Apple introduces first 8-core MacBook Pro

[BezO]

I've all but settled on an iMac, 3.6GHz 8-core i9. I'm bumping the drive up to a 512GB SSD and sticking with 8GB RAM to max out on the after market.

This beat out a similar spec-ed MBP with 32GB RAM and an iMac Pro with 64GB RAM. Though the MBP might be enough, I didn't want to take the chance. And the iMac Pro is likely overkill for anything I'd be doing.

In case there are any, "no, that's not enough processor" responses - I know these can be hard to judge without detail - my projects are small compared to many here. My templates are 30-40 VI tracks (& growing) of mostly Native Instruments, Soniccouture, Orange Tree, Spitfire, Output, Arturia, Heavyocity & Superior Drummer. Mixes are moderate. Typical performance from my 2.8GHz 4-core i7 w/16GB RAM is 50-65% CPU & 10-12GB RAM used.

Any reason the above mentioned iMac couldn't handle what I'd be throwing at it with ease?

 

[Damarus]

Good info about the refresh

 

[jasonmrose]

I've all but settled on an iMac, 3.6GHz 8-core i9. I'm bumping the drive up to a 512GB SSD and sticking with 8GB RAM to max out on the after market.

This beat out a similar spec-ed MBP with 32GB RAM and an iMac Pro with 64GB RAM. Though the MBP might be enough, I didn't want to take the chance. And the iMac Pro is likely overkill for anything I'd be doing.

In case there are any, "no, that's not enough processor" responses - I know these can be hard to judge without detail - my projects are small compared to many here. My templates are 30-40 VI tracks (& growing) of mostly Native Instruments, Soniccouture, Orange Tree, Spitfire, Output, Arturia, Heavyocity & Superior Drummer. Mixes are moderate. Typical performance from my 2.8GHz 4-core i7 w/16GB RAM is 50-65% CPU & 10-12GB RAM used.

Any reason the above mentioned iMac couldn't handle what I'd be throwing at it with ease?

All I can tell you is my own experience. I bought the top of the line iMac a couple of months ago...1TB SSD...72GB of RAM from OWC. I was very excited to get this processor in this computer. I planned to use it for a long time.

I did my research and found a couple of popular videos that said the fans were quieter than the 2017 models and that there wasn't any thermal throttling.

But unfortunately, this wasn't my experience...and I had to send it back. First, I noticed that any time my project went over 45-50%, the fans would REALLY kick in. It wasn't that the processor couldn't handle the workload...it was that the fan couldn't keep the machine cool. I never pushed this machine over 70% (and I was running some pretty big projects). But the fan noise was a deal breaker for me.

It's possible that your workload won't be a problem. But I personally couldn't justify making a purchase this big and not being able to use the processor to it's fullest capacity. I'm currently computer-less -- waiting to see what happens next week at WWDC.

Hope that helps you in your decision.

 

[BezO]

Thanks @jasonmrose!

Sounds like my 2017 MBP. Never pushed it far enough to crackle or crash, but the fan does go into overdrive when the CPU gets up to 60% or so. I didn't think that would be an issue with iMacs. I'll definitely look into this.

 

[gsilbers]

I think I’m heading towards the new 2019 MacBook pros. The benchmarks are crazy good for both single and multi core. Even at the price it’s pretty good if it lasts as long as my 2009 Mac Pro and 2011 MacBook. Sounds expensive but lasting this long does help see the price differently instead of comparing it to random PCs... which doesn’t matter anyway for me since I’m hardcore logic guys and cannot stand windows in any form. .

I’m not doing a lot of large orchestral templates so I don’t know if 32gb ram will be enough if I can set Kontakt to purge and use tinder bolt drives.


To me the only limitation in these machines is that it requires peripherals. So the whole point of being portable now needs 1 or two external drives, a dock with plenty of usb1 items and video outs hdmi. It’s this whole ivy thing of making laptops sooooo skinny.
That’s my only complaint for laptops that are so powerful and go beyond the photoshop and word processing web browsing customer.

Anyways, does anyone actually have the 2019 MacBook w 32g of ram and can comment on workflow with external drives and in general how it is with large sessions? Thx

 

[Phil81]

It’s this whole ivy thing of making laptops sooooo skinny.

Not sure if it is accurate to blame Jon for it. I bet it was someone else’s decision imposed on Jon since his designs are generally inspirational. Bare in mind he left Apple for clear reasons.

