NCD

[Sascha Franck]

Yeah right, New Computer Day!
Which is pretty much something to celebrate, bought the last new machine in 2008 and the Mac Pro I was using until now (purchased 2nd hand) is from 2010, go figure.

Anyway, here we go:

That's a maxed out Macbook Air, 13", M3. 24GB RAM, 2TB SSD.
Now, I hate Apple for sooo many things - but first tests have made my jaw drop to the floor. It's around 30% more CPU juice in multithreaded tasks than the Mac Pro (I never needed all the oomph there) and somewhat between 4 x (yeah, that's 400%) as powerful on singlethreaded things. Which is just fantastic. From now on, I'll be able to set my buffer size to 32 (until Logic allows for 16) and never deal with it again.

Ok, time for the horrible part of the deal, installing and configuring everything (I hate it already).

I'll keep you folks informed about how this thing performs under real life conditions.

 

[DrewJD82]

I know I’ll have to get a new computer in the next 1–2 years. I’ve had GREAT luck with refurbs off eBay, but I’m wondering if I might be better off really investing in a serious Mac for the next run.

 

[norminal]

That's a maxed out Macbook Air, 13", M3. 24GB RAM, 2TB SSD.

Goddamn! I bet that wasn’t cheap with those memory specs. Apple charges human organs for RAM!

Congrats! That should last you a long time. Those M3’s are insanely fast!

 

[Sascha Franck]

I know I’ll have to get a new computer in the next 1–2 years. I’ve had GREAT luck with refurbs off eBay, but I’m wondering if I might be better off really investing in a serious Mac for the next run.

Been looking at refurbed ones (Apple, "As Good As New" and what not), and while I could've saved quite some money, I decided to go for a new one this time. Thing is, Apple is trying hard to minimize support longevity. 5 years and that was it, latest Logic needs second to latest macOS (has been pretty different back in the days).
Also, while their upgrade prices for RAM and SSDs are downright robbery, I decided to go for the maximum (which you hardly find used/refurbed as well). I just want most recent projects and most of my samples with me all the time, 1TB would've been too tight (especially given that you shouldn't fill SSDs for more than 80% to get the best performance and longevity).

 

[Sascha Franck]

Goddamn! I bet that wasn’t cheap with those memory specs.

€2,573.70 - yeah, that's quite brutal for a laptop with a mere 2 USB ports.

Apple charges human organs for RAM!

I can at least "sort of" understand the RAM thing (it's embedded within the SoC thing), but the SSD prices are truly horrible. But I had to calculate like "Ok, those €460 upgrade costs, how do they compare to the amount of anger of either missing files or having to connect an external SSD pretty much all the time?" So that was that. Still sucks.
I mean, that money would've bought me two excellent guitars. Or an FM9 and a guitar.
But then, I waited for so long, went on a gear purchasing stop for a full year (entire 2023), so there.

Those M3’s are insanely fast!

Yeah, so far it's stunning. And I mean, everything is just incredibly fast. Quite enjoying it (if it wasn't for downloading, installing and configuring...).

 

[JiveTurkey]

1. Have I got a thread for you!
2. Congrats! Despite IOS hatred; I get Mac GAS from time to time. This is stoking it

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Nice! Been thinking about an M2 mac studio recently, but the murmurings are that M4 is coming sooner rather than later and a lot of apple products will jump straight to 4. On a 2017 iMac Pro which runs absolutely flawlessly but it feels like a good time to jump. Apple Silicon support is basically all there now, Pro Tools has multithread support, and Apple has a nice range of products at different prices (which certainly wasn’t the case in 2017).

Thinking I’d easily get 5 years out of an M2 Max, or 10 years out of an M2 Ultra. Curious to see what happens with M4, that’s when I’ll pounce.

 

[Whizzinby]

Nice! Been thinking about an M2 mac studio recently, but the murmurings are that M4 is coming sooner rather than later and a lot of apple products will jump straight to 4. On a 2017 iMac Pro which runs absolutely flawlessly but it feels like a good time to jump. Apple Silicon support is basically all there now, Pro Tools has multithread support, and Apple has a nice range of products at different prices (which certainly wasn’t the case in 2017).

Thinking I’d easily get 5 years out of an M2 Max, or 10 years out of an M2 Ultra. Curious to see what happens with M4, that’s when I’ll pounce.

