Experiences running Eleven Rack with a USB3 MacBook Pro or MacBook Pro Retina?
 

My old 17" MBP (Macbook Pro4,1, OSX 10.7.4, Pro Tools 9.0.6) has a problem and died and I may be replacing it with a current 15" MBP. Probably the non-retina 15" with a matt display and I'll upgrade the standard internal drive to an SSD myself.

I did use this 17" MBP as a portable studio/play thing just connecting to my Eleven Rack. I know some folks are reporting occasional problems getting USB 1.x or USB 2 interfaces to work reliably with new USB 3 ports, so I was wondering what type of experiences people have had with the Eleven Rack running to a USB 3 port on any of the newer MacBook Pros.

Thanks

Darryl

This must be the worst forum ever nobody ever replies to my posts :-)

Anyhow for better or worse Apple is repairing my old MacBook Pro, thanks Apple, so I won't need to buy a new one and won't need to worry about USB 3 compatibility, and I would really miss the 17" screen.

I did get interested in the 15" high-res with matte screen w/quad core i7 and the ability to (at my risk) run 16GB RAM and swap out the optical SuperDrive for another SSD. Having a built in FW800 is great for legacy stuff but It was disappointing to see only one thunderbolt port. Especially given Avid's "interesting" decision to only provide a single Thunderbolt port on the HD Native Thunderbolt box. The MBP Retina had dual thunderbolt ports, but no Firewire 800 or Ethernet (need to use thunderbolt adapters) and no option for a second internal HDD/SSD.

Darryl

Re: Experiences running Eleven Rack with a USB3 MacBook Pro or MacBook Pro Retina?
 

Yeah I still can't justify a Retina for audio. Would much rather do as you describe. Get a full sized, gut the optical drive, stick in an SSD. Now you have a laptop with two internal drives. Perfect for recording, and cost less for parts that aren't glued together.

I am installing a Samsung 830 512 GB SSD in my repaired MBP, two of those would be great in a new one. (the Samsung 830 is what I understand Apple uses in the non-Retina MBP). Should be able to track and run lots of VIs, without hassling with two Firewire external drives.

Darryl