hi there! i am a total novice with this so be nice 😅 i need some advice for which macbook pro to buy for dj-ing and music production. in particular running rekordbox, mixed in key & i would like to learn ableton. also have a massive library of music. i am getting back into it after stopping for a few years, my old macbook is from 2016 and doesn’t want to run well anymore.

looking at one of the new 2023 macbook pros but am so confused about what specs i’ll actually need.

is 18gb ram enough or will i need 36gb? how much storage 500 or 1tb? is the new m3 pro chip worth the $$ over the m2?

overall is it worth it to get the best specs or will i be fine with 18gb ram, 500gb storage but opt for the m3 chip?

or go with 36gb ram, 1tb storage with the m2 chip??

any help will be appreciated so much!

and i am sticking to mac as i have an iphone and it’s easier to connect everything !

thank you in advance ☺️

  • kurazuto@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    it depends with your workflow, I was also on this decision side of which to get, and I had the m2 air previously with 16gb ram and wasn’t enough for my workflow. it would stutter and swap was being used enormously. if you are doing something like video editing and etc, it uses a lot of gpu power and for sure you would be benefitting from the max chipset either its m2 max or m3 max, if you are only doing casual workflow then m2 pro and m3 pro would be a choice to be made. for ram alone, it usually depends on how long also do you want to keep your device, rule of thumb these days is 16gb ram, but future proofing for 32gb would’t hurt. in m3 respective this would be 18gb ram and 36 gb ram. u can also get away with m2 pro/max refurbished model

    TLDR see how your workflows goes, and determine which u need. 32 gb ram / 36gb ram would be future proofing, and if you decide to take m2 models, watch out for the smaller ssd memory as it has lower memory speed. for m3 models the base is also fine speed wise l.

  • chris_gilluly@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    So for your needs, the M3 Pro chip is definitely well worth it over the M2 Pro chip, and you should get 36 GB of Memory (RAM) and 1 TB SSD, considering that Ableton Live uses a lot of memory (RAM) for projects being worked on and a lot of storage for sound packs and saved projects, the extra memory (RAM) and storage will definitely help. Ableton Live 11 Suite uses over 70 GB of storage for sound packs on my MacBook Pro. So it’s definitely worth it to consider getting the 36 GB of memory (RAM) and 1 TB SSD storage.

  • chris_gilluly@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    So for your needs, the M3 Pro chip is definitely well worth it over the M2 Pro chip, and you should get 36 GB of Memory (RAM) and 1 TB SSD, considering that Ableton Live uses a lot of memory (RAM) for projects being worked on and a lot of storage for sound packs and saved projects, the extra memory (RAM) and storage will definitely help. Ableton Live 11 Suite uses over 70 GB of storage for sound packs on my MacBook Pro. So it’s definitely worth it to consider getting the 36 GB of memory (RAM) and 1 TB SSD storage.