I have 13" macbook air, been using it with maschine and works like a charm. Never had any problems, although my projects are always quite light. It's awesome to carry around to gigs. Audio in would be nice from time to time.
Offline
Litebritedeath Land
Thank you! Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I have actually been eyeballing the iMacs as well. Curious about how easy/hard it is to move them around if need be?
12ianma wrote:
I have a love hate with the new lineup. Hate that I can't replace the parts love the hardware. The 15inch retina MacBooks are a wonderful piece of hardware. oddly enough I really am most impressed with the 13inch MacBook Air. Can get an i7 in them and they are stupid fast (pcie flash etc).
I ended up going imac due to graphics power, but it was between that and the retina 15"
As far as a windows based recommendation, acer makes some pretty solid 13-15" laptops at a very good price. fanboys will hate but they seem to be very good to me
Offline
matt's mind
have you considered a mac mini?
also, you can get audio-in through thunderbolt/usb/etc interfaces, don't let a missing 1/8" hole scare you from a 13". the future is now 
Offline
Taichung, Taiwan
kitsch wrote:
have you considered a mac mini?
This.
Offline
Unsubscribe
considering he wants to use it with a live dj tool, a mac mini isnt worth the trouble if you are looking to play gigs.
Offline
SLC, UT
FWIW I work for an apple reseller. iMacs are surprisingly portable, I would say for a live set up it would be fine. The new ultra thin 21.5" imacs aren't really that much heavier than a 15" non retina mbp. I always recommend a desktop if you can do it because you get so much more for your money (screen real estate, specs, etc).
However a recently discontinued 15 mpb upgraded to an ssd is a great option. Quad core processor with the ability to go 16gb ram is very free.
I also have access to pre owned macs that are in surprisingly good condition. If you know specifically what you're looking for I can check to see what we have. Generally these are a much better value for customers.
Offline
Unsubscribe
Unless he is booting headlessly into his daw and playing blind with his midi controller, i dont really see how portable it can be.
Offline
SLC, UT
I read that probably 5 times and I still have no idea what you're trying to say.
Speaking of iMac portability, I ran into these fine people once in a hotel lobby:
Offline
Unsubscribe
To put it another way: How portable is a mac mini if you have to drag along a mouse, keyboard, and 13-15 inch lcd with you? And your midi controller. And a imac provides no real protection for transport of the screen.
Last edited by herr_prof (Nov 22, 2013 10:25 pm)
Offline
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
He's saying that without a monitor (which is not generally very portable), it'll be tough to use a Mac Mini.
Offline
Unsubscribe
That being said it would be great if someone made some sort of clamshell lcd for the macmini like those playstation screens from a few eyars back.
Offline
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Yeah, you could easily bolt on a tiny little screen and use a small bluetooth keyboard/mouse to make it more portable, but I don't see a major advantage over a laptop.
Offline
seattle
TylerBarnes wrote:
That isn't true. It's been thoroughly debunked
oops, sorry. that's just what i heard, i should've confirmed that before i posted it.
Offline
Litebritedeath Land
@kitsch yeah I actually think I am going to go the mini route. It's easy to upgrade yourself and even maxed out much cheaper than a macbook that is totally unupgradable except for the hard-drive. I could get a nice thunderbolt monitor for home use and a decent cheap one for gigs and still have a more powerful computer than a macbook and it would still cost less.
Offline
Litebritedeath Land
@jefftheworld the advantages are 16GB of ram not costing $300 since apple solders ram into the new MacBooks. Also the minis have faster processor options than the 13inch MacBooks at a fraction of the price.
Offline
Litebritedeath Land
As for giging I live in Midwestern Kansas so shows are small venues and it's not very hard for me personally to bring a monitor and a Mac mini over a macbook. Also having everything being modular with a mini is nice because if one thing breaks you are not f'd like an all in one unit such as a macbook or iMac.