New M1 Lappletop

[sergiodeblanc]

I’ve been kinda without a computer for a few years, my role as a mommy made me push off getting one because I didn’t really have time to make music, and I figured it would just sit there going obsolete a little bit every day.

But yesterday, I splurged for a mid tier M1 MBP 14” with 10 cores and 16 gb of RAM (‘cause it’s not user upgradable anymore). It’s a ridiculously insane jump in power from my last Lappletop, it installed Logic and all of my other programs completely in… 30 mins(!)

But…. LOL! I can’t do a f@ckin thing with it because: Thunderbolt.

JFC, I know I’ve been out of it for a minute but WTF happened to USB connectors? Do I now need a pile of busted @ss camera card adapters just to plug in a f@ckin keyboard or interface to the “Pro” consumer pile of silicone and recycled aluminium (read that with an English accent)?


Do I need all new sh!t? Do I need to dig through my iPad/iPhone drawer to find some swinging b@llsack dongles? JFC… maybe I shoulda bought some Adats.

 

[alantig]

Went through the same thing - all Thunderbolt/USB-C connectors on my new Mac (which is much more powerful - I can start Logic and not have to walk away while it loads). I bought two adapters from Apple and a two-pack of these

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KR45LJW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

plus a powered USB hub because there weren't enough connectors for me. I still would like to get a USB-C/Thunderbolt hub, but it's not an urgent need yet. Four inputs is just not enough for music production. I have one tied up w/my SSD drive (thanks for the idea, @LSchefman!), one with my interface. That leaves two inputs when I have four or five other things to connect (DVD drive, since they're no longer included, USB control surface, USB music keyboard, MIDI interface, iLock, etc.). Thus the powered hub.

 

[LunarRock]

Nice laptop, looking forward to reading the mischief you type on that fancy thing

 

[Huggy Love]

I went thru the same also, and the usb adapters are the simple fix. A USB hub is another alternative, which gives you more slots, but is a bit clunky as far as desk space.

The new Logic is the best part, they've added some great new features like Latin percussion and studio horns, lots of new possibilities.

 

[aamefford]

Nice laptop. I echo the above regarding connectors - adapter cables, usb c to usb a or b cables. Mine is the last MB 16 with intel chips, 4 subculture / thunderbolt connectors. Slight derail question - for a Mac guy, is Logic the best choice for a DAW? I’ll do personal guitar recording, hopefully grow into simple backing tracks, plus audio for video work in either Adobe Premiere or Apple Final Cut.

 

[Moondog Wily]

Apple (at least the Steve Jobs portion of it) has always been of the "we will tell you what you will use, and it will be our products you will need to buy at inflated prices" attitude! Steve Wozniak literally left the company in large part due to that issue!! They make great products, and from what I have been told have great customer support, but forcing people to buy their $30 cables to connect devices is just gouging and the major reason why I have never moved into that fruity world!!! Best of luck on your connecting, but once there, you should be able to do all you can dream of and more with a fruit like that!!!!

 

[DaveP]

I recent purchased a MBP 14" with 64G of RAM, 10 core with 1TB SSD. M1 Pro Max.
The older 2019 had even less ports than this one. The has an HDMI connection, and 3 Thunderbolt USB C connections.
I use the new Apogee Duet 3 with Thunderbolt connection, Apple Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse.
Not having a regular USB port has not been a problem.
Having 64G of RAM seems like overkill but when running Logic with a few plugins and other apps open it doesn't take long to use 32G+
So having the extra headroom really lets it breathe.
The Apple hardware is really hard to beat. Rugged devices for sure.

 

[aamefford]

Most of my cables come from Amazon or monoprice. Still, I get the sentiment. I’ve drunk the coolaide, er, Apple cider. I’m usually good with the infrastructure.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Thanks @alantig those look way more reasonable than the Apple dongle drapery for $30 I was looking at.

