New Computer. Please Advise.
Im working with the most recent version of Ableton Live.
Have an army of plugins.
I now have a 13" Macbook Pro.
2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
My sets have stopped working, as the sets get too big very fast. Last tune was 145 tracks (Had to finish it on the desktop in the studio). I’ll be traveling a lot and I need a laptop which can satisfy FULL usage. Is the best move to get the 17" new retina blah blah Macbook Pro?
Hit me back.
J
An i7 Macbook will only gain you about 50% cpu increase, An SSD will help as a cache drive and the latest Live Beta 8.4 will allow you to utilize over 4gb ram, so you can bump that up as well which most certainly will help with your plugins.
Do you mean 145 tracks or channels, if its channels that seems completely nuts amount ? Could you not freeze some of them ? ..Unless you need complete control over the parameters of all 145 all the time.
Go for the full spec retina macbook pro if you have the money. if you want a windows laptop get a boxx the boxx are fucking incredible http://www.boxxtech.com/products/goBOXX/1840.asp?prodid=1840
I’m talking channels. I’m far into the music production game, getting serious now. My sets are huge.
Is there no 17" Retina Macbook? Would it be better to get the older model 17" or the Retina 15" ?
Thanks,
J
The 17’ has been discontinued (for now) and once you factor in the price of an SSD drive, form factor the resolution of the display the 15’ becomes much more appealing than a refurb 17’ IMHO
.. however there is an Apple event on 12th Sept, would be worth holding off till then to see if they introduce a 17’, although somehow I think the 15’ Retina might be your best option, and probably better to get the 16gb BTO model to futureproof yourself.
So the Retina Macbook 15" with 16GB of Ram, and the upgrade Processor looks the best option. I want a 17" : (
Guess ill have to settle.
Any other suggestions/thoughts/ideas?
J
Like I said - you could hold off for 3 weeks and see if the 17’ is re-introduced, without going down the windows route you dont have many options unless you fancy hauling an imac to gigs 
If I were you, I wouldn’t settle.
I currently use windows but that’s more due to being a broke student than anything else.
There’s a reason that Mac is the industry standard.