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Author Topic: Macbook Pro Retina and Smaart  (Read 11649 times)

Tom Hester

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Re: Macbook Pro Retina and Smaart
« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2012, 10:40:50 AM »

I recently bought a new 17" MBP i7 2.5 GHz, 16 GB Ram, Mountain Lion 10.8.2, and have yet to experience any problems running Smaart 7.4 with the Roland Octacapture.  It's fast!  I did an experiment a few weeks ago and ran 15 simultaneous mics into Smaart for analysis of an arena system, along with Parallels desktop running in the background controlling the DSP...handled it just fine with CPU to spare!  See my thread in the Rational forum on how to set it up.  I don't know what interface you're planning to use, but make sure it is compatible with what you're planning to use it with.

Awesome, I am probably going to buy the Roland box.
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Greg_Cameron

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Re: Macbook Pro Retina and Smaart
« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2012, 01:00:55 PM »

I got a Retina MBP right away when the were released here at my day job since we're a Thunderbolt video peripheral developer. I got the top of the line configuration i7 with the biggest SSD and RAM they could stuff in there. That machine is hella powerful for it's size. It's the first laptop I've used that can encode Sony's XDCAM EX codec in realtime without dropping frames, no small feat. With 16GB of RAM, it will handle anything you would need to throw at it for a few years at least. As far as upgrading the SDD, OWC already has a 480GB kit available and I suspect larger ones will follow in the future. IMHO, you can't go wrong getting one of these. They're a beast. With the dual Thunderbolt ports, you can hook up hardcore RAID disk storage, video capture devices, ProTools peripherals, etc. operating at up to 10Gb/second.
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Cameron Pro Audio

Mark McFarlane

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Re: Macbook Pro Retina and Smaart
« Reply #12 on: September 26, 2012, 02:23:27 PM »

... I have yet to see a need to run XP by itself in bootcamp.

The need is there for those of us that only have a license for Windows XP. 

Windows 7 Pro (required for XP support) costs $299 for a new version.  (In the past I think Bootcamp didn't work with upgrade versions, but the Win7 upgrade is still $199...)  A new netbook can be had for a few dollars more.  I'd rather buy a new mic or a netbook rather than spend $299 on Windows 7.

By comparison, Mac OSX Mountain Lion cost $19. I understand the business model, Apple doesn't really care about software, they want everyone running the latest version.  Microsoft has to make money on software, just not my money. 

I was for many years a Windows developer, fan, and Microsoft stock holder.  I moved to Mac at the time of XP.  Now I don't touch Windows (at home) except for the few pieces of live audio hardware/software that I own that require it.
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Mark McFarlane

Arthur Skudra

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Re: Macbook Pro Retina and Smaart
« Reply #13 on: September 26, 2012, 02:57:34 PM »

The need is there for those of us that only have a license for Windows XP. 

Windows 7 Pro (required for XP support) costs $299 for a new version.  (In the past I think Bootcamp didn't work with upgrade versions, but the Win7 upgrade is still $199...)  A new netbook can be had for a few dollars more.  I'd rather buy a new mic or a netbook rather than spend $299 on Windows 7.

By comparison, Mac OSX Mountain Lion cost $19. I understand the business model, Apple doesn't really care about software, they want everyone running the latest version.  Microsoft has to make money on software, just not my money. 

I was for many years a Windows developer, fan, and Microsoft stock holder.  I moved to Mac at the time of XP.  Now I don't touch Windows (at home) except for the few pieces of live audio hardware/software that I own that require it.
You can always install XP as a virtual machine in OSX in either VMWare or Parallels desktop.  I run some legacy hardware with XP in Parallels desktop, very rarely do I boot up in bootcamp, in fact I find it inefficient to boot up in bootcamp unless I'm doing something specific that requires bootcamp (firewire interface).  No need to buy Windows 7 professional in your case.  If you look carefully, you can get a Parallels desktop or vmware license for $40-50.  An absolutely valuable tool for any sound professional running OSX.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2012, 03:00:13 PM by Arthur Skudra »
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Mark McFarlane

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Re: Macbook Pro Retina and Smaart
« Reply #14 on: September 26, 2012, 03:41:22 PM »

You can always install XP as a virtual machine in OSX in either VMWare or Parallels desktop.  I run some legacy hardware with XP in Parallels desktop, very rarely do I boot up in bootcamp, in fact I find it inefficient to boot up in bootcamp unless I'm doing something specific that requires bootcamp (firewire interface).  No need to buy Windows 7 professional in your case.  If you look carefully, you can get a Parallels desktop or vmware license for $40-50.  An absolutely valuable tool for any sound professional running OSX.

Thanks Arthur.  I do own Parallels 7.  I have a professional video camera that operates remotely off firewire (Canon XH-A1), streams to disk, and only has a Windows client, so unfortunately I need Bootcamp for that when I video gigs.  I've also had a lot of problems with Sabine's Navigator DSP software running under Parallels 7 over USB (DSP remote software hangs when I change certain DSP parameters) so when I go to gigs I boot Windows to keep everything simple.  I might go back some day and see if I can get Navigator stable under Parallels, but I already wasted an afternoon on it. 

My digital rig is already too complicated with about 8 devices, Parallels is just another complication.  I've actually been thinking about just buying a cheap Netbook to keep in one of my FOH crates and leaving my expensive 17" MB Pro at home.  This would avoid other problems like the gig I forget to bring the power supply for the MB Pro...  It was a long night, I'm afraid I have become too reliant on Studio Manager and had a hard time doing some obscure patches from the console.
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Mark McFarlane

Rasmus Rosenberg

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Re: Macbook Pro Retina and Smaart
« Reply #15 on: September 30, 2012, 07:17:10 AM »

WHen will the new mac book pro 13" retina be released? I guess it will be worth the wait, better display and SSD disk? Or not worth the xtra cost?

mvh
R
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Mark McFarlane

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Re: Macbook Pro Retina and Smaart
« Reply #16 on: September 30, 2012, 11:14:51 AM »

WHen will the new mac book pro 13" retina be released? I guess it will be worth the wait, better display and SSD disk? Or not worth the xtra cost?

mvh
R

Rumors say October. We'll see.  On the 15" its a $400 differential for retina and SSD.
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Mark McFarlane

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Macbook Pro Retina and Smaart
« Reply #16 on: September 30, 2012, 11:14:51 AM »


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