 

[gsilbers]

Not sure if it is accurate to blame Jon for it. I bet it was someone else’s decision imposed on Jon since his designs are generally inspirational. Bare in mind he left Apple for clear reasons.

oh i think i read one article about it and thats from where i got it..

One of Apple's most controversial product designs in years may have been the result of Jony Ive's obsession with making devices thinner

Ive was too focused on making thin laptops, and it led to the Apple butterfly keyboard fiasco, a prominent Apple blogger said.

www.businessinsider.com

but maybe. who knows for sure.

wish someone came up with a all in one dock and hard drive solution thats convenient to use on these extreme skinny designs. i asked on another thread.. not a thing it seems.

 

[Phil81]

oh i think i read one article about it and thats from where i got it..

One of Apple's most controversial product designs in years may have been the result of Jony Ive's obsession with making devices thinner

Ive was too focused on making thin laptops, and it led to the Apple butterfly keyboard fiasco, a prominent Apple blogger said.

www.businessinsider.com

but maybe. who knows for sure.

wish someone came up with a all in one dock and hard drive solution thats convenient to use on these extreme skinny designs. i asked on another thread.. not a thing it seems.

I wish i could help you, but I went the Windows route a while ago.

 

[Jeremy Spencer]

wish someone came up with a all in one dock and hard drive solution thats convenient to use on these extreme skinny designs. i asked on another thread.. not a thing it seems.

Have a look at the Cal-Digit docks, I've heard a lot of good things about them. This, with a couple of Samsung T5's, would be the cat's meow.

https://www.caldigit.com

 

[Symfoniq]

Have a look at the Cal-Digit docks, I've heard a lot of good things about them. This, with a couple of Samsung T5's, would be the cat's meow.

https://www.caldigit.com

I had to return my CalDigit TS3 Plus. I would get humming/buzzing when using it with my RME Babyface Pro. Did everything I could to eliminate possible ground loops to no effect. Hopefully your mileage will vary.

 

[whinecellar]

I had to return my CalDigit TS3 Plus. I would get humming/buzzing when using it with my RME Babyface Pro. Did everything I could to eliminate possible ground loops to no effect. Hopefully your mileage will vary.

Interesting... after trying several makes/models of TB docks, the Caldigit TS3 plus is the ONLY one that has worked flawlessly for me, and it's the hub of my whole studio now that I'm using a 2018 MB Pro as my main machine. Yes, they are great - mine's a 6 core i7, 32 GB RAM, Vega20 video - and it screams - but yeah, the keyboards are STUPID... absolutely asinine that a $4500 laptop by APPLE feels like utter crap. I have a 2009 17" MB Pro and a 2014 as well, and both of those machines have been like tanks. This one - well, time will tell. Performance is off the charts, but that $%^&* obsession with thinness has GOT to stop...

 

[Phil81]

Interesting... after trying several makes/models of TB docks, the Caldigit TS3 plus is the ONLY one that has worked flawlessly for me, and it's the hub of my whole studio now that I'm using a 2018 MB Pro as my main machine. Yes, they are great - mine's a 6 core i7, 32 GB RAM, Vega20 video - and it screams - but yeah, the keyboards are STUPID... absolutely asinine that a $4500 laptop by APPLE feels like utter crap. I have a 2009 17" MB Pro and a 2014 as well, and both of those machines have been like tanks. This one - well, time will tell. Performance is off the charts, but that $%^&* obsession with thinness has GOT to stop...

2015-2019 (4 years) was how long it took for me to switch to Windows. Used to be a massive Apple fan, but I just couldn’t justify owning their machines anymore since Logic is not my go-to DAW, and every machine they’ve made from 2015 onwards has been (and is) just full of obnoxious factory performance issues. But it’s their prerogative. To each its own choosing.

 

[gsilbers]

Interesting... after trying several makes/models of TB docks, the Caldigit TS3 plus is the ONLY one that has worked flawlessly for me, and it's the hub of my whole studio now that I'm using a 2018 MB Pro as my main machine. Yes, they are great - mine's a 6 core i7, 32 GB RAM, Vega20 video - and it screams - but yeah, the keyboards are STUPID... absolutely asinine that a $4500 laptop by APPLE feels like utter crap. I have a 2009 17" MB Pro and a 2014 as well, and both of those machines have been like tanks. This one - well, time will tell. Performance is off the charts, but that $%^&* obsession with thinness has GOT to stop...

ive seen your laptop posts for at least 5 years now here at VI... you didnt find the mac mini from 2018 appealing since it had 64gb ram, more ports and still small to move around?

