New Mac or New Mac? Questions

GuitarDojo

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To: the Die hard Mac users

Ive just got back in the Mac world after a long hiatus with a purchase of a 2015 Mac book pro. ( purchased for $300 ....there's a thread somewhere in the lounge) i got it so I could justify not using Pro Tools (paying every year) and use Luna (free) on the UAD apollo x4. And Now i want to explore Logic and FCXP. (So i can end up spending where it feels good i guess....)

Right now I can get almost $500 trade in on my mac and i was thinking of taking advantage of the price drops on the 2019 Macbook Pro 16.
However the new 13 M1 model has a sweet price too. Researching this i have read good things about the power and performance of the M1 chip(s) vs last years 2019 Mac Intel model.

What do?
I would prefer the bigger 16 but fast, shiny and new has got me jonesin for the 13 M1.
 
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I like new and shiny things as much as the next person, but it's early to jump on the M1 macs for music production. It'll be a while before a lot of things work quite right on that, and it's not really intended for music production anyway. If you get one now, there's a chance you'll be fighting growing pains for a year and, just when you get things working, Apple will come out with the second wave of Apple Silicon macs that are intended for music production.

So, I'd go for the MBP 16 so you can be productive now. And, if you can swing it, plan on getting an Apple Silicon mac next year when the second wave comes out. Alternatively, wait a year for that second wave and keep your existing mac until then.
 
I have a new m1 MacBook Pro. Its incredibly fast and battery can go forever. Also cant get it to work with fm3 edit. Works fine with older Mac. Be careful being an "early adopter." Means you will definitely have some hiccups and issues to work through.

Edit: just needed port adjustment, working now with m1. Weird it was plug and play with old one and had to change ports on new one. New fractal user here clearly
 
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The M1 seems to be blowing tests out of the water. It’s early days, but more tests show the MBP M1 a step up again from the M1 Air. For music related software it’s going to take a while, but many 3rd apps are running in Rosetta 2 and performing well.
Not getting hot at all while performing heavy testing while an equivalent intel model was hotter running just pages!
Looking forward to the iMac variant when that is released.
Being bleeding edge, may add some headaches, however resale of intel MBP's will only go down in the next few months.
 
I like new and shiny things as much as the next person, but it's early to jump on the M1 macs for music production. It'll be a while before a lot of things work quite right on that, and it's not really intended for music production anyway. If you get one now, there's a chance you'll be fighting growing pains for a year and, just when you get things working, Apple will come out with the second wave of Apple Silicon macs that are intended for music production.

So, I'd go for the MBP 16 so you can be productive now. And, if you can swing it, plan on getting an Apple Silicon mac next year when the second wave comes out. Alternatively, wait a year for that second wave and keep your existing mac until then.
This ^^^

Took the words right out of my mouth there...
 
I would go with spending money on a smaller and more powerful unit because you're going to want to get a monitor, full size keyboard and mouse anyways. How much lap topping are you really going to do with that laptop, really?
 
The M1 seems to be blowing tests out of the water. It’s early days, but more tests show the MBP M1 a step up again from the M1 Air. For music related software it’s going to take a while, but many 3rd apps are running in Rosetta 2 and performing well.
Not getting hot at all while performing heavy testing while an equivalent intel model was hotter running just pages!
Looking forward to the iMac variant when that is released.
Being bleeding edge, may add some headaches, however resale of intel MBP's will only go down in the next few months.

I like to pretend I'm jaded like everybody else, but it's kind of hard to contain my excitement for the future of music computing right now. It's not so much what these 3 models specifically have to offer, but what this portends for future Apple Silicon models.
 
