Getting a Mac for recording on Q base

[Matthew Scott]

Hello everyone,

 

I am pretty new to recording in general, and was wondering what kind of a Mac (laptop) I should get.

(I have no Idea about Macs)

 

I would be using it for such programs as Sibelius, Q base and other music related programs.

 

 

Thanks for your help

 

greetings Matthew

[Don Kim]

It might help if you also stated in more detail what you hope to accomplish.

For running Sibelius, likely any Macbook should suffice.  For running Cubase, it depends on what you plan to do with it.  Work primarily with audio tracks?  Mainly MIDI with external hardware?  VST sampling libraries?  I'm sure it's no surprise that the more RAM and CPU power you get, the better, but what is "good enough" really just depends on the person and their needs... and those needs might even extend past the limits of a laptop (i.e. processing power, RAM limits, storage), so it all just depends.

I took a peek at Apple's current lineup and any current Macbook Pro is expandable up to 8GB of RAM, so they don't really differ much in that regard.  If CPU speed is more important to you than screensize (i.e. if you'll be working primarily with an external display or just don't mind a 13" screen), the 13" 2.7GHz model seems intriguing, which appears to be their fastest model at the moment at a much lower pricepoint than the larger and slower models.

Also, if you already know you want to use specific software like Cubase, etc you might also post or search for similar threads in their support forums to see what other users are using for the projects you have in mind.

Good luck

[Matthew Scott]

Hello again,

 

thanks for your help.

I am not sure what I will want to do in the future with the laptop. I just want a versatile laptop, which is good enough for recording acoustic drums and keyboard sounds in several layers over each other.

 

greetings

 

Matthew

Don Kim said:

It might help if you also stated in more detail what you hope to accomplish.

For running Sibelius, likely any Macbook should suffice.  For running Cubase, it depends on what you plan to do with it.  Work primarily with audio tracks?  Mainly MIDI with external hardware?  VST sampling libraries?  I'm sure it's no surprise that the more RAM and CPU power you get, the better, but what is "good enough" really just depends on the person and their needs... and those needs might even extend past the limits of a laptop (i.e. processing power, RAM limits, storage), so it all just depends.

I took a peek at Apple's current lineup and any current Macbook Pro is expandable up to 8GB of RAM, so they don't really differ much in that regard.  If CPU speed is more important to you than screensize (i.e. if you'll be working primarily with an external display or just don't mind a 13" screen), the 13" 2.7GHz model seems intriguing, which appears to be their fastest model at the moment at a much lower pricepoint than the larger and slower models.

Also, if you already know you want to use specific software like Cubase, etc you might also post or search for similar threads in their support forums to see what other users are using for the projects you have in mind.

Good luck

[Don Kim]

Scratch what I said about the 2.7GHz model.  I just noticed that the 13" 2.7GHz model is an i7 dual core while the 15" and 17" models are i7 quad-cores.  According to some benchmarks the 2.0GHz quad outperforms the 2.7GHz dual.. anyways.. just wanted to recant that comment.

But like Chris says, any Macbook will probably be fine for your purposes.  For recording live audio, you'll probably want to look into getting an external firewire audio interface.

Don Kim said:

If CPU speed is more important to you than screensize [...] the 13" 2.7GHz model seems intriguing, which appears to be their fastest model at the moment at a much lower pricepoint than the larger and slower models.