The New MacBook Pro
This is a seriously powerful laptop. It’s fast, it’s quiet, and it absolutely rocks my geeky world. And, it’s the centerpiece of my pursuit of the dream – to finally begin recording and producing music.
The first post of my new blog and I’m writing it on my brand new MacBook Pro. Let’s get a few specs out of the way first
- Quad Core 2.0 GHz i7 Intel processor
- 8 GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
- 500 GB drive
- 15″ display
- Firewire 800
- the brand new Thunderbolt port
- Logic Studio (Pro 9, Mainstage 2, plus several instrument and effects packages)
I’ve wanted to do this for many years, and it’s never been easier (and relatively cheaper) than right now to put together a semi-pro level portable studio. The one thing that I wanted to be sure of was to have a powerful digital mixer at my disposal – unfortunately, good mixers are NOT cheap, nor are they all that portable. But a powerful MacBook Pro loaded with Apple’s incredible Logic Studio recording software makes for an extremely portable, highly capable mixing desk – it can handle fairly large projects with ease, and the interface is marvelously intuitive.
Everything about Apple’s design is simple, fluid and logical. Things just work, and it doesn’t take much effort to find or use whatever is needed for the task at hand. The laptop fired up quickly and a slick welcome process walked me through setup in a matter of minutes. Most forum discussions I’d read while researching my choice of computer stated that Logic took three to four hours to load up on last year’s Apple laptops; on my new machine, the entire Logic Studio package loaded in about ninety minutes. Like I said, this thing is FAST.
Until last year, I had been exclusively on PC products for twenty years. The iPad introduced me to Apple, and that device has hardly left my side for the past year. I’ve taken it everywhere, the perfect media consumption companion. But now, the Apple MacBook Pro looks to be the perfect media production tool I’ve wanted for so long.
It’s only been five days, but I’m completely hooked on the MacBook Pro. Let’s see what this thing can do…
Congratulations on your new Mac!
Two things that really hooked me on my MPB (13″):
1. Build quality – the quality of my laptop is over the top. One only need to type on a MBP to understand. Someone asked me this week why I spent “all that extra money on a Macbook?” Quality! I appreciate quality.
2. Ease of use – Having been a “PC” user since the days of the Compaq luggable, I continue to be amazed at how easily I was able to make the switch from PC to Mac. It just seems like a natural way to compute.
Hutch