I’m building a new rig. Does anyone have a new Mac Air running GP. If so, does it handle it well? I’ll be running GP with a couple of Arturia plugins, Kontakt and Ivory…
I have an older Intel MacBook Air, it works great for me.
Note, however, that my use case for guitar is not demanding.
My Macbook Air is an M1 and it’s been issue free.
Did you get the Air? Very. Close to getting the new M4 Air to replace my M1 MBP.
I’m curious as to why you would make that specific upgrade. Do you need more RAM capacity? Other than that, you’re getting 2 more efficiency cores—and that’s about it.
Yes. I need more RAM. current my GP file is using 29GB when i load it all. My MBP has 16GB.
Ok, i can and do use predictive loading, which is fine for gigs, but i find at rehearsals we jump around the song list and it will help to have more of my songs loaded.
I also feel my MBP is a bit bulky and heavy. It’s a 14”, 8/14 core IIR. I dont take it out much because of the weight, but i would the Air.
GP doesn’t come close to running the CPU even near 50%, so im hoping the M4 will be fine, but id certainly do extensive testing before deciding to keep it.
There is a slim chance id keep the MBP as my desktop computer, but im not too keen on spending money on a new Mac and not using it much.
That makes more sense then.
Is there still a trade-in value for the M1 MBP?
Currently Apple are offering me £540 but i think ill sell it privately as they sell for about £800 used. I’ll price it keenly enough to get rid of it quickly though.
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Just wanted to post about my initial findings.
The Air arrived today and i cloned my old Pro. All went well and other than having to activate the plugins everything was ready to go.
The Air seems snappier than my Pro. A little bit faster all round i guess.
As far as GP goes, the Air opens the same file in about 30 seconds less time than the Pro.
I checked a few Rackspaces and on the whole the Air was showing 5-8% less CPU usage in GP.
Swap file usage was around 150MB, compared to a few GB on the Pro for 31 racksapces. I cant see me having any issues like i was having.
Im surprised at how better the Air is compared to the Pro, and no heat issues at all.
Its a costly upgrade, but not one i regret.
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Annnnnnd it’s going back and ive brought the 14’’ MBP M4 (with the Pro chip). Same set up 24/512.
As fast as the Air is, and it is faster than my M1 on the whole, I couldn’t help feel that a heat may be an issue down the line for more desktop stuff, or longer gigs under lights etc. The CPU was already reaching 70+ just using GP, on my desk, which I know is acceptable, but my M1 was running cooler.
What’s really swung it though is ive spent more time with my M1 on the couch since getting the Air than I have since Ive had it, and starting to appreciate how nice it is.
The Air is nice, but its not quite in the same class, and although i dont need a better screen or speakers for what I do, if im only going to have one computer it might as well have it all. the extra TB port on the right is also going to be welcome.
Shame im back to the heavier weight, but it’s not a deal breaker.