My MacBook had fallen off the end of Apple's supported hardware but it'd still run Logic Pro X nicely.
I have a mid-2009 (!) MacBook Pro that’s now my dedicated workstation for the Axe-FX III, and the heart of the live 5.1 surround performance system I’ve been prepping for post-COVID life. It has no problem spooling out 5.1 backing tracks, while supporting live synths and the Axe-FX III.
My primary studio is full of synths and MIDI controller keyboards, so there’s just no room to swing a guitar around comfortably. The laptop and studio Mac are networked, so I can send Logic Pro or Digital Performer projects back and forth, and do my guitar tracks in a much more comfortable open space.
And here’s the trick I’m hoping will help some of you Mac-based Fractalians out there … my 2009 MacBook Pro – which was declared end-of-life by Apple back when
El Capitan came out – is happily running the latest version of Catalina, along with the latest current versions of my DAWs and plugins.
Magic? Well, close to it … for years, I’ve been using
dosdude1’s patches to give my older Macs new life. They’re real, they're free, they work flawlessly, and you can find them
here. Go for it.