Fully spammed MacBook Pro or Imac ??

[Analogue Kid]

Hi

Hope your all having a good weekend

We're having discussions at our place over our new Mac purchases to run PT10 with HDX cards-

The latest upgrade for the MacPro was pretty dismal to say the least- No Thunderbolt :-( a serious downer- so we're left with Macbook Pro or Imac ??

Any thoughts ??

We have the budget to spam both of these machines to the max -

As always thanks for your anticipated and valued replies

Best



Andy
Analogue Baby
www.analoguebaby.com

[albee1952]

2 countries, separated by a common language Over here, spam is not so good. In any case, my vote would be for the iMac i7 27" screen. Unless you really NEED to be portable(which I doubt due to your comments on the new Mac Pro) the iMac 27" screen is gorgeous(and way easier on the eyes than any laptop). Then you can add a second 27" monitor Plus, I've never seen a studio for rent that based its operation on a laptop!?

[Dism]

Originally Posted by albee1952

2 countries, separated by a common language Over here, spam is not so good. In any case, my vote would be for the iMac i7 27" screen. Unless you really NEED to be portable(which I doubt due to your comments on the new Mac Pro) the iMac 27" screen is gorgeous(and way easier on the eyes than any laptop). Then you can add a second 27" monitor Plus, I've never seen a studio for rent that based its operation on a laptop!?

Yes, especially since the latest iMacs have been sporting dedicated graphics and if budget permits as you say, you could spring for the screaming fast 6-core i7 (not available on the Macbook). You can even cram a second hard drive in there, either through Apple (more epensive) or if you're brave enough to open it yourself, with a kit from OWC.

[Analogue Kid]

Thanks fellas !!!


Andy

[bad jitter]

How you plan to use HDX with iMac?

[whitecat]

Both options will put the machine's fans right in front of you, which means on a heavy, heavy mix loaded with edits and non-DSP plug-ins you could have a lot of noise in the control room that you don't really want.

A Mac mini (get the server version) is a viable option if you want to get the CPU nice and far away. Will be similar in speed to the Macbook Pros (maybe a little slower until they refresh them).

The iMac will be the fastest overall option in all likelihood but you'll have to learn to live with that noise if you work on really complex stuff.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by whitecat

Both options will put the machine's fans right in front of you, which means on a heavy, heavy mix loaded with edits and non-DSP plug-ins you could have a lot of noise in the control room that you don't really want.

A Mac mini (get the server version) is a viable option if you want to get the CPU nice and far away. Will be similar in speed to the Macbook Pros (maybe a little slower until they refresh them).

The iMac will be the fastest overall option in all likelihood but you'll have to learn to live with that noise if you work on really complex stuff.

Mac Mini is really not an option for serious long sessions. They are heat generators with not a lot of cooling capacity. They get hot real quick, particularly if you've also got video in the mix. Besides you'd still be dealing with an external box for HDX cards. Granted they are quiet - I can track with open mics not that far away from mine - but as I said - it does get quite warm and heat is a computer's enemy even if it's still within design limits.

[Carl Lie]

Curious why MacPro is out of the question since it's what most of us are running HDx on.

The 6 core is a great machine.

I like the laptops but I would not go with the new retina display model.

http://m.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06...retina-displa/

Carl
______

[mostapha]

Because they think newer = better. Or cost.

http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

Not completely indicative of Pro Tools performance, but still……Also, that 15" Pro is impressive for a laptop.

[whitecat]

The lack of Thunderbolt on the existing Mac Pro design is the only thing keeping me away. If it's the way forward for the next 5-10 years and high then I'd want my machine to have it.