Question

Hi!

I am planning to upgrade from my PC desktop to MacBook Pro. Previously I used it to record and Playback samples using recently purchased RM16AI mixer. I wonder what specs should MacBook have in order to provide same Flawless experience.
MacBook specs of item I'm planning to purchase are:
Intel Core i7, 2,2 GHz
4 Gb DDR3
HDD - 1TB
Will that be enough to use my RM 16 AI mixer,  run Studio One three and record channels using capture software simultaneously on live venues and not overheat the system? I am new to Apple Hardware and PreSonus Hardware as well so little advice will not hurt for me :-)
Looking forward all the replies!

Answer 1

you likely want to have 8gb of ram, everything else looks ok (although a faster CPU won't hurt)

unless you are considering a very old model, you will have a SSD, not HDD. HDDs are slow

Answer 2

4 GB RAM is too little, 8 would be better, 16 is luxury. Capture does not really demand much from a computer's processing, especially with 16+2 tracks. Recording 64 tracks might be a different thing. Please note that you can not use Capture and Studio One simultaneoulsy (recording and processing). For recording take Capture. It's easy to use and efficient and you can record for hours and hours. You don't even need to label the tracks, as Capture reads the channel names of your mixer.

Studio One and its processing take a lot of energy from your computer, so this may well cause some heating problems. I haven't found any thread about this theme in the forums, but I remember that somebody talked about it somewhere sometime...

And remember to buy the right adaptor for Thunderbolt/FireWire.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I've re-thought it and would like to recommend MF841LL/A. Latest macbook pros have a mixed reception, but you can find the 2015 model yet and many folks would agree it's better. The MF841LL/A configuration is nice, but it has 512GB of SSD. If that's not enough, you may find custom models with 1TB SSD. Or not.

2.2 GHz i7 that you mentionied is either the 2011 Pro model, or a recent Air. I think, you won't regret picking up a 2015 model over 2011. I don't recommend Air because it lacks firewire.