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Should I keep my Macbook Pro?

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:21 pm
by feasible_weasel
Or sell it,so I can have a beefy pc, with a chung Soundcard inside.
:| it cant even get a track made on Pro tools without this treasure crashing the program due to cpu problems... :o ive adjusted the playback engine and buffers and it just hangs the audio sometimes.
WTF
i was running
reason 4 some drums
Goliath Vst - with a digaridoo as a basseline :oops: (sounded good)
Xpand - no even keyed in a Orchestra Hits ting
structure - sine wave -not even keyed in yet.
macbook pro 2.4ghz,4gb ram,200 gb hard-drive 5400rpm.
:| wtf thats a reasonable system.

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:29 pm
by eastern electrics
do you have a high cpu-load indicated or just a crash?
checked cpu-temperature?
your RAM could also be defect.
tried reinstalling the software? using genuine stuff? ;)

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:31 pm
by feasible_weasel
Eastern Electrics wrote:do you have a high cpu-load indicated or just a crash?
checked cpu-temperature?
your RAM could also be defect.
tried reinstalling the software? using genuine stuff? ;)
:oops: it was left on for over a week, i didnt realise as the lid was shut down. hope the ram is ok, the laptop is a couple of months old lol

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:37 pm
by armada
i've got a 1.67 ghz G4 and i run all my music stuff on here... with a 2 something ghz processor you should be fine!!! make sure nothing else is running and that you dont have alot of crap on there. if the harddrive is more than 90% full then you start running into problems regardless of processor power.

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:37 pm
by Jak The lad
Ever thought of getting on of those boxes, kind of like a Hard drive, to just run your VSTs?

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:57 pm
by feasible_weasel
armada wrote:i've got a 1.67 ghz G4 and i run all my music stuff on here... with a 2 something ghz processor you should be fine!!! make sure nothing else is running and that you dont have alot of crap on there. if the harddrive is more than 90% full then you start running into problems regardless of processor power.
my hard-drive is quiet full :o

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 4:13 pm
by .klimaxx
blud just sell your macbook and get lots of money.
with that money get a dell inspiron 1720, and you're sorted!

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 4:21 pm
by feasible_weasel
.klimaxx wrote:blud just sell your macbook and get lots of money.
with that money get a dell inspiron 1720, and you're sorted!
I thinking of selling it, along with Logic 8 pro
With that i could buy a decent pc, add a powerful soundcard... and BOOP :D

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:28 pm
by futures_untold
Some good pointers above as to what to try before considering selling the thing. Even if you get a PC laptop, you'll still eventually face the same problems, + you'll need to learn a new DAW package because newer versions of Logic don't run on PC.

Clear any unneeded stuff from your hard drive, ie video's which can be burnt to DVD or stored on an external HD.

Uninstall bloatware, and any program you don't use at least once a month. (If you don't use any of the iLife software, uninstall them).

Not too sure about this on a Mac, but on a PC one needs to perform a virus scan, search for trojans and spyware at least once a week. Furthermore, it is neccessary to defragment the hard drive occassionally.

Fair point about deinstalling all your music software and reinstalling it fresh. Same applies if any of the software is cracked. Cracked software in my experience is often very unstable.

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:40 pm
by osk
What does it say when it crashes? Sounds to me like something else is causing the CPU to freeze.

I have always used Macs so would advise you against selling it, but that's just me. With 4GB of RAM with what you're running you should be absolutely fine.

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:10 pm
by feasible_weasel
Osk wrote:What does it say when it crashes? Sounds to me like something else is causing the CPU to freeze.

I have always used Macs so would advise you against selling it, but that's just me. With 4GB of RAM with what you're running you should be absolutely fine.
i know :(
trouble i have is i have 2/3 of the mac hd full of vst's

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:11 pm
by feasible_weasel
futures_untold wrote:Some good pointers above as to what to try before considering selling the thing. Even if you get a PC laptop, you'll still eventually face the same problems, + you'll need to learn a new DAW package because newer versions of Logic don't run on PC.

