HELP ME OBIWAN, I’m a broke ass ,PC ableton, hybrid analog homerecording musican But I had it and need tips on a MACbook on the cheap!

[JimmyTheDonutClerk]

Well the title says it all! I’ve had it with all this latency on ableton it’s not an old computer but ever since I’ve gotten it I haven’t been able to really record like I want to! So I’m going for the MacBook Pro or something like it!
Like I’ve never had this much problem with my older computer and older versions of ableton!
Well I’m on ableton 11 with a rubix 44 and a tascam m-106 with its 4 OGM out going into the rubix. All I’m doing is switching to a Mac and leaving the PC in the dust.
But as the title mentions I am broke, alas, I was gonna get a refurbished one to bring the price down!
So which one should I get? Which year and model is the best and what I’m looking for when I’m searching for a MacBook Pro in the cheap but can get rid of the latency issues!
if you have a rip that’s like not super cheap but not take-a-second-mortgage high, you should hit me up with that! Would love any tips and tricks! Thank you!!!

 

[Deleted member 196982]

I don't know what your price range is, and whether you are looking at the Apple refurb site or not. The only really cheap MacBook Pros you will find are likely Intel ones, and I would not bother with those because you will not be able to load the very latest MacOs.

You can probably do audio with even the [Apple] M1 MacBook Air that Walmart sells for under $600, and there may be used ones, but Apple's refurbs won't be any cheaper. You would only need the Pro for the larger screen, IMHO. Personally, I would look at something with the M2 chip as a base.

 

[rob aylestone]

In the UK, the price of second hand macs has never been cheaper - one of the mac influencers on youtube was saying the same thing about US price. a two year old mac is now about half the new cost.

 

[Steenamaroo]

I don't know what your price range is, and whether you are looking at the Apple refurb site or not. The only really cheap MacBook Pros you will find are likely Intel ones, and I would not bother with those because you will not be able to load the very latest MacOs.

You can probably do audio with even the [Apple] M1 MacBook Air that Walmart sells for under $600, and there may be used ones, but Apple's refurbs won't be any cheaper. You would only need the Pro for the larger screen, IMHO. Personally, I would look at something with the M2 chip as a base.

I'd strike out the probably.
The more recent m chips may leave the original M1 in the dust on paper but it's still an extremely solid chip.

I'm still on the 4 year old M1 macbook air and can't imagine what I'd have to be doing, audio wise, to make me even consider an upgrade.
At this stage I think I'm just going to ride it out until it breaks.

@JimmyTheDonutClerk - Ask yourself if you really need a pro model.
I think you're more or less paying for a slightly brighter screen and two additional USB-C ports.

Unified memory isn't really directly comparable to traditional memory so 8gb is, in my opinion, enough for the vast majority of home recordists.
Apple internal storage is stupidly priced but it doesn't matter because you're going to be hanging your external storage off a USB-C port anyway,
so 256gb is, for most people, just fine.

If you need a laptop I'd recommend looking at the M1 air used.
If you don't, look at the M1 mini. They're even cheaper.


As much as I love selling people on Apple, there's probably something that can be done about your latency problem.
It could be a simple software/OS version incompatibility, or a USB/Interface driver issue, or...any number of things.
If you want to talk about that, tell us more about your latency issues.

 

[ecc83]

I have said many times that I know nothing of macs but I have been using pretty mid spec windows laptops and PCs for audio for well over ten years and have never had a latency problem (for me or musical son) I could not solve.
Annoyed that I had to go to Google to find that interface is a Roland! FULL disclosure please! But that might be the bottleneck? I recall reading a review of a similar Roland a few years ago (y'all can guess where!) and the reviewer was not happy with the latency but a few issues later had to apologize slightly because there was a hidden "buffer" in the control panel he had not found.

Bottom line RTFM or/and email Roland.

All I read in 3 forums these days is,
1) you don't need a stonking Deep Blue PC to do music.
2) macs are fine but not really superior in performance to PC anymore.

Dave.

 

[TalismanRich]

It might help if you gave us a bit of info on your computer and the settings that you are using. Processor, memory, OS version, buffer and sample rates are the first things to consider.

If the issue is due to buffer size and sample rate, then it probably won't make a huge difference going to a Mac, as USB doesn't really run any faster on a Mac vs PC. If you really want to make a difference, then using a Mac with a Thunderbolt interface would be the way to go. The minimum latency in a USB setup is buffer/sample rate. That's one way. Double it for two way using monitoring. Any plugins and processing will add to the delay.

I've seen M1 and M2 Mac Minis on Craigslist for $350 to $400. They are usually 8GB/256G models. MBP and Air models are higher. Refurb MBP with M1 and M2 tend to run $6 to 700. Cheap used models seem to be ones with issues (broken or missing parts are common).