“BEEFing UP” MacBook Pro for DJing (All computer geeks & Mac guy’s report here!)
Hey What’s Up Guys!
So, I’ve been on the fence about replacing my current Macbook pro with a new one. Recently, my current Mac, takes a little longer to start up. Sometimes a bit longer to shutdown. I am very “neat” and delete all files/programs I don’t need/use. Only use my Macbook for Traktor, Ableton, itunes, Web, and chat. I don’t know if an upgrade will be truly worth it and was hoping you could help me out. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a huge computer “geek”, so have patience! Please!
Right now specs of my current Macbook pro:
-2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
-4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
-Mac OS X version 10.5.8
Put an SD card in it and reinstall the OS…you will not see significant improvements by buying a new one if you do those two things.
The quad core is unnecessary for most stuff still. Since its a mac i doubt you can put bigger dimms of ram in there but you could get two dimms of 4gb each and then have 8gb of ram. I would put the new OS on there if that is not the newest, once again I’m a windows guy but work on mac’s pretty often.
I went from a Black MacBook (Core2Duo - 2GB RAM) to my MacBook Air (i5 - 4GB RAM). I do very similar applications as what you mention, and my old MacBook (lower specs then your current MacBook Pro) could have easily kept doing it’s job just fine for another 1-2 years. I was never maxing it out or having performance issues when using Traktor (2 decks + loads of fx), Ableton or Reason.
I do agree with the comment earlier… upgrading from a standard HDD to a SSD is a great improvement. The read/write speeds of SSD is amazing, and is actually the number one performance bottleneck for most modern systems. The performance of the SSD (included in MacBook Air’s) is the biggest performance change that I have noticed… not to say the better screen (brightness and resolution) and the amazing thin form factor of the MBA isn’t great on it’s own. However, SSD can be pricey upgrades… especially if you need large amount of storage.
Also upgrade to OS Lion (10.7.x)… it’s pretty sweet too… but may not do much (improvement or degrade) for overall system performance.
reinstalling your os is your best be to start with..
first start with backing everything up, not with the time machine but all your music, pics, videos.. the important stuff
then install snow leopard.. you dont need lion..
once u have a fresh install copy back over the media part by part and importing back into your itunes ect
then install your djing softwear
also check that your ram and hd are still good
run onyx and bilingual to remove all unnecessary stuff that u will never use languages ect
like mentioned before install a sdd costs far less then a new comp and will boost performance way more then a new comp will get a good 250 gig one and u can always move that to a new machine down the road..
if you can also get 8gb of ram from owc for about 48 bucks all in all it will run u a cool 500 vs 1200 plus for a new beast that will do the same thing.
my 2 cents
also new mbp will be out in the next 6 months with some major new features so i would hang on till they drop if ur planning to buy but in no rush..
It’s my understand that the SSD drive, would be the ultimate upgrade and have ability to out-perform a new computer. (Hmmm sound’s like Mac Steroids to me ) In all seriousness, that would be an upgrade I’d consider, if truly showed great improvements.
Checking Mac’s site they have their SSD for $1400 :eek: (512GB). Like I said, not a computer guy but if replacing main internal parts, I am partial to the original manufacturing brand. Any companies who make SSD’s of Mac quality for less money? A quick search brought up a “480GB Mercury Extreme Pro”-from OWC?
All in all, how much do you think upgrades will cost?
i buy all my upgrades from owc.. great serice and quailty products… apple sells samsung harddrives but marks them way up.. look at the mercury 6g or 6gpro and u wont need more then 240gb anything “extra” store on an external drive that does not require constant pull.. in simpler terms things liek movies that u watch from time to time will run fine off an external drive.. but figure 100gb for music.. 20-30 gb for software another 5gb for os ur still free to add stuff.. i got lucky at ces this week and got a 512 gb ssd from samsung and i dont even have half of it filled up.. and i have a metric shit ton on here
I’ve gone searching for things to delete, many like this (languages was one recommended on a Mac site) to speed thing’s up. External HD wise, I use one every couple weeks to back up my itunes music collection and that’s it. So guess alot of stuff is still stored on my computers HD?
if you don’t have the cash to do an sad an easy alternative is to buy a seagate momentous xt hybrid drive and an 8gb memory upgrade.
if you want to take it a step further you can do what i did and and buy 2 momentous xt hybrid drives (swap your drive and dvd burner) and put them in a raid 0 configuration.
Never buy anything from apple unless its a specific product you want i.e macbook or iphone. All their upgrades and accessories are rediculously expensive.
Well I’m not sure I’m “geek” status, but here’s my 2 cents worth:
For Traktor, not a lot of CPU is really required, so mods really aren’t necessary and will probably hurt you more than help you. Reinstall your OS for sure, that helps a lot with startup/shutdown, as well as load times for programs. The solid state drive actually would be a good idea, I’d research into that. If it’s your DJing laptop primarily, just strip it down to its bare bones and you should have more than enough to run Traktor/SSL/pr0n
EDIT: We have pretty much the same specs on our laptops, and I’ve never had a problem since reinstalling the OS. For what you’re trying to do, a fresh OS should do wonders.
yea you can save up to 5 gb of space or more depending how deep your willing to dive in to it.. as far as the backing up if ur using time machine it will back up the root files and such but most off of the system files are stored ont eh main computer..
Forgive me for not knowing (said I wasn’t a computer guy), but I have absolutely no experience upgrading, re-installing, or doing anything related to the OS. All I know is I’m at 10.5.8 right now. Which OS would I be going to? Snow Leopard? Lion? Going to do some further research…
Reinstall your OS, Go to OWC/macsales.com and checkout the upgrades available for your macbook version. If you’re lucky you might be able to install a spare hard disk in your optical bay and get more ram (if I’m guessing right yours might only be able to have a max of 6GB if it’s the non unibody macbook pro).
There’s lots of SSD makers out there… but for 512GB you are looking at $800-1200+ range… they are pricey as you get larger, it’s still fairly new tech. Crucial and OCZ are two SSD brands I’d trust.
Don’t buy upgrades direct from Apple, unless it’s an items that is not user replaceable.
Also if you need assistance with upgrades/installing items on your mac… http://www.ifixit.com/ is a great resource for guides on how to replace loads of different items.
“BEEFing UP” MacBook Pro for DJing (All computer geeks & Mac guy’s report here!)
Also, ssd’s are still new and very pricey. The bigger you go the more they will be. I wouldn’t get 512gb right now, just get something to hold you over. Still, 512gb’s shouldn’t be $1400.
Newegg had 125gb ones around black Friday for $150 or so. I’m very tempted to pull my DVD burner and put one in my MBP. Then just install my OS and programs on it.
What it comes down to is- will my current Macbook with a new sufficient SSD installed (probably a 480GB), OUTPERFORM a new Macbook pro. That’s what I’m trying to figure out. If this computer is worth me putting the money back into it, in the case it will be better then buying a new Mac, I’ll do it. My computer is my lifeline. I use it ALL the time, and a worthwhile investment to make IMO.
In the mean time, doing my H.W on the OS reinstall’s and upgrades.
My first thought: Overkill much.
My second thought: Why ?
My third thought: What if all that money was spent on gear or actual productive applications ?
I bet your laptop handles anything just fine. It seems very weird that kind of machine struggles with those tasks. But hey if you want to shave off some seconds of boot up time or suddenly you wanna go crazy and start editing 1080p video like a mad man or something, and you want to spend money on that be my guest. Who am I to judge because he who is without GAS throw the first stone.
) In all seriousness, that would be an upgrade I’d consider, if truly showed great improvements.