# MacBook Pro as Main Workstation



## Blake Ewing (Oct 6, 2017)

Anyone here have any experience using a laptop as your main rig for both studio and travel/performance?

I'm looking to upgrade my desktop workstation and was thinking that using a laptop to do it all might give me more options (at a certain cost).

I don't use massive templates (I basically build as I write). I use Logic, so it has to be a Mac.

Basically, I'd like to plop the macbook on the desk, connect it to a hub of some sort and use it as any other desktop computer. And, then when needed, unplug it from hub and have a mobile workstation that has all of my project files, etc with me wherever I may be.

Anyone using it (or any laptop) in this way? Any horror stories or perhaps minutia of use I might be overlooking?

Thanks!


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## Penthagram (Oct 6, 2017)

Hello Blake, i've been using a laptop for 2 years now, for videogame music and sound design. I use it exactly as you mention. Plop the computer on the desk connect it to two hubs and i can use it as a laptop if i need to move...In terms of perfomance i'm good served. plenty of memory and I can run unreal 4, and make videogame sound design implementation or fire my daw compose music without any problem. So laptop perfomance is more than enough nowadays. My main problems are 1/Space, the laptop take good space on the desk as i need to have another monitor. Hubs take a lot of space, are noisy, and not as safe as have the hard drives internally. Another problem is that you should have a core set of libraries and programs inside of the computer, so if you disconnect from the hubs you still can do stuff. ....so at the end, it's possible and it has some very good things, but i think the laptop became a desktop computer 85% of the time in my case. Not sure about how often you will be producing while travelling...just to share my experience!


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## whinecellar (Oct 6, 2017)

Hey Blake,

Yes, I use a MacBook Pro Retina (mid 2014) as my main machine both in the studio and on tour. When I’m home, it runs a massive 1100 track Logic template using mostly VE Pro (with 4 slave machines) and drives a nice workstation with a 40” 4K display, 2 Apollos and a 4-bay SSD chassis via thunderbolt.

When I’m on tour, I take a few SSDs with me along with a Korg NanoKontrol, small audio interface & controller, etc.

It’s been rock solid for almost 2 years and I love it!


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## Nick Batzdorf (Oct 6, 2017)

The biggest issue is the 16GB limitation to MacBook Pros. For me that was a nonstarter.


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## whinecellar (Oct 6, 2017)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> The biggest issue is the 16GB limitation to MacBook Pros. For me that was a nonstarter.



True - I still can’t believe that in 2017 apple doesn’t make a laptop with more RAM capability. It’s a non-issue for me when I’m at home with 4 slave machines, but it can be a drag when I’m trying to work on the road! Those machines are so ridiculously powerful it’s a crime they are hamstrung by the memory limitation!


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## Nick Batzdorf (Oct 6, 2017)

You and I aren't the first people to express this lament, Jim.

However, the result is that I have an 11" MacBook Air, one of the best Macs ever. But it's not for studio use.


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## mc_deli (Oct 6, 2017)

Blake Ewing said:


> Anyone here have any experience using a laptop as your main rig for both studio and travel/performance?
> 
> I'm looking to upgrade my desktop workstation and was thinking that using a laptop to do it all might give me more options (at a certain cost).
> 
> ...


I have the 2014 i7 16gb 2.2 Iris integrated graphics. TB2 hub, extra USB hub, external SSDs.
The ram limitation is tough - but only if I go full orchestral and wheel out big libraries (e.g. BWW). With non-orch heavy hybrid stuff, a hundred tracks is OK I build as I write.
The real killer for me now is the CPU. Now that I am using multiple Divas on most things I get a lot of lock ups.
I also can't get CPU heavy libs to play nice. Blakus Cello on 16 bit mono, lite patch... won't run live without pops and clicks, and lock ups, even at 512 buffer.
SCS performance legato - no chance. Output libs also extremely unhappy.
Also loading times for heavier Kontakt libraries are excessive and nause my buzz - browsing Output patches, NI rise and hit etc... all take just that little longer than comfortable.
And then Logic's graphic performance totally sucks on bigger projects and/or when the CU is not happy.
Yes, freeze, yes, bounce, yes, Divas on lower quality of course, but frankly it is all a hassle and just gets in the way of making music.
If I had 5 grand to throw at a Vader Helmet right now I would do it like a shot.


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## gsilbers (Oct 6, 2017)

get a 2tb SSD drive, a thin enclosure and velcro. add it to the top and you have less things to carry around. i saw that afrojack and some other Djs do this and some of the tech tutorials show video editors using it. 

yes ram is an issue. do the "update sample pool " in kontakt. so you can get a mini template going. 

the other option would be to learn cubase and get a pc. there are some insane laptops out there with tons of ram and cpu. while apple is going the "smaller is better" route


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## Prockamanisc (Oct 6, 2017)

Penthagram said:


> have a core set of libraries and programs inside of the computer, so if you disconnect from the hubs you still can do stuff


This is key, and having dongle-less licenses (like FabFilter and Spectrasonics) for the essentials is a must, as well, esp. with the new USB-C Macs. And also having a slave machine for plugging into when you're at your desk so you can scale it up to a heavy-duty rig.


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## JPQ (Oct 6, 2017)

gsilbers said:


> the other option would be to learn cubase and get a pc. there are some insane laptops out there with tons of ram and cpu. while apple is going the "smaller is better" route



Makes me think how good are these gaming laptops for music use? these are only ones i feel if i forget Apple products here hich give quadcore and big amount memory. And with big internal harddrive. to me SSD is type hard drive i hope all udnerstand what i mean. I feel portable music comptuer 256gigabytes is not much. of course i can use external hds for stuff but removes little point use portable then.