Yeah an M2 Mac Studio is on my “Do you really need that bro, not really, but you totally need that bro” list.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Seriously, in case you're not into huge orchestral works and what not or heavy video editing, chances are you wouldn't need more than a plain M CPU.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Gotta say that Helix Native is still pretty much slowing down project load times. A project with 15 Kontakt tracks, each having the Alicia Keys piano loaded, opens in 1-2 seconds, a project with 15 empty HXN instances loaded takes 20 seconds.
Always thought it was my old computer, but apparently that's not the only reason.
This is not showstopper-slowish but slow enough to come across as an annoyance.

 

[SKU]

Why did you go MBA in favour of MBP? Price alone or screen size / weight?

 

[Sascha Franck]

Why did you go MBA in favour of MBP? Price alone or screen size / weight?

The only MBPs that would be interesting for me would be the ones with the extra TB/USB and HDMI ports. But those are only available on the 16" version. I do however explicitely want the 13" form factor, just fits better into backpacks and what not, without the risk of bending it.
But the most important reasons for me was the lack of any moving parts inside. I went through an incredible fan replacing drama with my 2008 Macbook, never again.
Fwiw, at first I considered the MBA 15", for the obvious reason of a bigger screen but even more so when I listened to some music on it. Given it's a super thin laptop, the speaker system of the 15" model is absolutely amazing. But in the end, both of these weren't good enough to beat the 13"s form factor.

 

[laxu]

The only MBPs that would be interesting for me would be the ones with the extra TB/USB and HDMI ports. But those are only available on the 16" version

That's not correct. The 14" MBP does come with 3 TB ports and a HDMI port. 16" comes with 4 TB + HDMI.

The shitty thing about the MBA is that it only supports a single external display. That's what makes it a total non-starter for me, but I use mine more often as a desktop machine where the laptop sits on my desk lid closed. M1 MBP is also gimped for the HDMI port, giving only HDMI 2.0 speeds, so I waited for the M2 machines before asking my work to upgrade me.

 

[Sascha Franck]

The 14" MBP does come with 3 TB ports and a HDMI port.

Correct on the HDMI port, but it's only got 2 x TB, the 16" has 3.

 

[Sascha Franck]

The shitty thing about the MBA is that it only supports a single external display.

And fwiw, the new ones support 2 displays - but you're losing the internal one.

 

[laxu]

Correct on the HDMI port, but it's only got 2 x TB, the 16" has 3.

I guess you are looking at the base 14" M3 model? That seems to have only two but the M3 Pro and Max have 3.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I guess you are looking at the base 14" M3 model?

Yeah, correct. Never looked at the others as they'd be overkill for me. Kinda weird that they're designing a different enclosure for them, didn't know that.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Oh hell, even just the baseline 14" is only €100 less than my MBA.

 

[laxu]

Yeah, correct. Never looked at the others as they'd be overkill for me. Kinda weird that they're designing a different enclosure for them, didn't know that.

I was considering getting a specs-upgraded M2 MBA for my spouse last year but a 14" M1 Macbook Pro on sale was just a much better value for similar money.

I think a solid strategy is to look for sales of the previous gen machines, or refurbished models.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I think a solid strategy is to look for sales of the previous gen machines, or refurbished models.

Well, depends. Apple has really tightened their schedule regarding support longevity. Especially with the cheaper models, it's often that after 5 years you're done. After that Apple might even refuse to repair your computer (I've been there, fortunately that was when you could do things yourself). Add to this that since a while Logic needs the second to latest macOS for the actual version. So, 6 years and you're not up to date anymore. Reads like a long time, but I guess we all know how fast 6 years can pass.
Anyhow, for some refurbished machines, those 5 years have already started.

In my case, all these, combined with the non-availability of fully maxed out refurbished MBs, led me to purchasing new. And so far I couldn't be much happier - minus the audio interface issues. Zoom half-bricking the UAC-2 almost certainly is a result of Apples wicked security measures, too. So I need to purchase something else, which absolutely sucks, because featurewise, the Zoom has always been absolutely perfect for me. Uber-meh.

And fwiw, the form factor of the 13" MBA is just about perfect, too. Add to this there's no fan sucking dirt in.