15" Mac Book or Pro????????

[cary chilton]

First, is Leopard and PT getting along yet? I have been holding out , but I want to go Mac one day.... My co worker said not to worry about HD size as it is supposedly easy to replace. I noticed the macbook pro has the 800 and 400 firewire. Is the 15" macbook just a good is the pro version?

thanks

Cary

[Michael Hurwitz]

I'm using a MBPro with a 003 system, rock solid!

MH

[Ziko]

The macbook gives you more grunt for the money, the macbook pro gives you more screen and more inputs (USB and FW).
Personally I got the macbook pro late last year and I love using it, the 15" screen is a pleasure to use and I'm not a fan of the glossy screens at all (macbook is glossy only, pro's you can choose).

So it really depends on what you're going to use the laptop for.

If you're on a budget though, there's really no reason why you can't run a great setup with the macbook, running a fw interface like a 003 plus a fw external drive on the one fw interface is supported, or if you get a USB interface (e.g. mbox2) you can then use the fw solely for your external drive.

Yeah drive space is no biggie, if you run a laptop setup, an external fw drive for the PT sessions folders is pretty much a necessity so just make sure that's got enough space for your needs.

Hope this helps.

[davegibbon]

I run a 003R with a 2.0Ghz Mac Book and it has been totally rock solid. I've produced albums and ad soundtracks using this setup. It's important to remember that the MB pro won't make your recordings sound any better...

[cary chilton]

It's important to remember that the MB pro won't make your recordings sound any better...

As silly as that sounds, it is a good reminder to all that have itchy pockets. I don't care about a gloss or non-gloss screen, I don't care about the multi touchpad either. I do care about speed and if the pro is that much more solid or not? What about the fireports 400,800 on the pro -is that a huge advantage ? Enough to justify 1000 dollars more?? thoughts?

[Ziko]

I'd say definitely not worth another 1000 (and I'm a pro user) if your only concern is PT performance.

Running your PT interface and an external drive daisy chined off the one fw400 port is supported so the lack of ports on a standard macbook really isn't an issue.

Re the "solid" question, I guess possibly the pro has a more physically solid case (anyone have a good understaning of this?), otherwise there's really no reason to see a pro as being more solid.

[jonboi]

Originally Posted by Ziko

I'd say definitely not worth another 1000 (and I'm a pro user) if your only concern is PT performance.

Running your PT interface and an external drive daisy chined off the one fw400 port is supported so the lack of ports on a standard macbook really isn't an issue.

can you please explain this daisy chain set up?
if i buy a mac book, usb audio interface, and firewire drive.
is daisy chain still the best set up?

[Naagzh]

Laptop -> FW Drive -> FW Interface

Daisy-chaining isn't necessary or practical with, say, an Mbox. You can't daisy-chain a FW device to a USB device, or vice-versa.

A friend of mine has an Mbox Mini on an older Macbook. It was a total nightmare. He's back to Garage Band. I'm of the opinion that Digi's USB devices will invariably disappoint. Not enough ins and outs, too many errors, below-the-bar ADDA, and the software and UI are intimidating to the novice or casual songwriter.

I would say the MBP is worth another 1000 bucks, though. More CPU power for dense mixes is REALLY nice to have. I'll agree that the additional power is not a necessity for most of us, but man, it is so WORTH it...