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## JaikumarS (Oct 7, 2017)

Anyone using Cubase 9 on a 15" Macbook Pro 2017, how's the realtime performance?


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## mc_deli (Oct 7, 2017)

Dongles, SSD space, external SSD speed, adding monitors -none of these are a problem using a rMBP as a main workstation. 

RAM and CPU are the problems. And the machines are not RAM and CPU upgradeable. This means that the problems are only going to worse during the lifecycle of the machine as software (including future OSX updates) becomes more demanding on CPU and uses more, bigger samples requiring more RAM.


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## sourcefor (Oct 7, 2017)

I am using a 2017 15" MacBook Pro and so far it seems ok with large projects. I have 3 dongles and it does not bother me too much except when I need to move the machine around, I have to unplug and plug! The RAM IS a limitation but I use "upgrade sample pool' in Kontact and I am getting away with it. Logic still has that CPU spike thing which makes it look like your computer cannot handle the load. Don't know why apple products do not work well with Apple products, just my 2 cents! I am waiting for apple to come out with a 32gb version then it will bey main rig!


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## gsilbers (Oct 7, 2017)

JPQ said:


> Makes me think how good are these gaming laptops for music use? these are only ones i feel if i forget Apple products here hich give quadcore and big amount memory. And with big internal harddrive. to me SSD is type hard drive i hope all udnerstand what i mean. I feel portable music comptuer 256gigabytes is not much. of course i can use external hds for stuff but removes little point use portable then.




there a lot more choices. im sure you can look them up but the issue is then you have a laptop thats not as portable as apple ones. which might not be as bad as what a business man sees as portable. 

the razer line has 32g of ram. im sure there are others more specialized. 

i find it hard to quit logic so im waiting to see if Tims' mention of an update on the apple PRO lines gives new line of pro laptops and mac pros. if not, ill def going to cubase.


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## JPQ (Oct 7, 2017)

gsilbers said:


> there a lot more choices. im sure you can look them up but the issue is then you have a laptop thats not as portable as apple ones. which might not be as bad as what a business man sees as portable.
> 
> the razer line has 32g of ram. im sure there are others more specialized.
> 
> i find it hard to quit logic so im waiting to see if Tims' mention of an update on the apple PRO lines gives new line of pro laptops and mac pros. if not, ill def going to cubase.



Here where i live Razors are unavailable.


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## Blake Ewing (Oct 7, 2017)

Thanks so much for the replies so far everyone!

I guess I hadn't really thought much about the RAM limitation lately until it was mentioned. I work on 16GB right now and honestly never have issues (99% of the time), so maybe that would be ok, especially with an all ssd setup.

The CPU benchmarks also don't look terrible to me. They are higher than what I have now in a 2012 machine. They're about 40-50% increase in both single and multicore scores from what I'm used to working on.

I understand those things are frozen in time. But honestly, the iMac would be my other choice, and although the RAM is upgradeable, the CPU is not. So, I accept that time will progress and hope for 4-5 years or of good use so out of whatever I end up with.

Any more thoughts, experiences? Specifically if you've got a mid-2017 15"...

Thanks again!
B


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## synthpunk (Oct 7, 2017)

As someone who does tour support for a living please use 3m dual lock over velcro please. You can find it at any hardware/big box store and online. 



gsilbers said:


> get a 2tb SSD drive, a thin enclosure and velcro. add it to the top and you have less things to carry around. i saw that afrojack and some other Djs do this and some of the tech tutorials show video editors using it.
> 
> yes ram is an issue. do the "update sample pool " in kontakt. so you can get a mini template going.
> 
> the other option would be to learn cubase and get a pc. there are some insane laptops out there with tons of ram and cpu. while apple is going the "smaller is better" route


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## bjderganc (Oct 7, 2017)

I have a 2015 15" 2.8-4.0 rMBP (aka the current "non-touchbar" model), internal GPU only, and cross-shopped this against the 2017 redesign.

This laptop is pretty powerful, but gets loud in moderately CPU-intensive sessions. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the redesign runs a little cooler, which should allow for better and quieter performance. 

I'd be interested to hear about fan noise in the 2017, especially with the fastest CPU.


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## nas (Oct 7, 2017)

I think you might feel the RAM limitations more if you start to use resource heavy libraries such as Spitfire's Orchestral stuff - even if your templates aren't that large. Having an internal and ext. SSD's will help significantly. 

Another option is to have a rack mounted slave with VEP to do the heavy lifting for your resource hungry samples. This makes sense if you're going to invest in sample libraries in the future and need that extra horsepower. You don't have to do that immediately but as your needs grow, you can expand your system accordingly.

That being said, it's possible and very likely that the new MBP will have 32 GB of RAM... whenever that is!


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## Jeremy Spencer (Oct 10, 2017)

Like Jim Daneker, I also use a MacBook Pro as a master when in my studio (late 2013). I was in the same dilemma, as I needed to be mobile occasionally. Coming from Windows for 20+ years, it was a good decision (although hesitant). The MacBook Pro is a beast! If you are getting by fine with 16GB, then you won`t have any issues; just make sure you get a quality USB3 hub (powered) and a good external drive for your samples. In fact, I can load Hollywood Strings Gold directly from the internal flash drive....not recommended, but it has worked great. Hosting your VI`s in VEPro is a good idea as well, as it distributes the core loads more efficiently.


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