Mac setup for Pro Tools...

[pguy]

Thanks Again Guy's.

Gunny T where did you buy your Mac Pro?

Gunny T & L-Dogg...If you don't mind my asking.....How much were they it at the time you purchased them?

[GunnyT]

I was happy to get my Mac Pro via Sweetwater. I ordered the MBox 2 Pro at the same time, and had them load up (and test) PT LE for me (as part of the complete turnkey install). So, all I had to do was hook up the FW, turn everything on, and start making music. Just the way I wanted it.

The Mac Pro (which I had included one 23" apple display, and the Apple Protection Plan) was $7500.

Money well spent, in my eyes. I don't plan on upgrading for a long, long while. I included the best processor, and the most RAM I could afford. I got extra (internal and external) HDs, and a 23" display later on (the easy stuff to upgrade).

If you have any other questions, feel free to email me. Addy is in my profile.

[BryanW]

$7500?!!?!? You must have done a lot of upgrading! What'd you do to that beast?

(My $2800 January '08 mac pro also rocks!)

[GunnyT]

Like I said, I opted for the most I could afford at the time: 3.0 Ghz 8-core, 8 GB RAM, 23" cinema display, and the apple protection plan, of course

That's before all of the programs, monitors, power cleaner/conditioner, external drives, internal drives, Digi 003 factory, MIDI controllers, desk, 2nd display, and a new MacBook Pro.

[nukepicnic]

I'd always advise on maxing out the ram on any system you get, it never hurts... I just bought 4 gigs of ram for a brand new macbook pro for $100 from Crucial, who it seems everyone recommends as the most reliable ram out there. I know you guys say NOT to record your sound files to your internal drive, but I've been using a powerbook for years now with a 7200 rpm drive installed and recording to it with no problems... the important thing I did was PARTITION the drive so that I had a media partition seperate from the startup partition... any thoughts on this? I'm installing a 7200rpm drive in my new macbook pro and was considering partitioning that drive as well before reinstalling the OS.... but I'm open to hear arguments why that's not the way to go.

[pguy]

BryanW....So yours is brand new, just about 2 months old and it's solid.....Where did you get yours?

Were you on a PC prior to getting it or have you been a Mac guy for years?

I'm still undecided as to whether I 'm going to take the plunge into to world of Mac and Pro Tools or to just stay with the PC's.

[sonny7]

Hello...... Is crucial the "best "place to get ram???? I did see that they have the downloadable scanner and all. I was going to just goto my local Mac shop and buy it and have them put it in (bad move??)

and just MHO I just switched to Mac in sept 07, LONG TIME windows guy and mac really was a pretty easy transition. I actually love it. I got a mac pro 2.66 4 gigs of ram 2 internal HD and WOW really does work great (I was told to get a mac before they switched OS )

But any opinion on buying the ram is greatly appreiated

Also I do not use an external HD, just my 2 internal (1 internal for OS the other for recording audio) is it imperative that I get an external hard drive (at least for back up?)


sorry for the long multiple post but mac does kick

[smbirddog]

I'm not sure if Crucial is the "Best" place to buy ram, but I have purchased a lot of ram for both Mac and PC from them and have never been disappointed. I would highly reccomend them.

[GunnyT]

Sonny7,

I have 4 internal HDs in my Mac Pro.

Mac HD
Mac HD backup (cloned from Mac HD)
Samples
Samples backuP (cloned from Samples)

So in case something drastic happens, I'm covered. Both of the samples drives are 7200 RPM, and I haven't had a single issue with them.

If in a situation where you can't add internal HD (a laptop for instance) that meets minimum PT requirements, then it's recommended to use an external FW HD (not write to the internal, and not use an external USB drive).