Macbook Pro?

[TDub]

Hey there. I just purchased a Macbook pro A1278. It was new, but older model. Has firewire, and CD drive, and ethernet port ... which the new ones don't. But doesn't have the SSD flash drive, but rather the 750gb 5400 rpm drive.
Will my PT8 work on this model?
Specifics: 2.9ghz intel core i7 with 4mb L3 cache; turbo boost up to 3.1ghz; 8gb of DDR3 SDRAM;

Or should I go with newer model with SSD flash drive ... but no cd rom, firewire, ethernet, and frankly for me to afford it, a smaller drive size.

Please help

[lexaudio]

A newer model will not boot into an older Os required for PT8. Goto the
PT8 page on AVID for OS requirements but I think OS 10.5 was the last OS supported by PT8.

You need to know the OS for this Mac Book Pro. If I were you, I'd get a new MacBook Pro (or referb from Apple of an earlier model that boots into Mountain Lion) and get PT 10/11 as PT8 is just going to keep you in the dark ages forever.

LEX

[YYR123]

What OS? I thought PT8 support was stopped at 10.6.8

[TDub]

Appreciate the responses. It does have OS X (10 I assume )

I am thinking of going to PT 11 sometime, but don't have the cash to do that (and newer MacBook PRO) right now.
This one will still work when I do move to PT11 I would think.
But I also like that it has a DVD drive, which I really can't understand why most macbooks don't (that's a little dark ages if you ask me! lol)
For my budget, to get the newest MacBookPRO, I'm getting a slower processor (2.4ghz i5) and smaller harddrive (256gb) ... so I'm a bit torn.
Maybe you are right. Hmmmm.

Any other opinions/thoughts? Not sure whether to open this box, or swap it for a newer, but "less powerful/less HD capacity" ...
Why can't this be easy ; )

[Southsidemusic]

If you want to be sure to have a working MBP for PT11 you need an i7 processor and a minimum of 8GB ram. However your harddrive is too slow for really working with a session that has VI and plugins so if you decide to keep this MBP, swap out the internal dvd/cd and put a SSD 256/512 GB samsung pro 840 or 840 ECO so you record to that one as your internal drive is only 5400 rpm which is gonna be waaayyyy to slow for using PT.

To make it simple, Choose i7 CPU and get atleast one SSD drive for recording to and preferably swap out the 5400 rpm aswell to a 2.5" SSD or a mini um 7200rpm..

Always choose the better CPU as RAM can be swapped out pretty cheaply but a CPU will be expensive to change later on

Best of Luck
Chris

[TDub]

Really great feedback/response. Thank you Chris.
Well, I think I should be smart and take this one back and get the newer version. Getting one with i7 and 8gb is so pricey is the big problem.

The new MBP with i7 and 8gb and SSD drive, I can run PT 8.03 on this one, correct? I'm having hard time deciphering the avid system requirements tables to be honest.

[Southsidemusic]

Hi

You can NOT run PT8 on Mavericks nor 10.8 and you would need PT11 for the new computer. If you are gonna ise PT8 you would need an older OSX like 10.6.8 or the likes. Just stude the compatibility chart so you are 100000% sure you get the correct OSX and PT version. If you want to be sure then upgrade to PT11 and you won't have these headaches.

Sorry to be the barer of nad news but PT8 is really ancient now and won't be compatible with anything newer.

Christopher

[Southsidemusic]

Here is a snippet of the compatibility chart :

Compatibility Summary

Pro Tools 8.0.5 supports the same Pro Tools core systems as version 8.0.3 and 8.0.4, with the following operating systems:

Mac OS X 10.6.1 – 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard)
Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard)
Windows XP Service Pack 3 (Home or Professional, 32-bit)
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (32-bit)
Windows 7 (32 and 64-bit)
Windows 7 is officially supported with Pro Tools LE and M-Powered 8.0.4 and higher, Pro Tools SE 8.0.3, and Pro Tools M-Powered Essential 8.0.3
Although not officially supported, Pro Tools HD 8.0.5 can be used on Windows 7 (32 and 64-bit). Pro Tools HD 9 adds official support for Windows 7.

Please Note:
Pro Tools 8.0.5 will be the last version of Pro Tools to support Macintosh Leopard (10.5.x), and Windows Vista operating systems. It will also be the last version of Pro Tools LE and M-Powered to support Windows XP.

End snippet!

[TDub]

This is really great, thanks so much for taking the time to help me through this Chris.
Well, I think I will bite the bullet and get the newer MBP with i7 and 8gb ram .... I may not be able to use PT8 on it, but I will continue to use my desktop computer for now, and maybe in a month I will splurge on PT11. Wish it wasn't so pricey for those who've spent money on several previous versions of PT already, but ah well.

Thank you again, very much appreciate the advice and info!

Trevor

[TDub]

Oh hey, Chris, just one more thing if you don't mind. I asked this one before but got a couple of different answers and just want to be sure ... once I do get the MBP and PT11, can I move sessions back and forth between the MBP and my Windows based desktop I'm using now?
I think Albee said he does it with no problems (ie. a session I'm working on with the desktop computer in my studio, then be able to save it onto a thumbdrive or external drive of some sort, and put it over onto my MBP, and then open PT and mix on there) ... but someone else mentioned it wasn't as easy.
Any advice/thoughts on that one?

thanks again