Luckily(?) I have a pile of periphery jigga-ma-jags I bought for my iPad I can use, I just find it odd what choices Apple decides to die on the cross with.

Like, I love the fact that they have a dedicated HDMI port built in (finally!) and the smart card slot is awesome for photographers and video dudes, but the Thunderbolt thing is something nobody asked for.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Nice laptop. I echo the above regarding connectors - adapter cables, usb c to usb a or b cables. Mine is the last MB 16 with intel chips, 4 subculture / thunderbolt connectors. Slight derail question - for a Mac guy, is Logic the best choice for a DAW? I’ll do personal guitar recording, hopefully grow into simple backing tracks, plus audio for video work in either Adobe Premiere or Apple Final Cut.

Uhhhh… best is subjective. I f@ckin love Logic, but that’s just because I found my way on it a long time ago.

It just works with my brain. Other people have different brains, and that’s okay.

 

[aamefford]

Uhhhh… best is subjective. I f@ckin love Logic, but that’s just because I found my way on it a long time ago.

It just works with my brain. Other people have different brains, and that’s okay.

Thanks. Oddly in my post above, “USB C” came out subculture. Autocorrect is funny…

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Apple (at least the Steve Jobs portion of it) has always been of the "we will tell you what you will use, and it will be our products you will need to buy at inflated prices" attitude! Steve Wozniak literally left the company in large part due to that issue!! They make great products, and from what I have been told have great customer support, but forcing people to buy their $30 cables to connect devices is just gouging and the major reason why I have never moved into that fruity world!!! Best of luck on your connecting, but once there, you should be able to do all you can dream of and more with a fruit like that!!!!

I have similar issues with them. I DESPISE the way they do things, yet I have an iPhone (my 3rd) and 3 iPads. Just got a new ipad, because they stop updating things that work perfectly well, then your apps won’t work on them anymore. It’s absolutely infuriating and as long as we keep buying them, they’ll keep doing it.

That is the reason I don’t have an apple computer, despite the fact that Logic is supposedly the best and cheapest way to get the most, in a DAW. I’m just convinced that apple will make sure it’s a useless pile of scrap within 5 years or so, even if it would be functioning perfectly, they’ll disable it with software just so I have to buy another one. I struggle to support that business model any more than is absolutely necessary. My new ipad is the cheapest one they make. But my 4 year old iPad Air wouldn’t run Bally sports app, so no Reds games. Or ESPN, so no other games, and one more app that I used regularly would not update with the OS that it was stuck in.

 

[Rider1260]

At least they have an HDMI and a headphone now.
I am still building up a stock of dongles

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I have similar issues with them. I DESPISE they way they do things, yet I have an iPhone (my 3rd) and 3 iPads. Just got a new ipad, because they stop updating things that work perfectly well, then your apps won’t work on them anymore. It’s absolutely infuriating and as long as we keep buying them, they’ll keep doing it.

That is the reason I don’t have an apple computer, despite the fact that Logic is supposedly the best and cheapest way to get the most, in a DAW. I’m just convinced that apple will make sure it’s a useless pile of scrap within 5 years or so, even if it would be functioning perfectly, they’ll disable it with software just so I have to buy another one. I struggle to support that business model any more than is absolutely necessary. My new ipad is the cheapest one they make. But my 4 year old iPad Air wouldn’t run Bally sports app, so no Reds games. Or ESPN, so no other games, and one more app that I used regularly would not update with the OS that it was stuck in.

They don’t really mess with their native programs, they just add amazing features to the software you kinda think you want/need until you’re suckered into an upgrade.

I’ve had Logic since rev. 8 and it’ll still load on my old macs, and will still work well enough to use it as a closed system. But yeah, they will cap their OS eventually.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

At least they have an HDMI and a headphone now.
I am still building up a stock of dongles

JFC… that made me laugh and cry.

