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Looks like I'm fully biting into the Apple - is a 2011 MacBook Pro still usable?
Someone's selling one for $160 CAD (~125 USD) and I know nothing about MacBooks except that I was impressed it has 16GB of RAM. I also think I have one of them full-PC-in-a-monitor-type-Macs stashed on my boat somewhere, no idea what year or model it is.
edit: after reading some other things i feel like its important to note that this has a 256GB SSD installed in it. as well, i'm currently using ableton 11 but wouldn't be adverse to downgrading to 10 if necessary)
Basically wondering a few things...
Is the 2011 still viable? I mainly use my iPhone 8 for Apple-related music production stuff so that's as far as I'd need to go in terms of Apple modernity.
As far as my desktop setup goes, I use an Akai MPK Mini 2 and I'm getting an Alesis 49key something-pro-50-billion-buttons-to-automate-all-the-transport-controls. (Also if anyone's ever used one of those - that description should really be enough, if you've got one then you'll know what I mean lol - how are they for controlling Ableton and/or other DAWs on Mac?)
I currently use Ableton for most of my desktop-based music making. However the only thing I've made recently that I actually like was made in Groovebox then ported to Ableton, so I'm not adverse to switching DAWs although I do feel like finishing that track finally let me get the hang of Ableton. Is Ableton fully supported on Mac?
IIRC, FL Studio isn't supported that well on Mac. But that's fine I can keep my PC for that. Actually I'm keeping my PC regardless, I'm just getting a MacBook what am I talking about lol.
Overall, I guess, how much benefit is there actually to switching from a PC to a Mac-based desktop setup for music production if I primarily use iOS for getting my ideas out? What massive differences in terms of simplicity and ease of access are there? What sort of drawbacks are there?
Here's the track I made btw. Just exported a groovebox .als and switched up the instruments. The Groovebox original is definitely mixed better but has significantly less depth to it. But it also sounds much better on mobile speakers and/or mono.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=cYC_8qh8Pd0
Comments
If you're planning to play any halfway resource hungry, modern synths polyphonically then I wouldn't bite.
Sure you could search for less cpu heavy synths and effects but it's not going to be fun.
this is good advice actually, but i'm not sure i have much foundation to compare it to. as it stands my current PC I think is a 2013 model with 16 GB of ram and I think a 2.8gHZ processor (wow. that's - wow. whenever I see it I just think, "ooh shiny new black box," but I guess I've had it for dang near 6 years now and it wasn't even that new to begin with.) so that should give you an idea of what sort of stuff I max out with.
The track I linked to pushed my PC way beyond its functionality. I had to re-bounce it like 5 times because once I loaded the final synth all I could hear was the scratchies so I had to bounce the whole song to get a reference to figure out how I had to adjust it. But there's only 8 tracks in the whole song and 4 of them are using ableton stock plugins.
edit: y'know, it probably would be pretty nice to be able to load more than one instance of Kontakt or Analog Lab... never actually let myself consider that possibility until now.
Is it a quad core i7?
I don’t think I would bother with a 2011 MacBook. 2017 seems to be the earliest year that can still update to the latest os
And the latest version of. Logic with Ableton Link needs the latest OS.
I think link would make integration with iphone/iPad so much easier
Just so you know, you can run Ableton Live 11 on the a 2011 macbook pro (i5, 8 gb ram, ssd) It runs fine as does Reason 10 and an earlier version of Logic. I can run Reason with lots of devices and Logic is running multiple devices also. Idam also works like a charm. I would go for it for the price. I paid $150 for it a couple of years a go and it runs high sierra but you can produce music with it. But honestly if you can find a 2015 macbook pro i7 with 16gb ram, it’s a beast and you can get them for the right price.
This would be a good way to start fooling around. Ultimately, you will probably want a MacMini M1 or similar. But this is a great deal for what's included.
I’m still using a 2012 MBP with an external USB SSD drive - works ok, occasional CPU warnings and memory (only 8gb ram) but does the job. Handy having an audio in too.
If it’s a 13inch, DEFINITELY not. A 15inch would probably get you more mileage with an older version of Logic , as far as Ableton 11 goes you’ll probably get maybe a couple instances of the Wavestate synth before it starts distorting, especially if you’re playing chords, I upgraded to a 2020 MBP from a 2011 13inch MBP, which still runs Logic Pro 10.4.2 well enough. It’s running Sierra atm…you definitely can’t run the latest Mac OS on it but I generally don’t care about running the latest OS if everything I use works well, I’m not running the latest OS on my 2020 MBP.
Also to answer one of your other questions as far as benefits of a Mac goes, you don’t have to bother with drivers like you do on PCs for the most part, once in a while you’ll need to install a driver for something, like using a newer Mpc as a controller but overall as long as you have midi compliant gear you’re good.
Long story short, if you can stand it, spend more money on a newer Mac, but if you can’t try avoiding old 13inch Macs, my brother runs an old 2012 15inch Mac and I’m still amazed at how well it runs and how many plugins he can get away with, unlike the 13 inch, the 15 inch has a separate graphics built in card so the cpu isn’t handling the graphics, which is why I’m saying don’t go with an old 13 inch.
You’re likely to not be able to update to recent versions of MacOS, and that might limit what you can install.
I have a mid 2014 MacBook pro 2.5 quad i7, 16gb ram and it works. I would not want anything older than what I have.
I dont even want what I have but it is what I have so I can make it work. No more OS updates and it runs logic fine but it did not get some of the new stuff in the latest logic update.
I’d agree with that. I think about 10 years old is the point at which you start running into annoying issues. My daughter has a 2011 iMac and barely uses it anymore due to frustration with things it won’t do - she would rather use a cheap 2 year old Dell laptop that she has.
A computer that old probably shouldn’t be on the buy list since parts will be harder to find and repairs will likely cost a lot more. Personally, I wouldn’t consider a pre-owned or refurbished computer more than 4-5 years old.
If you MUST have that computer because you need to run legacy software, that’s another matter.