New Computer Upgrade

[BUP]

i am upgrading my Old G5 to a new Mac. I was thinking of the Mac Pro but i just saw the new macbook pro. Is it worth going with a Macbook with an external drive or will the Mac pro just outperform it all around.
I will be using PT10, Logic 8, BFD, Live and 002.

[jasonthurley]

IMO I think that the Macbook Pro is a great computer... some things to think about:

Cons

-The new ones only come with 1 USB and 2 Thunderbolt Ports (No Firewire)
-If you go one model back (non retina display version) you have 1 Firewire 800 port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and 1 Thunderbolt port.
-If you wanted to expand in the future to be able to use external cards (PCI/PCIE) you will have to purchase a Thunderbolt Chassis (they are kinda pricy)

Pros

-For a portable system it is quite fast and can hold plenty of RAM
-It can process and handle quite a lot of RTAS plugins (For a non-HD system)
-It costs 1/2 the price of a Mac Pro (If you juice up the Mac Pro it can be 1/4th the cost)
-The Macbook Pro will be around and produced/improved for many years to come

Mac Pro (Tower)

Cons
-Not portable
-Cost a lot
-Might be the last of its kind (Might not be able to upgrade much in the future and the line might be discontinued and replaced with a new design)
-Only comes with Lion (No earlier OS is compatible)

Pros
-Will outperform the Macbook Pro by a long shot if its loaded to the teeth with CPU and RAM (Of course that makes it cost 4 times the amount)
-Expandable (you can upgrade to an HD system or Native system in the future)

[BFrederick]

Correcting 1 detail above: I have the new Retina MBP - it has 2 USB 3.0 ports, not 1.

Runs PT10 quite well so far. Can't wait for more 3rd party applications to be updated for the retina graphics.

My Waves plugins have bizarre GUI issues, though.

[jasonthurley]

Originally Posted by BFrederick

Correcting 1 detail above: I have the new Retina MBP - it has 2 USB 3.0 ports, not 1.

Runs PT10 quite well so far. Can't wait for more 3rd party applications to be updated for the retina graphics.

My Waves plugins have bizarre GUI issues, though.

Thanks for the correction!

Are you running Waves V9? Just out of curiosity....

I an running Waves 9 with PT 10.2 on Lion in a majority of my setups and they are quite solid so far...

[Bielefeld]

Originally Posted by BFrederick

Correcting 1 detail above: I have the new Retina MBP - it has 2 USB 3.0 ports, not 1.

Runs PT10 quite well so far. Can't wait for more 3rd party applications to be updated for the retina graphics.

My Waves plugins have bizarre GUI issues, though.

I have the new Retina MBP with Pro Tools 10 and love it. Pro Tools does seem to have some GUI issues with the Retina screen though. Hopefully when Avid updates Pro Tools to work with Mountain Lion they will fix that.

Basically other than some lines in the window do to the Retina display PT 10 runs flawlessly.