Pro Audio, Music & Mac Blog

Here is part one in a series of topical posts I responded to on the NextList recently.

Part 1 – Which IntelMac to get, MacBook Pro or iMac Core Duo?

I’ve already ordered a MacBookPro, 17″ 2.16Ghz, 100 gig 7200 rpm drive with 2 gigs of RAM. HOWEVER…

Nice… It’s a fast PC too if you load XP via Boot Camp (from all reports I’ve read).

Yesterday my wifes’ ancient PC died, and I bought her a 17″ 1.83 Ghz iMac Core Duo (Intel). It has a 160 gig drive (also 7200 rpm) and 512 mb of RAM, upgradeable to 2 gigs.

It is SEXY and even after the upgrade of RAM and case, still literally half the price of the MacBookPro. It’s not as portable as a laptop, but it’s definitely moveable with a padded custom case from iLugger.

So my questions are:

Is it good enough to score an indie film in Logic, if I keep my samples on an external drive?

Yes and no. For some people, even the fastest G5 isn’t fast enough. I am currently working on a 17″ 18Ghz G5 iMac and it’s plenty fast for full productions. Not doing any video, however.

I know it has a slower processor–1.83 vs 2.16. Are there other factors that come into play, say a desktop drive being faster than a laptop drive? Will one run hotter or quieter?

Yes, the Serial ATA drive in the iMac is definitely going to be faster than the one in the MacBook but not by a mile or anything. If you use an external FW 400 drive, you can switch between them seamlessly, actually. That’s what I did, track on my old PowerBook G4 and mix on the iMac with a FW drive bopping between garage and “studio”.

I don’t want to set myself up for increased latency or noticeably slower function. But did I mention how SEXY this thing is?

Indeed. Latency isn’t going to change between them really as you’ll set your buffers between 128 and 64 on either to minimize latency. If you’re recording an external box, there will be no latency if you monitor via the Ultalite’s CueMixDSP which is a built-in hardware playback DSP chip that sends the audio to whatever output you choose before it hits the A/D converter. So, you’ll be monitoring the live, analog audio while the signal prints.

More importantly, Logic is able to run on the IntelMacs while DP cannot YET.

I expect the universal binary of DP5 will drop at Summer NAMM in July.