Clear any unneeded stuff from your hard drive, ie video's which can be burnt to DVD or stored on an external HD.

Uninstall bloatware, and any program you don't use at least once a month. (If you don't use any of the iLife software, uninstall them).

Not too sure about this on a Mac, but on a PC one needs to perform a virus scan, search for trojans and spyware at least once a week. Furthermore, it is neccessary to defragment the hard drive occassionally.

Fair point about deinstalling all your music software and reinstalling it fresh. Same applies if any of the software is cracked. Cracked software in my experience is often very unstable.
i have a pc laptop, i have nothing but programs installed,music and samples are on an external HD.

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:20 am
by tempest
laptops/macbooks are useless for the studio imo... why get something that costs a fuckload and is weak as piss just so it is portable when its only going to sit in your studio most the time anyway... get a beefy proper pc i reckon, only install music stuff, and dont connect to the net

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:12 am
by feasible_weasel
tempest wrote:laptops/macbooks are useless for the studio imo... why get something that costs a fuckload and is weak as piss just so it is portable when its only going to sit in your studio most the time anyway... get a beefy proper pc i reckon, only install music stuff, and dont connect to the net
yeah,makes sense :D

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 8:44 am
by concept_
ill have it.

Macbook and logic 8 is something I want to get in near future.

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:46 am
by bitter
feasible_weasel wrote:trouble i have is i have 2/3 of the mac hd full of vst's
Wow, and you honestly use all of those??

ALL the succesful producers I know in all genres use a suprisingly small amount of gear / plugins... those they use they know inside-out though. I'd suggest backing up, wiping the HD and reinstalling everything from the ground up, and only including the bare minimum of plug-ins. Once you get to know those plugs, you'll know which you like and use and which you don't, then you can think about binning some and adding more. You shouldn't have ANY problems on a MBP... I use Logic 8 on a 4yo iMac (2gb ram) with a decent number of vst's, lots of effects on channels and that doesn't really cause me too many problems... 8)

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:24 pm
by Sharmaji
i got one of the 1st macbook pro's on the day they were released, and this thing has been a beast for the past 2 years. 2ghz, 2gb ram, and i just replaced the hard drive. what you need to make it work nice:

#1: DON'T LET IT SLEEP. sleep does bad, bad things to audio drivers. either leave it on and let the screen go dark, or shut it off.

#2. keep at least 10% of your hard drive free--more, if possible. Audio apps need tons of hard drive space available to use as scratch space for edits, etc, before you commit to something.

#3. get a 7200 rmp, 500gb firewire external drive and run all your sessions off of there. your macbook pro hard drive is gerenally fine, but a separate, faster drive will work better with audio.

and yes, if you're not using shit-- get rid of it!

logic 8, as intense of a program it is, is one of the leanest DAW's around-- it runs insanely efficiently on a macbook pro. live it up!

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:41 pm
by dopelabs
if its only a few months old.. you should warranty.. get it serviced but defo keep it

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 4:54 pm
by two oh one
Um, why are you using Pro Tools when you have Logic?

Silly, silly!

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:31 pm
by feasible_weasel
BITTER wrote:
feasible_weasel wrote:trouble i have is i have 2/3 of the mac hd full of vst's
Wow, and you honestly use all of those??

ALL the succesful producers I know in all genres use a suprisingly small amount of gear / plugins... those they use they know inside-out though. I'd suggest backing up, wiping the HD and reinstalling everything from the ground up, and only including the bare minimum of plug-ins. Once you get to know those plugs, you'll know which you like and use and which you don't, then you can think about binning some and adding more. You shouldn't have ANY problems on a MBP... I use Logic 8 on a 4yo iMac (2gb ram) with a decent number of vst's, lots of effects on channels and that doesn't really cause me too many problems... 8)
i have logic 8 fully installed and goliath vst 80gig plus