Going to Get a new Mac in a couple months....

[rwrobinson88]

What do you suggest?

 

I'm pretty convinced I want a MBP 13inch. 15 is too big for me.

 

As far as hardware, what do you suggest? I have a $1500ish budget because I'm not loaded . So money is a factor.

 

But I want some umpf. I use accordance and logos.

 

I'd like to have a i7. SSD obviously.

 

But, since I have been using PC for a bit (i7, 256gb ssd, 8gb ram Lenovo), I don't know how they compare.

 

Thoughts?

[R. Mansfield]

Ryan, the good news is Accordance works great on any current Mac--even the low-end 2015 retina MacBook that I have. 

 

Ultimately, though, if you can stand to wait, I'd recommend waiting until around March when more than likely Apple will announce new models.

[Joel Arnold]

Going to concur here with Rick. I was running a 2008 Macbook until last year. It was bad news. Everything was killer slow, even down to waiting for Word.

Except for Accordance. Seriously. Besides obvious things like textedit or preview, it was the lightest app I was regularly using. It was really impressive.

No promises for Logos. I owned Logos Silver and haven't opened it in 3 years. It's just too slow. It's turned into bloatware. My life moves faster than that. For me it's the single biggest argument that makes me an Accordance user.

[rwrobinson88]

Rick, it seems that you have the highest end MacBook there is. Do you mean, it's not as "beefy" as the specs on a MBP? I was looking at getting my wife that MacBook but probably not with the best specs, would you recommend it? (She doesn't really do too much demanding speed-wise)

 

I can say, i know I won't ever be an accordance only user. I love both programs for different reasons and will keep using both. I wish the other guys weren't as demanding on the computer (I.e. More like accordance). But, the things I like about it are probably part of what makes it so demanding.

 

I probably wouldn't be purchasing until the time of them announcing their new models. I'm inclined to go refurbished because they have the one year warranty and they save a decent chunk of change. The main benefit of waiting is what? Newest hardware?

 

Thanks for your time.

[ucfgrad93]

If you want an i7 then you'll probably have to go with a refurb as the cheapest new one I could find was $1,800.  I did find this in the refurb section:

 

3.0GHz i7

13.3 inch Retina Display

8GB of RAM

512GB SSD

$1,569

 

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/G0RB1LL/A/Refurbished-133-inch-MacBook-Pro-30GHz-Dual-core-Intel-i7-with-Retina-Display

Edited December 19, 2015 by ucfgrad93

[Solly]

 My machine: MBP (Retina, 13 inch, mid 2014); 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5; 8 GB RAM; 250 GB SSD; Intel Iris video.

 

Ryan, I think the SSD is the most important factor for a snappy response in most disk intensive software. I use both products you mentioned on this machine and find Accordance to be super responsive and the other mentioned product to be much faster than when used with traditional hard drives, though still slower than Accordance. I am satisfied with both products on this Mac. 

[rwrobinson88]

Does anyone know if the ram is upgradable to 16gb from 8gb?

[Ken Simpson]

Does anyone know if the ram is upgradable to 16gb from 8gb?

Not as a refurbished or 2nd hand product. Ie the ram is not user upgradeable. You can get 16gb on a build-to-order. But then expect new machine prices.

[Λύχνις Δαν]

You could buy the RAM and do the upgrade yourself after market (http://www.instructables.com/id/Upgrading-RAM-in-your-MacBook-Pro-13-or-15/) but I guess the warranty would be toast. Could limp for a year then do it I guess also.

 

Thx

D

[Solly]

Newer MacBooks have the RAM soldered onto the motherboard. This stuff is becoming more and more just throw away and get a new one when the old becomes unsatisfactory. I think on much of the new stuff at Apple, it is a swap the broken unit for a refurbed unit and your broken unit goes back to the factory to get refurbed or scavenged for parts. I envision a whole series of jokes based on the theme of "How many broken devices does it take to make a refurbed device?"

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Wow ! That's a real pity. Pretty expensive for throw away when the fix is trivially simple.

 

Thx

D

[Daniel Francis]

It was reported in the Logos forums that the 12 inch macbook runs L6 satisfactory, only slightly noticeably slower than the users mac mini. I only bring this up since you mentioned you use both and wanted to assure you that a seemingly slower machine like the MB may be acceptable.

 

-Dan

[rwrobinson88]

Thanks. 

 

I've read today that the different between the dual core i5 2.9 GHZ (tubro boost to 3.3ghz) and the dual core i7 3.1 ghz (turbo boost up to 3.4ghz) isn't going to be that big of a difference. Can anyone else speak to that? 

 

I'm pretty well convinced that I'm going to do the 16gb upgrade from 8gb on the ram. 

[Martin Z]

I have the Mid-2014 rMBP, with 2.8GHz i5 and 8GB ram. 

As everybody would agree with, you don't need to worry about running Accordance at all.

The only concern is with Logos. I find Logos' speed is acceptable on this computer, and I don't use it often. I mainly use it as a library. I go to Logos when I need to read or consult something that is not available elsewhere (e.g., Accordance/BW) or I have already bought from Logos.

I would say that the upgrade from 8 to 16GB is worthier than i5 to i7.

 

I'm not an expert. I just say from my experience.

[R. Mansfield]

Rick, it seems that you have the highest end MacBook there is. Do you mean, it's not as "beefy" as the specs on a MBP? I was looking at getting my wife that MacBook but probably not with the best specs, would you recommend it? (She doesn't really do too much demanding speed-wise)

 

Apple has the advantage of fine-tuning OS X to hardware of which is it the sole designer and provider. Due to that fact, even the MacBook running a Core M processor is adequate for most tasks. I bought the MacBook for ease of portability reasons. 95% of the time, I have no problems with it. I am often running well over a dozen programs at a time, and I don't notice any kind of significant slowdown. What I've noticed is that it struggles primarily with video--not editing video, but rendering takes longer than I would like. And video-based programs such as Skype or Google hangouts need to run without too many other applications running in the background.

 

All that to say, Ryan, that if your wife is simply doing basic task on a computer, I would suggest even the base-level MacBook would be fine.

 

Your final question, which I didn't quote above, asked about the primary advantage of waiting for a new processor. Yes, only if you want the newest hardware. If that's not a concern, buying now or buying refurbished is fine. I've bought Apple-refurbished before and was quite satisfied.

[ukfraser]

Ryan, what else do you want to do on the mbp that requires the performance. Unfortunately i am using a lenovo for work ( my third in two years) but still prefer to use at home My 6 year old mbp still on mountain lion running adobe cs 5 and lightroom 5 and while it is a bit slow uploading my 32 meg raw files but once they are in, it is able to handle them with minimal delay. Even my DAW is ok. Sibelius and accordance are mega happy on the spec.

 

I would certainly want solid state on my next upgrade but am intrigued what you want the power for. That may help in your descion making.

 

Fraser

[Alistair]

I always keep an eye on this when thinking about new hardware: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com.

[Brian K. Mitchell]

Ultimately, though, if you can stand to wait, I'd recommend waiting until around March when more than likely Apple will announce new models.

This sounds like great advice, in fact someone informed me of the same not too long ago. But, it is great to hear that Accordance works well even on the older models, too!