Looking at the Apple’s New Macs Laptops: An Analysis (with somewhat of an emphasis on sound work)
Apple announced new new Mac Laptops today at WWDC.. My story is I have last years MacBook.. which while I love it.. it’s #1 regulated to secondary status and #2 I’ve been feeling the need for firewire for audio work..
Firewire and USB for audio
I don’t think firewire is as critical for audio work as many say.. but if you want to go high end in your audio interfaces… it really is. On this front.. for me, its all about focusrite or apogee… there is a now discontinued multichannel audio interface from MOTU.. which I understand is quite good.. but doesn’t really feel like an upgrade so much… from what I currently use.. and.. if you’re on a computer with only USB.. well it makes you wonder why MOTU would have discontinued it! In any event.. the cost of the MOTU interface.. is such that I couldn’t afford to do that, and get the sorta interface that I actually want.. so that my mobile interface is really relegated to.. well Kore or Zoom if I want XLRs.. not the best pres.. and I’m limited to stereo.
The difference.. with Apogee it’s the quality of the A/D conversion.. With Focusrite we have convolution based preamp modeling.. these issues are not inherent to the technology behind USB or Firewire.. the difference between USB and Firewire comes down to data rates.. and how much it effects over all performance.
What’s up with the Brand Story?
The biggest thing I’m not getting with the new Mac’s is now every thing is a “MacBook Pro” accept for a new ancient model MacBook.. all be it updated..
To get what used to be the MacBook Pro.. you need to spend $2000.. at that point.. you get “the two graphics processors.” The deal here is one is nice to your battery life, and the other has significant performance.. The lower end MacBook Pro’s have the nice battery life processors… If you’re someone who needs the performance.. well.. you might want to go for the $2K models… or better yet the $2.3K model which now gives you 512 MB of view RAM, instead of 256 MB.. which really makes all the difference… both of which are 15″ models. ..but none of this should miss lead you into thinking that the sub $2K models aren’t fine for video.. its more a question of if you plan to push things..
I couldn’t tell you where the line is exactly.. in terms of how you assess your needs relative to this.. But I’d say.. if you’re doing web video.. particularly that doesn’t need to be HD.. and effects and like.. motion stuff.. isn’t playing a significant roll in how you’re working.. I don’t think you need more power.. if you do that stuff it probably depends on how important that stuff is / how often you go there.
Now you get MacBooks Pros in the 13″ range.. but I’m not sure what the significants of it is.. as aren’t they just calling MacBook’s MacBook Pros now?
Speaking of smaller MacBooks
I think there’s always this trade off you make on size.. The negative of larger is.. costs more, less portable.. the plus is better productivity.. often more powerful.. you can somewhat mitigate the productivity issues by adding a monitor when your at home.. but not really while on the go.
For me..
I haven’t gotten into doing a lot of heavy production work on my 13″ MacBook… long story… and its a secondary computer.. So the idea is “you can work on the go” which I haven’t fully even put together yet.. The main need.. in a sorta heavy production esk sorta way.. is for live performance.. for that, so far.. I’m actually pretty fine with the 13″…
If you look at the Maschine controller
You’ll note that you can see a certain amount of what’s going on just from Maschine screens.. and the software sequencer is fine on the 13.”
And of course Kore is similar in this regard
This would seem to a theme for many a controller of this sorta ilk.. The new controllers coming to Ableton.. the Euphonix MC controllers…
Where things get tricky is when you have to negotiate lots of windows.. which is typical for serious music production of the “studio sort” or.. you see it for video, animation… in design you sometimes see it.. but mainly its the size of the window you’re working in.. and its more of an issue if you’re working with bit map graphics then vectors.. I think..
Conclusions in the World of Matt
For me.. the laptop is.. if I want to get untethered from this desk.. this room.. if.. say cause its nice out.. I want to do stuff on the go.. even if it just means working on the back porch.. It can be about trying to capture the vibe of an adventure.. how being someplace where things are happening.. can alter your consciousness in certain ways.. and thus later the sort of aesthetic choices you make.. There’s also.. if I were doing work for clients.. being able to show them what I’m doing on the laptop is big.. There’s live shows of course.. There’s having a computer when you’re on a trip somewhere.. being able to stay connected… I’d like to be able to go to a friends house and be like “hey, lets make some work,” and be able to do it all there… If you’re doing video or photography there’s the ability to assess things in the field..
There is, of course, the question of how working on a smaller computer impacts your work.. an equation that ultimately probably needs to be felt more then conceptualized.. I mean how often would I really want to lug around the extra weight of Kore or Maschine or even an audio interface?
Other things worth mentioning
- Apple claims there’s better battery life to be had now.. like 7 hours.. but they are notoriously untrust worthy on this front.. but it’s probably safe to assume better battery life is here. The negative side of this would be.. it looks like you can’t change your battery.. though they say the life span is greatly increased
- Now the only MacBook with an expansion slot is the 17,” which might be important if you want to connect up a fast hard drive.. or use the UAD type stuff for audio work
- Now having a backlit keyboard is standard on all MacBook Pros.. which I had one on my MacBook!
- There was a price drop.. of some significance.
- Apple’s new laptops now come with SD card readers.. which is nice accept that I tend to use CF cards more these days.
What I might do.. If I was gong 13″ the model that makes sense runs at $1.5K.. For that you get 2.53 GHz ( 270 more MHz on your processor.. so a total of $1.3K model which is.. I don’t know, doesn’t seem all that significant to me) more hard drive space.. 4GB of RAM instead of the 2 GB.. and the RAM is the main thing.. of course Apple gouges you for RAM and Hard Disk Space.. Apple charges $1000 if you want to go from 4GB to 8GB, where as the retail cost of the RAM looks to be around $600? Perhaps the thing is to get the cheaper computer and buy and install your own RAM and a 500GB hard drive.. just to spite them! Really.. I think for photography.. if you use Apples Aperture.. you probably want at least 4GB.. and I’m finding with music.. that I can never quite get enough RAM.. even at 6 GB… and I simply can’t use some of my software on 2GB… like Omnisphere.. But really.. I think I’m most likely to hold off doing anything…