I agree completely, I haven’t yet seen a session loaded with heavy instruments yet. Drummer, SD3, Omnisphere, Kontakt noire. Etc.
Then mixed with a few doses of Arouser, Mu, Zynaptec, Soundtoys and More.
As much as I’d like a laptop with mucho power, I’d take it with me and break it. A 43” iMac would be wonderful, with the next variant CPU, Mx1, M1x, D1, whatever they call it. Just increase the iPad Pro size proportionally and a not $1000 stand
 
To: the Die hard Mac users

Ive just got back in the Mac world after a long hiatus with a purchase of a 2015 Mac book pro. ( purchased for $300 ....there's a thread somewhere in the lounge) i got it so I could justify not using Pro Tools (paying every year) and use Luna (free) on the UAD apollo x4. And Now i want to explore Logic and FCXP. (So i can end up spending where it feels good i guess....)

Right now I can get almost $500 trade in on my mac and i was thinking of taking advantage of the price drops on the 2019 Macbook Pro 16.
However the new 13 M1 model has a sweet price too. Researching this i have read good things about the power and performance of the M1 chip(s) vs last years 2019 Mac Intel model.

What do?
I would prefer the bigger 16 but fast, shiny and new has got me jonesin for the 13 M1.
Get the 2019. The new one is still too new.... :)
 
I am probably the first one that would recommend you going for the M1 chip. From
From your post, it sounds like you want a Mac to get the apple native apps. Those are all optimized for the M1 already. Also, with the benchmarks those chips are putting out, I can only imagine how third party apps (Adobe etc) would perform once they release M1 native versions.
for eg davinci resolve (a behemoth in color grading industry) recently was updated to (public beta) M1 native version. Blackmagic claims it runs 5x faster - that is just absolutely crazy if true. Reviews on video editing claim that the Mac mini is handling 8k 10 bit h.265 streams. Those would severely tax any other system.

I work more on the video editing/grading side and some of the claims would honestly sound likefalse claims/hyperbole if the YouTube reviewers were actually not demonstrating them to be true.

I can not recommend a purchase of an intel Mac anymore.if someone’s use case includes a must have app, most likely that app would be upgraded to native M1 soon.
 
I was just watching a youtube vid of this producer putting the new mini M1 through paces with logic and was able to run something like 100 plugins.
 
I was just watching a youtube vid of this producer putting the new mini M1 through paces with logic and was able to run something like 100 plugins.

My friend sent me a link to that video and it was pretty amazing how much he was able to load with it (it was the MAC mini).

He was using the Logic X Pro and I had purchased this DAW last year but I have not installed it yet since I am more of a PC person.

They are having a sale this weekend (something about giving an Apple Gift Card with purchases), but the MAC mini would be excluded, I believe, so I might look into getting the 13.3 MBP if the gift card is a high enough amount/incentive.
 
That 2015 MBP is hard to beat. I'd stay put until there is an aftermarket of 16" M1 portables.

the 2015 is the last one with the good keyboard as well.
 
here's another interesting vid giving some context/history of apple's development and computing in general. This M1 chip is an industry game changer. Apple is skynet.
 
That 2015 MBP is hard to beat. I'd stay put until there is an aftermarket of 16" M1 portables.

the 2015 is the last one with the good keyboard as well.

What do you mean by 'the last one with the good keyboard as well'? I am considering a Mac for recording using an AX8.
 
To: the Die hard Mac users

Ive just got back in the Mac world after a long hiatus with a purchase of a 2015 Mac book pro. ( purchased for $300 ....there's a thread somewhere in the lounge) i got it so I could justify not using Pro Tools (paying every year) and use Luna (free) on the UAD apollo x4. And Now i want to explore Logic and FCXP. (So i can end up spending where it feels good i guess....)

Right now I can get almost $500 trade in on my mac and i was thinking of taking advantage of the price drops on the 2019 Macbook Pro 16.
However the new 13 M1 model has a sweet price too. Researching this i have read good things about the power and performance of the M1 chip(s) vs last years 2019 Mac Intel model.

What do?
I would prefer the bigger 16 but fast, shiny and new has got me jonesin for the 13 M1.
Be aware... UAD plugins are not yet compatible with Big Sur
 
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