Would appreciate advice on new MacBook Purchase

[dsw67]

Hi all,

I'm hoping for some advice. I'm planning on giving a family member my 2009 MacBook Pro, which puts me in the market for a new computer.

Some info about me: I'm a guitarist who performs jazz/blues/funk. I use Logic primarily for composing and creating demos of tunes. I've never used more than perhaps 10 instruments at a time.

My current MacBook Pro works fine for this purpose. Occasionally I notice the CPU meter spikes when using many software instrument tracks at the same time but it never seems to effect performance.

I'd like to get another MacBook Pro, preferably a 17", with more memory. I'm thinking of going with the following:

# 2.3GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
# 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
# 750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 RPM
# SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
# MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Antiglare Widescreen Display

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I could go with a Mac Pro since I rarely need to travel with my computer.

However, on occasion I have taken the MacBook to my guitar teachers studio in order to show him pieces I've written.

Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Dana

 

[georgelegeriii]

Pretty great system I'd say. The new Sandy Bridge CPU family are really something, and 8 gig of ram, while not as much as some, is pretty good.

If I were to buy a system today (laptop) I'd get the same system, add a fast firewire drive and be very happy.

 

[dsw67]

Thanks George. One question, do you think the 5400 RPM drive is ok? I've heard other people suggest the 7200 RPM Drive, but it's a smaller size, 500GB. Thanks again.

 

[georgelegeriii]

I have a 7200 rpm drive in my older Mac Pro and I can't say I notice too much of a difference but I was using a faster drive as an external for music anyways. I'd go for the faster one if you have the $$$... a SSD drive would be very nice, but a 250 GB drive is a bit more costly than an older platter based system.