What is Better More Ram or a SSD Hardrive for a laptop

[hmic10]

I am looking to get a Macbook Air with Core i7 or MacBook Pro, hopefully it will work with the newer laptops since it has not been tested according to the website.
I only have x amount of dollars, I can get an 8 gigs of ram and a 256 SSD hard drive Mac Book Air or
Mac Book Pro with 16 Gigs of Ram and 5400 INternal hard drive, which would have better performance?

[dr_daw]

I would recommend staying away from Macbook Air, they're not endorsed for 'hard' use with ProTools. Also be aware that if it's a new Macbook, that ProTOols is not supported in Yosemite which all new apples are being shipped with.

I would recommend getting a refurbished late 2012 Macbook pro as the ram isn't soldered, and you can open them up and swap out drives, and get one installed with Mountain Lion if you're intending on running Pro Tools 10 at all.

Good luck, now is not the time to upgrade until Avid get's their 'sh*t' together.

[serio]

Since you say the pro has a 5400 rpm HD, I'm guessing its a non-retina model. I'd go with that and then install any quality SSD.

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by serio

Since you say the pro has a 5400 rpm HD, I'm guessing its a non-retina model. I'd go with that and then install any quality SSD.

Yes agree with this!!

Stay away from any hard drive that says "Green/Blue" or 5400rpm as that will kill your PT sessions straight away.

Also You need a secondary drive (external) or swipe the DVD optical to a secondary drive for recording to.

This is a MUST for any session worth while BUT .. If you get a good SSD internal OS drive atleast 256GB you can get by recording to that for now to save up for an externa SSD or a WDC Black hard drive in a ext casing.

One thing for sure is that the 5400rpm drive is useless and you can definitly NOT use it for anything alone so if you can't afford a good SSD os drive you also need an external drive if you are planning on keeping the 5400rpm for OS.

all the best and hope you get a good MBP and not an MAC AIR.

Christopher

[lemonkid]

And I would not buy a refurbished old model macbook pro from 2012 just because it has no yosemite. Buy the newest model you can get with at least 8GB RAM (more is better even if you have a fast SSD) and at least 256 GB SSD.

You wil get along fine. Just take a look at http://goo.gl/lKDZ9

Sniff around this website a bit. Those guys maxed out some computers with PT11 on the internal SSD drive. I did not know you could. At home I always use an external drive but at my next trip I will just use my internal one.

A SSD makes your computer faster but more RAM makes it blazing...

It is just a couple of weeks or months before yosemite is supported and if you consider this you understand why the newest computer is better.

[VRW]

Agree with the others that if only having those both options, you´d better go with the MacBook Pro.

If it would be that one
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP649?vi...E&locale=de_DE
(2012, 2,5GHz, 13", 5400rpm HDD (originally)...)
you would have a bunch of options to upgrade it.

If it would be that one it would be the same I personally use as my mobile solution and I can tell you
a few things from my personal experience.

It´s very easy to replace the original drive with a faster one and you additionally have the option to
replace the built in optical drive with a 2nd (built in) drive for your Pro Tools sessions/audio files if you
would want it.

What´s great is that you already have 16GB Ram which is very useful with Pro Tools 11 and as to the
replacement for the OS drive you definitely should get a SSD with at least 256GB.

I at first used a 7200rpm HDD (instead of the original 5400rpm) which did work too but it used up a lot
more battery power than the SSD I´m using now which does become kinda pain in the long run, particularly
if you want to work on the go most of the time.

So there are a few options.
1. replacing the OS drive with a smaller SSD (at least 256GB), using an external drive for the Pro Tools sessions/audio files
2. replacing the OS drive with a larger (higher quality) SSD and recording only to the OS drive directly
3. replacing the OS drive with a smaller SSD (at least 256GB) and replacing the optical drive with another SSD for the audio files

The reason why I do not recommend any HDD for any kind of drive in the MBP anymore is just the power consumption which is
crucially higher with HDDs compared to SSDs. Particularly with version 3 (with 2 internal drives) it would not make any sense
using 1 or even 2 HDDs anymore as it would be suck too much power on the go.

I personally use version 2, optionally using an external drive additionally if needed (for sessions with 50+ tracks).
I use a really high quality 512GB Samsung 850 Pro SSD for the OS drive which makes it possible to record only to the OS drive
too which is a quite convenient solution as long as you will not have sessions with many more than 50 tracks.
It should be a Samsung 850 Pro because these can handle lots of writing for a much longer time than the Evo or even the 840
Pro or any other SATA SSD.
It would be $320.- at Amazon for the 512GB but it is really really worth the price in the long run.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-512GB-...amsung+850+Pro
If you could afford it there is a 1TB 850 too.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-In...amsung+850+Pro


For the other versions you could use cheaper SSDs too like...

