It seems strange asking this on a guitar forum but I gather there are some knowledgeable techy people here…
I’m in need of a new laptop - as ever, rather skint. My 2012 i7 2.3Ghz 16G RAM 500GB SSD has died…it has too many problems to list…it’s basically like Sir Gawain in the Holy Grail getting all his limbs chopped off and still fighting.
so I’ve been looking at some second hand MacBooks on FB marketplace. I’m hoping to get something that will keep me going for 3 years.
obvs there are plenty of M1s for £300 and less that are clearly stolen as the seller only started their FB account in 2024 and doesn’t have a profile pic! So I’m thinking an older one…
can anybody here recommend a minimum spec that will trump my old 2012 machine and be able to run Logic sessions and potentially Davinci Resolve (although I don’t do as much of that these days). What year should I look for/avoid? Also, what are those weird thunderbolt ports - are they useless?
One thing is I’d prefer a 15” screen as that’s what I’m used to.
Comments
Having said that, I'm still using my much repaired & upgraded mid 2012 i7 2.3Ghz 16GB too.
Technical obsolescence is one thing, real world usability & longevity is another
I had installed two SSD's, but currently just use one as a boot drive, after I had to disassemble the Mac after yet another liquid spill... :-\"
They really are as hard as nails & I'll miss it when it goes, as I love being able to fix & swap things instead of everything being soldered & glued X(
After the Retina series around 2016 the Touchbar models came out those have quite a few issues with poor LCD cables and keyboards ... plus the USB C chip tends to go wrong leaving the power in stuck at 5V .... The M silicon models are better but still biggish money.
So in a rock and a hard place at the moment. What I will say is even the most basic M1 machine can do more tracks and plugs in a Daw than most people need. So cheap M1 is my choice but make sure it's not on someones account even if not stolen.
I think people do get a bit silly with plugins IMHO. This should be taken with a pinch of salt, but I just model the whole thing on if I had a real desk. If that were the case, I'd have compressors on channels, but have reverb/delay on sends.
It seems (please correct me!) that people manage to use up a lot of RAM and CPU putting reverb(s) per channel, with other crazy plugins. I get that massive sample libraries will eat up RAM, but I've never got near it.
Caveats, I'm really just using Logic or Ableton like a few ADATS and a Mixing desk, along with some basic outboard. The limit is the quality of the music I'm putting in the thing, not the rest.
The good thing about the M1 air, is that they're now super cheap - as you've said, £300 will get you one. Very power efficient, and powerful. Keen to hear some other views though. I'm very amateur.
But this old chestnut pops up time and time again. I get the need for more and more processing power for video, the resolution and frame rate increases over time.
With audio that's not the case. Everything is still 24/48 and machines from 15 years ago can handle huge track counts.
2020 Studios ran a 2006 Mac Pro and some sessions could reach 90 tracks or so. The M1 processor in a Macbook Air is actually more powerful than the Xeon CPU in the machine we had
I guess an M1 with 16GB RAM would be ideal but they are a lot more money.
of the current line-up, the M2 15” air looks a bit of a bargain