 

[whinecellar]

ive seen your laptop posts for at least 5 years now here at VI... you didnt find the mac mini from 2018 appealing since it had 64gb ram, more ports and still small to move around?

Oh believe me, I did! However, I still do about 90 tour dates a year, so a laptop is still the best choice for me to be able to quickly work anywhere - including planes, trains & automobiles. In fact, with the new rig, I found a small USB-C powered RAID enclosure that holds a pair of SSDs, so with just that and the laptop, I can do just about anything anywhere for a few hours on battery power. And when I'm back in the studio, it connects to the Caldigit dock, which then gives me access to my slave machines, VE Pro, etc. - so I really have no limits when I'm home. Kind of the best of both worlds!

 

[gsilbers]

Dell just came out with gen 10 intel processors laptop.

 

[Michael Antrum]

I've been on the verge of buying a new Macbook Pro fora while now. I have a late 2013 MacBook Pro 13" with i7, 16gb RAM and and 512 SSD. I bought it second hand (but not far off new) for £ 1100.00 and it has been simply flawless. (As has my Mac Pro 2009 and my iMac Late2015.)

I've had the money tucked away for a while now, but the big thing that's stopping me is the result of the obsession with a thin design. This leads to:

- Crappy keyboard with poor reliability.
- Lack of ports.
- No magsafe power connector - a truly backward step IMO.

Now even a company like Apple with all their resources is going to take a little time to re-tool and re-design, and i'm hearing rumours of a new 16' Macbook Pro this year - so the cash is staying in the bank for now...

 

[gsilbers]

I've been on the verge of buying a new Macbook Pro fora while now. I have a late 2013 MacBook Pro 13" with i7, 16gb RAM and and 512 SSD. I bought it second hand (but not far off new) for £ 1100.00 and it has been simply flawless. (As has my Mac Pro 2009 and my iMac Late2015.)

I've had the money tucked away for a while now, but the big thing that's stopping me is the result of the obsession with a thin design. This leads to:

- Crappy keyboard with poor reliability.
- Lack of ports.
- No magsafe power connector - a truly backward step IMO.

Now even a company like Apple with all their resources is going to take a little time to re-tool and re-design, and i'm hearing rumours of a new 16' Macbook Pro this year - so the cash is staying in the bank for now...

ditto. im waiting to see that new 16 inch one. although seems it will be a lot more expensive.

 

[gsilbers]

fukk.. now some bigger tarrifs...

 

[Symfoniq]

Oh believe me, I did! However, I still do about 90 tour dates a year, so a laptop is still the best choice for me to be able to quickly work anywhere - including planes, trains & automobiles. In fact, with the new rig, I found a small USB-C powered RAID enclosure that holds a pair of SSDs, so with just that and the laptop, I can do just about anything anywhere for a few hours on battery power. And when I'm back in the studio, it connects to the Caldigit dock, which then gives me access to my slave machines, VE Pro, etc. - so I really have no limits when I'm home. Kind of the best of both worlds!

So are you still liking this setup, @whinecellar ?

I'm thinking about replacing my 2015 MacBook Pro with the new MacBook Pro 16-inch, and giving the CalDigit TS3+ another chance (I suspect the one I used with my 2017 MacBook Pro was defective). I'd probably be going for the 8-core model and 64 GB of RAM.

I'm curious how much you feel like you have to rely on VE Pro when using the MacBook Pro as your master? I'd like to avoid using VE Pro if possible.

Also, how's the fan noise with lots of VIs?

 

[whinecellar]

So are you still liking this setup, @whinecellar ?

I'm thinking about replacing my 2015 MacBook Pro with the new MacBook Pro 16-inch, and giving the CalDigit TS3+ another chance (I suspect the one I used with my 2017 MacBook Pro was defective). I'd probably be going for the 8-core model and 64 GB of RAM.

I'm curious how much you feel like you have to rely on VE Pro when using the MacBook Pro as your master? I'd like to avoid using VE Pro if possible.

Also, how's the fan noise with lots of VIs?

I absolutely love it. I’ve kinda surprised myself in that I’ve really moved toward a “load as you go” approach for a lot of projects, as opposed to my massive VEP template. I would still use that of course if I were doing a big scoring gig, but it’s so nice to get most of my stuff done with just one machine - that happens to be mobile!

Fan noise hasn’t been much of an issue outside of video project rendering