for version 1... a Samsung 840 Evo 250GB for the OS drive, but you would need an external drive too which would at least
have to be a 7200rpm HDD with FW800 connection (no USB 2), USB 3 or Thunderbolt.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-...amsung+840+Evo
Most affordable yet good quality external 7200rpm HDD with USB 3
http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-Rugged-P...Rugged+7200rpm
...with USB 3+FW800
http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-Rugged-F...Rugged+7200rpm
(this is the one I personally use additionally, it´s a fast, decent quality external HDD)

for version 3... a Samsung 840 Evo 250GB for the OS drive and a Samsung 840 Evo 500GB or 1TB for the replacement of the
optical drive. Actually a 512GB Samsung 850 Pro for the optical drive replacement would be the better, more reliable choice but
that would get a bit expensive probably.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-...amsung+840+Evo

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-500GB-...amsung+840+Evo

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-512GB-...amsung+850+Pro

To mount the 2nd internal drive in the optical drive bay you also would need this one
http://www.amazon.com/Doubler-Conver...o+Data+Doubler

Finally let me say that this 2012 MBP 2,5GHz 13" is a nice, solid and versatile machine and since Mac OS Yosemite Pro Tools 11
does work well again on it (there were some issues with Mavericks but they are gone with Yosemite fortunately) ...
although it might not be officially supported with PT11 anymore (however it was on the list when PT11 came out, they removed
it later then ). Actually with Yosemite it does work well again with Pro Tools 11.2.2.

For editing and programming with PT11 it´s no problem at all to use the MBP with the internal audio engine only, without any
external audio interface.
Because of this option it does make sense to select a "drive-option" which allows you to work without an external drive too.
So you only would have to pick your iLok 2 and the MBP and you would be ready to work on the go. No external devices needed
anymore.

Therefor I would recommend to go for version 2 or version 3 although this would mean to invest a bit more money but it would be
really worth it in the long run!

I´m aware of that this is a pretty comprehensive posting but I hope it will help you anyway.

The best of success to you,


VRW




Mac Mini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MBP Mid 2012 2,5GHz i5, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.10.1 Yosemite, Apogee Quartet+Duet 2
Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10, Pro Tools 11.2.2, Logic 10.0.7, Waves, MCDSP, Duende Native, HOFA, IK Multimedia, NI etc.

[VRW]

PS...what I forgot to mention is that you would have to download/install/use this little application
on using any 3rd party SSD (means every SSD you will not have bought directly from the Apple store).
It´s been made to enable Trim support which is needed with SSDs. Otherwise the SSDs will not run at
their advertised speed as well as would have a much shorter lifetime. It´s called "Trim Enabler".

http://www.cindori.org/software/trimenabler/
(there is a free version which does the job)

If using a Samsung 840 Evo (or Pro), you also will have to perform a firmware update.
You will find the downloads when you scroll down.
http://www.samsung.com/global/busine...downloads.html
...if using a Mac, you only have to do the firmware update, you don´t need all the other softwares
and stuff (Samsung Magician etc.).

With the Samsung 850 Pro however you won´t have to do anything else but to enable Trim via
the Cindori-application on your Mac, there´s no firmware update needed with the 850.



Actually let me say, IF you however could afford a new MacBook Pro, I would definitely recommend to buy it
(although I love my 2012 MBP, I´m really satisfied and happy with it and PT11 does work well on it with Yosemite!).
It´s just because you would not have to do all the tweaking and "building", you only would have to buy and simply use it.
You not even would have to care about enabling Trim support because for their own, original Apple SSDs Apple have enabled
this important function by default in the Mac OS.

So just in case, this would be the cheapest new MBP which would make sense for the use with PT11 and future versions.
http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/ma.../A&step=config
...this will be a 15" 2,2GHz i7 Quad Core MBP with 16GB Ram originally which would work perfectly with PT11
and you only would have to choose the 512GB Flash drive over of the original 256GB because this finally would give you the
sense making option to use only your internal drive for everything in the future.
There would be no need for any external drive anymore by selecting the 512GB Flash drive.
It will be $1999.- originally+$300.- for the 512GB Flash drive. But that would completely be it, nothing else to buy computer
related anymore.

That´s it actually.


Wishing you the best,


cheers,


VRW

[hmic10]

VRW
Thank you soooo much; It is very comprehensive; Another couple of questions:
1. If I go with an new pro with 256 and I run Komplete/BFD/Superior Drummer; Should install these on the OS drive ? Can I put the samples on the external drive that is recording to the hard drive? Or should I get two external drives?

I just want to get everything done and be done with it!!

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by hmic10

I just want to get everything done and be done with it!!

Then you need to buy a top-of-the-line retina MBP that has 16GB memory and a really wicked fast SSD, and preferably the faster i7 CPU :)

[dr_daw]

Again, just a reminder that Pro Tools is NOT supported on Yosemite as of yet.