I’ve been using a MBP M4 pro since they came out last year. I only have a 24/512 and it runs very smoothly if I use predictive loading. I find if I load my full gig file (uses 46GB of ram), I get the usual stuttering when im jumping around the list. To be expected and for home use its fine.
Last night I had a gig where i used my MB Air M5 24/1TB. I had forgotten to set predictive loading on, but didnt realise at the time. It was booting up while was doing other stuff so didnt notice the loading time. I had no issues when we went off track and the set list became redundant, and I just put that down to luck. All went perfectly.
Today I realised GP had loaded the full song list. 46GB of ram being used. Ive tested it and there is no stuttering at all when I jump around the list. I tested it side by side with MBP and that was quite bad when jumping around.
My conclusion is, due to the faster read speed off the internal SSD I can now use swap without any issues. Very happy
Yes, when my full gig file is loaded it’s taking 46GB of memory, according to the Mac OS activity monitor. On my old M1 MBP I only had 16/512, and while it was always powerful enough to run my rackspaces, it felt sluggish loading the Gig file and I couldnt really load the full one and expect not to have stuttering when the OS was reading from the swap file each time I jumped from one dog to another if they were far apart.
I upgraded to the M4 pro MBP because I wanted more ram . 24GB was the sweet spot for me. Predictive loading set to 1 works very fast, and I could jump around the songs without more than a second or two of delay. Saying that, every now and then id have to wait for a bit longer, but this was still faster than my guiraitst having to turn on and off multiple pedals etc. I never kept the band waiting.
The Air M5 just seems to be as fast at loading, if not a few seconds faster than the M4 Pro. I put this down to the faster read speeds off the SSD. It will also run for well over a gig on battery, in high power mode, but I wouldn’t take that risk.
I mostly use Yamaha’s ESP, Arturia’s stuff and Zenology Pro. I do have some rack spaces where him using Halion brass and Session Brass in Kontakt. Im slowly phasing things out in favour of just using ESP but that will take time.
I love my MBP but it’s heavier and bulkier than the Air, and overall I just prefer the Air in almost every way other than screen, speakers and ports. 2 are enough, I just wish one was on the other side.
