rMBP: Hardware Configuration for Audio Work

[Aikouka]

I'm trying to help a friend figure out the best option for his brother who's looking to get a Retina MacBook Pro. His brother mostly uses it for audio processing with Logic Pro and Main Stage, and they have a $2k budget.

At this point, it has come down to whether the software would benefit more from an 2.8GHz i5 + 16GB of RAM 13" model vs. 2.0GHz i7 + 8GB of RAM 15" model. Any thoughts?

As a note, most people may suggest that 15" would be better for audio work, but he currently uses an external monitor.

 

[BrightCandle]

From a graphical editing perspective I assume screen space matters but not so much a retina screen.

But for audio work I would be more concerned with the quality of the audio production and whether the inbuilt sound is even remotely good enough, which in this case it really isn't. I keep reading on head-fi the issues with external DACs and mac OS because its not really got the driver ecosystem to have high quality audio attached to it. I don't think a mac book pro is a good fit for this task unless the software being used only runs on Mac OS.

 

[Aikouka]

His brother already uses a Mac for audio editing with an external DAC. I'm not sure about which one he uses, but I assume he wants to stick with the software (Logic Pro, etc.) that he's currently using.

Maybe the inquiry can be better summed up by...
1) How well does software like Logic Pro handle multi-threading? Will it take advantage of the four cores in the i7 well enough to make it worthwhile?
2) Is the audio software heavy on memory usage? 8GB seems like it would be enough, but I'm not sure.

The one thing that I'm also trying to take into account is that you cannot upgrade the rMBP once you get it. The RAM chips are wired directly to the mainboard, and you'd have to take apart the laptop to even access the SSD. I know some people don't like the thought of "future proofing", but when you can't make any changes, it does worry me a little bit.

 

[Koing]

I'd get 16GB as you can't upgrade it anymore.

I can't give any advice on either the 2 or 4 cores though.

Koing

 

[smackababy]

I can't really speak for Audio Software, but I'd say the more powerful the better. I'd go with whatever the best processor and highest RAM combo you can. Chances are, the 13" will be just fine.

For what its' worth, my dad records on a older MacMini using some interfaces. He doesn't really do much post processing though. He does all his effects via pedals and such.

 

[Aikouka]

I can't really speak for Audio Software, but I'd say the more powerful the better. I'd go with whatever the best processor and highest RAM combo you can. Chances are, the 13" will be just fine.

I don't have a ton of knowledge on audio software either, so the first thing that I noticed was that while the i7 has four cores, it's also running at a lower clock speed. So, if the audio software doesn't utilize the cores well, the i5 would possible see faster performance given 2.8 GHz vs. 2.0 GHz.

 

[smackababy]

Depending on what he is doing, I don't think CPU speed will be an issue. If he is doing heavy processing, it might be better to have a "faster" processor, but more cores could also help.

MainStage looks like a simple audio processor that is controlled via a MIDI controller. Nothing particularly intensive. I'd think memory would be most relevant. And LogicPro seems to be DAW software. Yeah, I think he would be okay with either choice (whichever fits the budget best).

 

[Zaap]

I'd go with as much RAM as I could get, vs. greater CPU horsepower.

I know people that do pro quality audio work on lesser systems than either choice of i5 or i7. Either CPU should handle most audio tasks with ease.

Anyone that's actually doing pro audio will be using external audio hardware, so onboard audio shouldn't be an issue.

From what I understand about pro audio software (from people I know who do it, not my own experience) running lots of plug-ins at once will benefit greatly from more RAM, so the more the merrier.

Again, I don't speak from personal experience (I'm a video guy, not really an audio guy) but I'm pretty certain that a noticeable difference between an i5 and i7 to the workflow with audio will be negligible- but when a person starts doing things like running multiple instances of memory-intensive plug-ins, they'll be really thankful for more RAM.

 

[Village Idiot]

I'm trying to help a friend figure out the best option for his brother who's looking to get a Retina MacBook Pro. His brother mostly uses it for audio processing with Logic Pro and Main Stage, and they have a $2k budget.

At this point, it has come down to whether the software would benefit more from an 2.8GHz i5 + 16GB of RAM 13" model vs. 2.0GHz i7 + 8GB of RAM 15" model. Any thoughts?

As a note, most people may suggest that 15" would be better for audio work, but he currently uses an external monitor.

How well do Logic and Main Stage utilize multiple cores and what do their memory usage look like?

I was recording 10 inputs at a time for drums with a MOTU 828 MKII on a C2D pre unibody MBP with something like 4GB of RAM and it worked without latency issues and was just fine. This is on songs that ended up with 25-35 total tracks for a 5 piece hardcore band with multiple mics for drums, amp cabinets, vocals tracks, etc...