11Rack w/MacBook

[DUlrich]

Hello all, I have been a long time windows person but am pondering making the jump to MAC. I dot currently own an 11rack but is on my purcahse list as i am planning on purchasing a mac book (standard 999 one) based on the requirments for the 11 rack this meets them but am wondering if anyone is using it with a macbook and if so what is your set up and how is the expierence. My plan would be to use the mac book for 6months to a year than move into one of the higher end pros ..

DAve

[Darryl Ramm]

It is not the Eleven rack that is likely to cause you issues as much as software instruments and plugins if you use them running in ProTools consuming compute power.

I also personally would not want a Mac without FireWire at least for external disk drive use for ProTools and support for other interfaces.

But it depends on what you want to do. How much recording, plugins etc. or if you just want to save rigs, upgrade firmware, etc.

With Sandy bridge processors coming I would personally be holding off purchasing a new Mac until they start to appear (at the high end... It may take too long to trickle down to lower end units).

I drive my Eleven Rack with a ~1year old 17" MBP.

Darryl

[DUlrich]

I guess i just want to get up and running using the 11 rack maybe with some drums base in the backround and some midi kybd type stuff.. get my feet of the ground but not go spend 2k on a mac right now .. would rather spend the 2k on the 11rack + macbook.. If that makes sense .. I do have win7x64 desktop ... safe to assume what i did on the macbook i could transfer there?

[Benoni]

Originally Posted by DUlrich

Hello all, I have been a long time windows person but am pondering making the jump to MAC. I dot currently own an 11rack but is on my purcahse list as i am planning on purchasing a mac book (standard 999 one) based on the requirments for the 11 rack this meets them but am wondering if anyone is using it with a macbook and if so what is your set up and how is the expierence. My plan would be to use the mac book for 6months to a year than move into one of the higher end pros ..

DAve

just wondering why you want to go Mac after using Windows for so long?

For the price of $999 you could get an amazing Asus or HP Laptop with 17.3" screen, i7 cpu, dedicated 1GB video chip, 2 internal Hard drive bays, Windows 7 64 bit, 6 to 9GBs of DDR3 Ram, and it will have Firewire, several USB ports and an E-Sata port, and probably a VGA and HDMI as well.

Nothing wrong with Mac's mind you, I just think they are overpriced for what you get hardware/part wise.

[DAR Fritz]

I'm using a 4 year old MacBook w/2gig of ram along with my 11r. I started out using PT 8.03 that came w/ the 11r but became frustrated with low track counts/plugins ect.. I've since moved over to Logic Express 9 and have been very pleased. While I've been using Digi since the old Sound Designer days, the switch to Logic increased the functionality on my (old)MacBook. I'll probably move to PT9 at some point when I get a new Mac because I kind of miss the way PT interfaces with the 11r. But for now Logic and the 11r are working for me just fine.

Hopefully there will be a stand alone utility soon for the Mac w/o having to launch PT to save 11r rigs.

Cheers!

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by DUlrich

I guess i just want to get up and running using the 11 rack maybe with some drums base in the backround and some midi kybd type stuff.. get my feet of the ground but not go spend 2k on a mac right now .. would rather spend the 2k on the 11rack + macbook.. If that makes sense .. I do have win7x64 desktop ... safe to assume what i did on the macbook i could transfer there?

If you have a Windows 7 PC why nor run ProTools on that now and get used to your Eleven Rack.

Sure stuff can transfer between the Mac and Windows but you can't run ProTools 8 on the PC unless the Eleven Rack is connected. You could upgrade to ProTools 9 to use an iLok to allow this without needing the Eleven Rack, but then what you want to do on the PC may need the Eleven Rack interface anyhow. So why not just start working on the PC now?

Do you specifically need a portable ProTools recording solution ? - the Eleven Rack is very usable stand-alone as a processor/fx box with no computer.

Darryl

[derker]

I use a Macbook (older, 2.13GHz C2D with 2GB RAM) and it works great with 11r. Actually, I really like this combination, it just seems to work real smoothly. I was a PC guy until about 8 months ago when I picked up this laptop on a whim, changed my whole outlook. Snow Leopard just seems to work, and theres less to putz around with to optimize it for PT.

[DUlrich]

From what i have read and from prior experience pro tools is buggy on win7 x64.. no need for portability at present but would like to learn MAC figured getting a macbook with some extra holiday money i have might be a good time to start...

[VaiSatchAtrucci]

Originally Posted by derker

I use a Macbook (older, 2.13GHz C2D with 2GB RAM) and it works great with 11r. Actually, I really like this combination, it just seems to work real smoothly. I was a PC guy until about 8 months ago when I picked up this laptop on a whim, changed my whole outlook. Snow Leopard just seems to work, and theres less to putz around with to optimize it for PT.

It doesn't degrade over time either as I've experienced time and time again with my PC's - less overall maintenance too in the long run may cost more, but it will last you MUCH longer. Highly recommend taking advantage of the Apple Plan as well for complete peace of mind. Worth the extra $$$ if you go that route.

[cessnapilot]

1st of all I love my MacBook Pro. Best computer purchase ever. I have had nothing but the most annoying problems at the worst possible times with anything Windows. They're dead to me.

2nd of all why would you spend a grand on a mac now just to buy another more powerful one in a year anyway?