0's and the load times will be fast as well.

[botstein]

I also upgraded to retina right away, and maxed out all the specs - it's crazy fast. I'm going to order a Haswell retina the same way and keep my current rMBP as I need to have a backup.

I don't know what you produce with, but as an oversimplification: Ableton is hungry for CPU, Maschine is very RAM-based and is voracious for it, and Reaktor will use whatever you've got.

[sw84244]

I am going with Ableton. Maschine is prefered as well for now. I see, most of you recommend the new Retina MBP instead of a 8GB MBA.

[sw84244]

But again, please help!

Let's assume I go with Ableton and control with Push and also want to start with Maschine very soon. I do see problems with just 2 USB ports only. However, even the MBP 13" does have 2 USB ports only. So the questions I still have is ..

1) how reasonable is it from the port connections point of view to go with a MBP instead of a MBA?
2) why do I mainly see the MBP's on the stage while the MBA can do the same things?

[SJJVEN]

I'd recommend getting a non-retina macbook pro and upgrading it to 16gb for a lot cheaper then the retina counterpart. You can also have dual drives so you can have a SSD + HDD. I'll be adding a 480gb ssd in the coming months to my machine. I currently have a 1tb hdd so I'll have plenty of space and 16gb of ram.