ambient Posted November 16, 2022 Share Posted November 16, 2022 My ten year old MacBook Pro sadly died yesterday, so I need to replace it. I was looking at a MacBook Air with the M1 chip. It gets some very good reviews online with regard to using it for music production. I just went into my local Apple reseller and the guy there advised me not to bother with it, but to go for a new MacBook Pro; costing twice as much. So, can anyone using a MacBook Air M1 advise me please? it has to be a MacBook of some description, the music college I lecture at uses Logic Pro, it’s also my DAW of choice. I’ll get an educational discount, but would rather not have to fork out for a MacBook Pro if I don’t need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted November 16, 2022 Share Posted November 16, 2022 (edited) How much memory did you have in your old Mac? And were you running any 3rd party plug-in with massive sample libraries? A new M1 MacBook Air is way ahead in terms of performance, so it should be fine, also the way the memory architecture works on the M! and M2 chips means that you may get away with half the amount of RAM you had previously and not see a performance hit. However I'd still order one with 16GB rather than 8GB RAM. Yes a MacBook Pro will be even better, but if you were still reasonably happy with your old Mac then any Apple Silicon Mac will be a massive improvement. I currently have a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM for live use and for me a MacBook Air would be more than adequate. There's some threads about this on Sound On Sound forums in the Mac Music section. Have a read through them if you are still worried, but ignore anything by Howdy Doody Time as he lives in a country with a computer unfriendly environment. Edited November 16, 2022 by BigRedX 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted November 16, 2022 Author Share Posted November 16, 2022 12 minutes ago, BigRedX said: How much memory did you have in your old Mac? And were you running any 3rd party plug-in with massive sample libraries? A new M1 MacBook Air is way ahead in terms of performance, so it should be fine, also the way the memory architecture works on the M! and M2 chips means that you may get away with half the amount of RAM you had previously and not see a performance hit. However I'd still order one with 16GB rather than 8GB RAM. Yes a MacBook Pro will be even better, but if you were still reasonably happy with your old Mac then any Apple Silicon Mac will be a massive improvement. I currently have a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM for live use and for me a MacBook Air would be more than adequate. There's some threads about this on Sound On Sound forums in the Mac Music section. Have a read through them if you are still worried, but ignore anything by Howdy Doody Time as he lives in a country with a computer unfriendly environment. Brilliant, thank you. My old MacBook was a mid 2012 model too, with just basic RAM, I never had a problem with it. I just went into the Apple Store in Birmingham, the guy there said similar to you. I’m guessing they’re on commission at the reseller, hence trying to get me to buy something twice as expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted November 16, 2022 Share Posted November 16, 2022 My son is beasting an M1 MB air with 8Gig of RAM. It will be fine and dandy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumbob Posted November 16, 2022 Share Posted November 16, 2022 I was in the same dilemma back in March , also coming from a 2012 macbook pro. Having talked to various music logic mac friends I stared totting up the cost of an Air with more Ram etc etc , and in the end concluded that I was getting close to the Base 14" M1 Macbook Pro price. So very reluctantly I decided to part with what to me seemed a lot of money . Anyway I have to say that my new 14" Macbook is bloody great , got all the ports and connections back on the sides , great in built speakers etc etc. I am running Logic Pro X and only running my third party plugins that are M1 ready , and I have to say it just seems to get on with the job ! So in conclusion , even though it was a lot of money I'm happy I did spend the extra . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Posted November 16, 2022 Share Posted November 16, 2022 I've got a M1 Pro with 16GB. It handles literally anything I can throw at it. If I look at Activity Monitor while running Logic, with EZDrummer 2, AmpliTube and about 12 tracks with a whole bunch of soft synths, the CPU usage was... 6%. That's insane. The Air uses the same processor, so you should be good. The new Air with the M2 would be even better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted November 16, 2022 Share Posted November 16, 2022 (edited) If I was shopping now then I would be looking at this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155255113590?hash=item2425ed0776:g:yykAAOSwjRxjbV2o&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoAKs7wKBsOYuWusEFR5IQ8pb%2F7wL9DT3VgEPGODrEadEkrIQnEbahCBMx%2B2eNIRe%2Fox2csl%2FnAS%2BV8x0Cicd1HaL5sTnFXh5tcAXpUtp22c3DgPl%2BHEF2Idk2QRJmnQQe%2FqVhZPooRxR1Jsn7%2FmEPP6m1hJ3ngB18xmxNmsnGJe6ivVkcUVjiDyOfS9hZ0OOJDXhgn7m0g%2B7tB%2FpGAP6dPQ%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR8K67aGQYQ Edited November 16, 2022 by Owen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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