Logic Pro 9 on a MacBook?

[Peekay]

So I've finally decided to upgrade from Logic 7 on my PowerPC G5. I'm considering getting the quad-core 2.2ghz MacBook Pro. Anyone have any experience using one of these with Logic? Will it have enough poke to run Logic smoothly? Here are my specific queries:

1) Should I pay extra for the processor upgrade to 2.3?

2) Ditto and go with 8gb of RAM?

3) I want to get Adobe CSS 5 and mess about with Photoshop and Illustrator. Will this spec of machine be able to handle them alongside Logic? (I don't mean using them at the same time as Logic - just both installed on the same partition.)

4) What harddrive option should I go for? Solid-state or, er, the other type?

5) Can anyone recommend a decent tablet/controller for use with Photoshop and Illustrator? And Final Cut Express 4, while we're on the topic? (I'm gonna get it as a pre-installed option.)

6) I've always used M-Audio (music) keyboard controllers. Any other options I should be looking at? What about drum input pads?

I'm eagerly awaiting your responses! Cheers as always.

[monel]

Peekay, can I ask you if Logic is worth splashing out on a Mac for? I've used PC based music software but people rave about Logic.

[Peekay]

Well, I've only seriously used Logic, so I can't really compare it with any PC software. I've messed around (years ago) with Cubase on a PC and more recently used Ableton on a friend's PC. I've always been impressed by the reliability and stability of Logic 7 on my old G5 - I got it nearly six years ago now and it's still as fast as when I bought it (although I literally only use it for running Logic - I don't even have any other plugins or synths as Logic 7 always had enough for what I wanted/want to do, which is make house music). Logic is very powerful and the learning curve is very steep at times (the manual for 7 is poorly written too) but there wasn't ever anything I wanted to do which I couldn't (once I found out how). Working with samples in 7 was a bit fiddly and frustrating at times (stretching them and changing keys etc).

I certainly wouldn't consider buying a PC ever again - I use PCs at work and find basic internet and office work fairly frustrating with them, what with defragging/viruses etc. I'd imagine keeping a music PC running nicely is a task for someone with fairly indepth knowledge - something Mac users simply don't have to do.

[briareos_kerensky]

2) Ditto and go with 8gb of RAM?

Go for 8 GBs.

3) I want to get Adobe CSS 5 and mess about with Photoshop and Illustrator. Will this spec of machine be able to handle them alongside Logic? (I don't mean using them at the same time as Logic - just both installed on the same partition.)

Yep, of course. About the first question: depends on the price, but I doubt the performance gain will be worth the money.

4) What harddrive option should I go for? Solid-state or, er, the other type?

Solid state for boot drive, standard HDDs for work drives. Fast SATA drives will suffice if you don't plan to make heavy use of video editing programs, though I have no knowledge on how music editing stresses the computer.

5) Can anyone recommend a decent tablet/controller for use with Photoshop and Illustrator? And Final Cut Express 4, while we're on the topic? (I'm gonna get it as a pre-installed option.)

Anything Wacom, really. Bamboo tablets are precise and more than worth the money you're paying. The Intous series features excellent tablets, but if you don't plan to make heavy use of Photoshop's freehand tools or or illustration programs (like Painter), they might be a bit overpriced. Cintiq tablets are cool, but they still are inferior to a good monitor with good tablet combination (for illustration purposes).

[Peekay]

@briareos_kerensky - excellent, thanks. Looks like I'll go for the 8gb and stick with the 2.2 processor then. I'll have a look through the tablets you've recommended too.

By boot drive, you mean the drive that Logic/Photoshop etc is on? And then actually save stuff (tracks/samples/artwork etc) onto different SATA drives? Cheers for the input.

[briareos_kerensky]

By boot drive, you mean the drive that Logic/Photoshop etc is on? And then actually save stuff (tracks/samples/artwork etc) onto different SATA drives? Cheers for the input.

Yes. SSDs are great: fast, completely silent and go easy on batteries but have their limits, most notable the "garbage" they pile up after continuous heavy loads and relatively short life cycles (but this would require a looong discussion, let's just say they haven't a life as long as standard HDDs). Photoshop likes to swap even with a huge amounts of RAM and having a single SSD handle OS, programs, data and swap won't be an ideal solution.
A SSD handling OS and programs and one or more mechanical HDDs handling data ans swap will make the SSD and Photoshop happier. I think that audio editing programs like lots and lots of swap space, something that SSDs cannot provide unless you're prepared to pay a huge price tag.

[Peekay]

Photoshop likes to swap even with a huge amounts of RAM and having a single SSD handle OS, programs, data and swap won't be an ideal solution.
A SSD handling OS and programs and one or more mechanical HDDs handling data ans swap will make the SSD and Photoshop happier. I think that audio editing programs like lots and lots of swap space, something that SSDs cannot provide unless you're prepared to pay a huge price tag.

Excellent. Sorry, one more question - what's swap? (Sorry!)

[briareos_kerensky]

In this case, it's space reserved on the HDD by the operating system and programs to act as RAM when there isn't enough RAM or when a program thinks that a piece of data might be needed but not not immediately, thus placing it on the slower HDD and freeing up RAM for faster operations. It's called scratch disk in Adobe products.

[Peekay]

Thank you sir!