Any suggestions for the right MacBook Pro or iMac for Bitwig ?

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Hi folks, I wanna buy a new Computer for Producing.

Should I buy the I 7 Intel Prozessor or for example the i5 ?

I think 16 GB Ram and a SSD is a must, any suggestions for a good system,or an alternate PC


Thanks a lot

CHRIS

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Desktop or laptop? What's your budget?

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Does anyone know if Bitwig still makes the fan run like crazy on IMacs and Macbooks? You may want to make sure it still isn’t an issue.
-JH

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Never had that problem... I always went for the i7... its a matter of budget of course as well...

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If you mean Windows as "alternate PC" then I would go for a AMD Ryzen 3000 series processor. Like Ryzen 7 3800X or Ryzen 9 3900X/3950X. When you want a Laptop with Windows I would wait for Ryzen 4000 series on Laptops starting to sell in February with 8 cores / 16 threads.
RME Babyface Pro / Bitwig / Adam A7X / Elektron AR MKII / Novation Peak / Akai Force / Eurorack

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don_looney wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:53 am When you want a Laptop with Windows I would wait for Ryzen 4000 series on Laptops starting to sell in February with 8 cores / 16 threads.
That's what I'm doing.

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By all accounts new MBP 16'' are good, much better than 2016-19 models, although obviously very expensive.

I'm very happy with my Lenovo Legion Y730, which is like 1/2 of the price of equivalently specced MBP (6-core i7-8750h, 16GB RAM, GTX1050Ti, 256GB SSD + 2TB HDD) and you can get even cheaper going for Y530 model, which has the same specs but less "extra" features (single-colour backlit keyboard, 60Hz display instead of 144Hz, fully plastic instead of aluminum, etc.). Current models Y740/Y540 are obviously worth cosidering as well.

Performance-wise it takes whatever I throw at it - I normally work with a CPU set to 99% in Power Profile, which means it doesn't engage turbo boost and runs at 2.1GHz, but after the project gets bigger (and insist on keeping everything in MIDI :) ) I can comfortably switch to 100%, which means it runs steadily at 3.7-3.8GHz. Screen is great (1080p, but 144Hz really makes a difference, even in Bitwig), keyboard is very comfortable, lots of ports on the sides and the back, even the speakers are surprisingly decent.

https://youtu.be/tJW0ZYxQqgs
Music tech enthusiast
DAW, VST & hardware hoarder
My "music": https://soundcloud.com/antic604

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antic604 wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 11:46 am By all accounts new MBP 16'' are good, much better than 2016-19 models, although obviously very expensive.
I would not buy a Macbookpro unless you want to use Logic (sounds somehow like a contradiction, doesn't it?)

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I'd like to get in on this too. Despite the current version with Metal support, my i7 quad core with 64 GB memory gives me a fan party like I've never seen on this Mac before. I can have projects with several hundreds(!) of tracks in Cubase or Logic for example without any noticeable fan activity. I usually only hear my fan when doing heavy video stuff. So does this have to do with Bitwig vs graphics card then?

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stamp wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:10 pm
antic604 wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 11:46 am By all accounts new MBP 16'' are good, much better than 2016-19 models, although obviously very expensive.
I would not buy a Macbookpro unless you want to use Logic (sounds somehow like a contradiction, doesn't it?)
Oh, I know. I'm just mentioning the 16'' model because OP specifically mentioned MBPs :)

What's ironic, Reason also runs pretty poorly on MBP :D :wheee:
Music tech enthusiast
DAW, VST & hardware hoarder
My "music": https://soundcloud.com/antic604

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stamp wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:57 pm Desktop or laptop? What's your budget?
My favorite is a laptop, budget 2300,-

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outerspacecat wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:12 pm I'd like to get in on this too. Despite the current version with Metal support, my i7 quad core with 64 GB memory gives me a fan party like I've never seen on this Mac before. I can have projects with several hundreds(!) of tracks in Cubase or Logic for example without any noticeable fan activity. I usually only hear my fan when doing heavy video stuff. So does this have to do with Bitwig vs graphics card then?
Sounds good for me, I think I will give the new 16 inch MacBook Pro a chance

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Grid-nik wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:05 pm
outerspacecat wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:12 pm I'd like to get in on this too. Despite the current version with Metal support, my i7 quad core with 64 GB memory gives me a fan party like I've never seen on this Mac before. I can have projects with several hundreds(!) of tracks in Cubase or Logic for example without any noticeable fan activity. I usually only hear my fan when doing heavy video stuff. So does this have to do with Bitwig vs graphics card then?
Sounds good for me, I think I will give the new 16 inch MacBook Pro a chance
I think you read that wrong. (?) It was more of a compliant, not a recommendation. Or do you want your new computer to die faster?
Last edited by JHernandez on Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
-JH

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Grid-nik wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:05 pm
outerspacecat wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:12 pm I'd like to get in on this too. Despite the current version with Metal support, my i7 quad core with 64 GB memory gives me a fan party like I've never seen on this Mac before. I can have projects with several hundreds(!) of tracks in Cubase or Logic for example without any noticeable fan activity. I usually only hear my fan when doing heavy video stuff. So does this have to do with Bitwig vs graphics card then?
Sounds good for me, I think I will give the new 16 inch MacBook Pro a chance
What they mean is that running Bitwig makes the MacBook Pro heat up, so that its fan runs to cool it down. Not a good thing.

My MBP is too old to be a good music machine, so I haven't installed Bitwig on it and can't offer an opinion.

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I would like to see my fans run to cool me down when I'm hot.

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