15" MacBook Pro with Logic Studio/Apogee Duet bundle: Pros and Cons??

[GA-ME]

I am interested in hearing all opinions from those with knowledge/expertise with DWS/Digital recording.

[sandy.mclean]

Hey, I was looking at pretty much the same setup as you. The Duet 2 is out so i'd recommend looking at that over the Duet 1.  I heard lots of people going to the 13" macbook Pro had issues with noise related to THE FAN.  Apparently while running the Duet if you don't have a great CPU then the 13" will get pretty hot and have to engage the fan... so if you'r recording in the same room as your laptop it might not be right for you.  But you're looking at the 15".. are you looking at the new 15" with the new i5 or i7 processor?

Regards,

Sandy

[GA-ME]

Sandy, I am looking at the 15" 2.2 GHz, i7 model. I am looking at the Duet 2 as well. You can also power the Duet with a wall socket, rather than through the computer, would that help with the load on the MacBook and help eliminate the fan kicking on? Or is the fan issue, primarily with the 13" model?

[sandy.mclean]

If you're running with an i7 and using a seperate power supply I think that would be fine.  It was said that when upgrading to the new 15" that fan issues were eliminated.  Have you talked to anybody about recording with the 15" before?  I'd like to get an idea of how many tracks you can run with it!

Sandy

[sdelsolray]

I am interested in hearing all opinions from those with knowledge/expertise with DWS/Digital recording.

That would be a quality setup, containing mostly "pros" and few "cons".  A few thoughts:

1)  A 21" iMac would be more ergonomic and is slightly quieter than the MacBook Pro.

2)  Make sure you get a 7200 rpm hard drive with whatever you get.  Depending on the number of tracks you will be mixing, you may need a second hard drive.

3)  Logic Studio has more features than you'll probably use and the full version of Logic has many additional features you will not use (such as 5.1 surround).  However, the reverb that comes with the full version is much better than the one that comes with Logic Studio.

4)  Consider strongly whether 2 tracks of simultaneous recording is all you will ever need.