My MBP Dilemma!

[zenvision]

Ok so I feel bad about writing yet another 'should I buy now or wait' kind of post, but when we're talking about this amount of money, it's real nice to get an opinion from people who really know their stuff!

I'll break it down for you. I'm (barely) running an ancient Intel Celeron 700mhz/384mb ram system (somebody say WHAT?!). I'm doing a graphic design degree (second year), and I do music production in my free time. So as you can imagine I have the adobe & macromedia suites, along with music software such as Acid Pro, Cubase SX3 & WaveLab etc. BUT obviously these run RIDICULOUSLY slow. It's a pain running this computer, but I'm not gonna lie, I can kind of put up with it if I have to (I'm used to it!).

The thing is, I've now got the money to buy a MBP! A nice 2.16/2ghz/7200rpm system. I'm not made of money, so I've got to think carefully. I want this laptop to last me a good few years at least. So I have some questions...

1. Is the whine audible enough to affect sound recording?
2. Will Windows (through Boot Camp) run music software such as Cubase etc. ok? (I'm aware of the current sound driver & rerouting issues). I want to use Windows for music production (and CS2 until it becomes universal) and OSX for everything else...
3. Will I be able to run things like torrents overnight without worrying about my MBP frying? (I hear they get pretty hot)
4. Is Yonah still considered a stopgap chip? Will I find it hard to sell on my MBP because of this?

and most importantly...

5. Are there updates due SOON? When is Leopard due? Merom? Are these worth waiting for (bearing in mind what I will use my MBP for)
6. Are the intel prices going to effect MBP prices soon? It would suck if they dropped the price just after I bought one...

If you can help me in my decision, thanks!

 

[Scarlet Fever]

1. If you are recording music, i don't think you should ever use your internal mic. The MPB speakers are about 2cm in diameter, and have next to no bass response. use the audio input, or use a firewire interface.
2. I would think so. I haven't heard anything about this but i would assume it would be the same as any other windows box.
3. The MPB is hot, but it won't burn itself out. I rip DVDs at night and it survives.
4. Don't know
5. I wouldn't think so. Apple upgrade their stuff reguarly, but not a couple of months after a product is released

Conclusion; the MPB is the best laptop in the world

 

[milo]

If you're going to get a mac, you absolutely should look at Logic Pro or Express. It's an amazing app, you get a ton of stuff for your money, and it runs incredibly well on the new intel macs.

I think Logic is a huge reason for music guys to go mac, definitely check it out.

 

[zenvision]

If you're going to get a mac, you absolutely should look at Logic Pro or Express. It's an amazing app, you get a ton of stuff for your money, and it runs incredibly well on the new intel macs.

I think Logic is a huge reason for music guys to go mac, definitely check it out.

Logic Pro is brilliant, but unfortunately I can't afford that as well right now, plus I've got Cubase SX3 already, so it'd be great to run that for the moment.

 

[zenvision]

1. If you are recording music, i don't think you should ever use your internal mic. The MPB speakers are about 2cm in diameter, and have next to no bass response. use the audio input, or use a firewire interface.

I agree, I don't plan on using the internal mic at all anyway. I use a lot of samples and I plan to record them using the Line-In under OSX (as it's not currently working under Boot Camp) and then manipulate the recordings under XP (ie. with Acid/WaveLab/Cool Edit etc.). I also have a Korg Midi Keyboard which thankfully has a USB interface, so that should be fine.

But to answer my question, say if I wanted to record from a mic connected to the line-in (so not internal), is the whine loud enough to make recording in the same room a problem?

 

[ero87]

i'm typing on a lovely new MBP right now, and it has never whined once. I wouldn't assume that any MacbookPro you order will have a whine.

And even if it does, it seems that there are a bunch of fixes for it... mirror widget, etc.

 

[zenvision]

i'm typing on a lovely new MBP right now, and it has never whined once. I wouldn't assume that any MacbookPro you order will have a whine.

And even if it does, it seems that there are a bunch of fixes for it... mirror widget, etc.

It's a bit annoying that it's so hit & miss though! I want to KNOW it won't whine. Plus having to run a widget is a pain to have to do, kills the battery life as well. Apple should sort this out!

 

[milo]

Logic Pro is brilliant, but unfortunately I can't afford that as well right now, plus I've got Cubase SX3 already, so it'd be great to run that for the moment.

So look at Express, it's much cheaper and a great deal as well.

 

[zenvision]

So look at Express, it's much cheaper and a great deal as well.

Ok I will, though I feel Cubase has all I need right now (well, as far as Express goes).

I just need to know if its a good idea to buy right now or wait? Are there updates due for the MBP?

 

[merlin_1102]

Hey

There will always be updates soon. For what I have seen you just have to go out and purchase.
The wine, if you have a wine take your machine to a very good hardware shop. I work at a hardware shop ( I am Toshiba certified but not Apple certified). The apple store I tried first said the wine was normal and told me to polietly screw off. Turns out one of my friends is actually Apple certified. He took a look at it and found that Apple did some shotty manufacturing and a metal clip holding the case together was touching the titanium frame and small bumps/vibrations caused the wine. He simply bent it a little and the problem has since be gone. If the wine is coming from the Screenits most likely a bad invertor. That should be convered under warranty.

It should boot fine. Only problems I have had with boot camp is lack of delete key which remapping solves, Page Up/Page Down are awkward and MSN messenger always blue screens me, whether I got a corrupt download or not I do not know.

My machine gets really hot, but it has never fried it self. I also invested in a $40 cooling pad which sits underneath and helps a lot. The laptop does not get nearl;y as hot when its running off battery power (but I guess performance decreases)

Stopgap chip....... Maybe who cares? Why would you have problems selling it? Its not like Apple will drop support and in my opinion a dual core chip is not had bad thing to have around. Though this chip is intels buggiest its not bad and I could not really see a problem reselling in the future unless apple goes crazy and releases 64-bit only applications. But then I could see a bit of a revolt coming from that.

Leopard is I think November.

Apple prices from what I have seen are usually fairly consistent with a given generations life time.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Logic Pro is brilliant, but unfortunately I can't afford that as well right now, plus I've got Cubase SX3 already, so it'd be great to run that for the moment.

Cubase SX3 is cross-platform... I don't know if your package shipped with a hybrid installer CD...

I would not at this point run audio apps on Windows under boot camp, if I needed functionality out of the box. Thing is, you'll also have to check with the manufacturers for OSX Core Duo compatibility.