But yeah! It’s amazing they finally gave us an HDMI port and a smart card slot, but then… What a kick in the nutz to every average computer user ever with the Thunderbolt stuff. Can’t even pop in a thumb drive without an adapter. Busters.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Annnnd another thing! (Drunkenly poking you in the chest with my finger) Lemme tell you sumthin…

I totally understand why they would do this on a MacBook Air or even on one of their older thin line-super ergonomic-curvy designs but, this thing is a square and hefty lil’ Lappletop, it reminds me physically of an old PowerBook I had in the early 2000’s.

Their inclusion of a mini USB is just f@ckin trolling us. When has Apple ever put a mini USB on anything that wasn’t a charger? They’re just getting off on being d!cks at this point.

 

[Moondog Wily]

At least they have an HDMI and a headphone now.
I am still building up a stock of dongles

That is HILARIOUS! I would LOVE to see Dell or HP add use that piece!! I build my own computers for the last 15 years or so, unless it's a laptop, then I buy a Dell from the outlet (same warranty as new ones but cheaper)!!! I am about due to build a new box, and I will be sure to follow fruits lead and remove ports to be replaced with dongles (a whole F'in bag of em), that way, if anyone steals the computer, they won't be able to do anything with it unless they get the bag of dongles as well!!!! I will be laughing about that one for a long time, thanks for sharing!!!!! Funny too that Steingberg just came out with Cubase 12 last month, and for the first time in over a decade, no dongle necessary (nor is it a subscription service like most software companies want to migrate to, they claim it never will be, but we shall see about that)!

 

[alantig]

I tend to run my computers into the ground. The Mac I replaced was over 10 years old, so I more than got my money's worth out of it. But it eventually got so slow that I needed to replace. I wasn't too bothered that I couldn't update the OS or Logic/ProTools anymore. It's not like I use everything they have to offer anyway. Changing the ports was a bit of a pain, but at least everything I have still works. Well, minus the MBox Pro interface, which finally had to go. It was secondary anyway. If I'd had to replace my interface and control surface, I'd have been much less happy, but ultimately, it was a mild inconvenience. The number of ports is a bigger issue than the type.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I tend to run my computers into the ground. The Mac I replaced was over 10 years old, so I more than got my money's worth out of it. But it eventually got so slow that I needed to replace. I wasn't too bothered that I couldn't update the OS or Logic/ProTools anymore. It's not like I use everything they have to offer anyway. Changing the ports was a bit of a pain, but at least everything I have still works. Well, minus the MBox Pro interface, which finally had to go. It was secondary anyway. If I'd had to replace my interface and control surface, I'd have been much less happy, but ultimately, it was a mild inconvenience. The number of ports is a bigger issue than the type.

Yeah, my last Mac was sofaking old too. I’d have to check but I think Obama was President when it came out, lol.

I mean, I’m fully expecting to get a decade outta this box. It’s more of a “Logic machine” for me than a computer, I don’t really do anything else with computers, and have grown accustomed to using my phone and iPad for everything else.

Aside from whining about the USB ports, it’s a stupid great machine. The onboard speakers kinda shocked me, I could casually listen to music and… not mix, but ya know, edit, maybe do a few virtual instrument overdubs on them when I’m away from my monitors.

 

[alantig]

Yeah, my last Mac was sofaking old too. I’d have to check but I think Obama was President when it came out, lol.

I mean, I’m fully expecting to get a decade outta this box. It’s more of a “Logic machine” for me than a computer, I don’t really do anything else with computers, and have grown accustomed to using my phone and iPad for everything else.

Aside from whining about the USB ports, it’s a stupid great machine. The onboard speakers kinda shocked me, I could casually listen to music and… not mix, but ya know, edit, maybe do a few virtual instrument overdubs on them when I’m away from my monitors.

Same for mine - it's dedicated to music stuff. I do look at one e-mail account on it because that's where all my plug-ins are registered. Other than that, it's stuff related to music. And I can't lie - I considered going to a laptop for the new one, but since I only use it in my little basement area, I decided it wasn't worth it. Plus my old eyes need a bigger screen.