New MacBook Pro 16"?

[jbreher]

Through an odd series of events, I've recently moved my daily driver (i.e., everything but PT) from a 2018 15" MacBook Pro running Mojave, to a maxed out* 2019 16" MBP, which refuses to run nothing older than Catalina.

*other than 4TB storage rather than the max 8.

I had been planning on migrating PT to a nMP. Now that the tests are in, I'm not so sure it makes more sense to use my MBP 16" laptop.

I'd need to acquire a Thunderbolt - PCIe expansion unit from Sonnet or somesuch to house the HD Native card. Probably (?) need to update PT from HD 10 to current Ultimate.

Anyone out there know whether this configuration would be expected to work?

[Darryl Ramm]

Just pick up an Avid Thunderbolt HD Native box. Lot quieter and more compact than many external expansion chassis. And will be cheaper... if you sell your current HD card..

You actually need the very latest Pro Tools 2019.12 or later to run on Mojave, and with 2019.12 make sure you understand the limitations/see the release doc. And you need a DigiLink license that you did not before to get DigiLink anything to work. All stuff discussed many times before on DUC which you can google for.

[jbreher]

Thanks. I had considered that. But the MBP fan is loud enough to be relegated to the machine room along with the HD I/Os. And TB is only good for a few meters. I already have the requisite connections remoted. Plus, bolting the unit into a rack (the TB-PCIe expansion chassis, not the laptop) gives me warm fuzzies. And allows for further PCIe expansion (e.g., NVMe drives). And makes moving from system to system easier.

Though you mention Mojave. Nonstarter. As I noted in initial post, the new MBP refuses to run anything older than Catalina.

I do have the DigiLink License - was included with my OMNI purchase.

Thanks for the note on 2019.12.

Again, I am looking for a statement from anyone who knows the combination of 2019 16" MBP / HD Native PCIe / PT to work, and where the dependency points* might be. Or knows that it does not/will notwork.

*such as your 2019.12 requirement - though that seems unsettled due to your Mojave mention.

[Darryl Ramm]

Oops I meant Catalina, first Catalina support is 2019.12.

And FYI thunderbolt 1/2 optical cables that can do hundreds of feet exist, and Thunderbolt 3 optical cables are not far away.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by jbreher

Probably (?) need to update PT from HD 10 to current Ultimate.

Yes. HD hardware needs HD (erm, Ultimate) license