WTB MacBook pro or IMAC. Help needed

Cookiemonster

Hi. 

Looking for a MacBook, work laptop died do need a replacement. Looking for max of 500.

Now I am coming out of being ill, I want to get something I can record some tunes on.

I think 8gb or higher would be better and looking for 2014 or slightly more recent.

I have seen a few on eBay but as we can not go to view at the moment, it makes me nervous in buying unseen

Anyone got one to sell or why experts that can help me choose the right one

Thank you

Pete

spark240

I would try for 16G ram....

Danny1969

What kind of recording are you gonna do ......... if your gonna be using intensive VSI's and huge sample library's across 100 odd tracks then the better the spec the better it will be. If you only plan on recording 30 odd tracks of guitars  \ drums \ bass keys and vox etc then older Macbook with 4Gb will be fine 

Always look up the serial number before buying rather than the AXXX number ... the year it was built can determine the last supported OSX it can run which can be crucial. 

Give a lot of though to what your really gonna be using it for ... I lot of people think they need incredible amounts of power for their music production and they really don't ..... My Macbook Pro is the very first one from 2006 with 2Gb ram and I've done quite a few professional projects with that. I'm not suggesting you go that old .... mid 2012 machine be a good bet as very upgradable and pretty solid design 

smoore

I have a MacBook Pro stuck in my office in London so I had to buy another one last week, that will be available when I can get it back - but not sure when that may be.

I do have a Microsoft Surface Pro that I was running Linux on, I'm just putting Windows back on it if that would be of any interest?

Simon

hassleham

A solid state drive helps as well. Mine has an SSD and 8GB ram and works great but does start to struggle when I'm into the later stages of mixing (usually 15 - 20 tracks in logic pro). 

Cookiemonster

Danny1969 said:

What kind of recording are you gonna do ......... if your gonna be using intensive VSI's and huge sample library's across 100 odd tracks then the better the spec the better it will be. If you only plan on recording 30 odd tracks of guitars  \ drums \ bass keys and vox etc then older Macbook with 4Gb will be fine 

Always look up the serial number before buying rather than the AXXX number ... the year it was built can determine the last supported OSX it can run which can be crucial. 

Give a lot of though to what your really gonna be using it for ... I lot of people think they need incredible amounts of power for their music production and they really don't ..... My Macbook Pro is the very first one from 2006 with 2Gb ram and I've done quite a few professional projects with that. I'm not suggesting you go that old .... mid 2012 machine be a good bet as very upgradable and pretty solid design 

The Drummer In our band using his Mac to record us on, we mostly play live and overdub a bit, I would like to play with the stems and remix the tracks a little 

At home i would be using loops, drums mainly and synth plug ins, probably some for of Amplitube type software.

I was hoping 8gb would suit. I have been looking at this one 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274333096556

Cookiemonster

Thanks everyone for the support. Does that one look ok, I do want to make sure it can still use the lastest operating system etc

smoore

That's not a bad machine, but probably a little overpriced, and the SSD is lacking at just 128GB. Yes I know you can use USB external drives, but I'd like 256GB as a minimum at that price point.

It's also worth noting that the screenshots show that the O/S is quite out of date, that spec should support the latest Catalina version - but remember that Catalina does not support some older applications so this version may suit you better.

I would ask the seller to do the system upgrade to the latest O/S version, send you a screenshot to prove it, and then offer no more than 400 for it. 

Macs are amazing machine but they aren't made out of dead unicorns, it's fine years old already.

Regards,

Simon
 

Cookiemonster

smoore said:

That's not a bad machine, but probably a little overpriced, and the SSD is lacking at just 128GB. Yes I know you can use USB external drives, but I'd like 256GB as a minimum at that price point.

It's also worth noting that the screenshots show that the O/S is quite out of date, that spec should support the latest Catalina version - but remember that Catalina does not support some older applications so this version may suit you better.

I would ask the seller to do the system upgrade to the latest O/S version, send you a screenshot to prove it, and then offer no more than 400 for it. 

Macs are amazing machine but they aren't made out of dead unicorns, it's fine years old already.

Regards,

Simon
 

From looking at the ones sold, doesn't look like a lot go for 400. It has been offered at 550 Is that too much, I do have an external drive. 

Cookiemonster

smoore said:

I have a MacBook Pro stuck in my office in London so I had to buy another one last week, that will be available when I can get it back - but not sure when that may be.

I do have a Microsoft Surface Pro that I was running Linux on, I'm just putting Windows back on it if that would be of any interest?

Simon

Hi how much would the Mac be ?

smoore

I'm afraid I can't remember the exact year and model so couldn't give a definite price, but from memory it's probably about the same year, but has a 15" screen.

It'll be a while until I can get to the office to collect it, but if you want to wait for that you are welcome to have it for a decent price. I was thing around 500 but would have to confirm the spec first.

Cheers,

Simon

Kittyfrisk

smoore said:

That's not a bad machine, but probably a little overpriced, and the SSD is lacking at just 128GB. Yes I know you can use USB external drives, but I'd like 256GB as a minimum at that price point.

It's also worth noting that the screenshots show that the O/S is quite out of date, that spec should support the latest Catalina version - but remember that Catalina does not support some older applications so this version may suit you better.

I would ask the seller to do the system upgrade to the latest O/S version, send you a screenshot to prove it, and then offer no more than 400 for it. 

Macs are amazing machine but they aren't made out of dead unicorns, it's fine years old already.

Regards,

Simon
 

@Cookiemonster ; ;Just in the process of upgrading a 2012 MacBook pro 13" to an SD based system for a friend.
240GB WD Green SSD, 3 year warranty £37.79 delivered, from a certain ubiquitous online giant.
It might not be the absolute bestest, fastest etc. but as bang for your buck, it's fine.

Original HD, 2 minutes 20 seconds to boot Catalina. SSD 15 seconds... 

Cookiemonster

Kittyfrisk said:

smoore said:

That's not a bad machine, but probably a little overpriced, and the SSD is lacking at just 128GB. Yes I know you can use USB external drives, but I'd like 256GB as a minimum at that price point.

It's also worth noting that the screenshots show that the O/S is quite out of date, that spec should support the latest Catalina version - but remember that Catalina does not support some older applications so this version may suit you better.

I would ask the seller to do the system upgrade to the latest O/S version, send you a screenshot to prove it, and then offer no more than 400 for it. 

Macs are amazing machine but they aren't made out of dead unicorns, it's fine years old already.

Regards,

Simon
 

@Cookiemonster ; ;Just in the process of upgrading a 2012 MacBook pro 13" to an SD based system for a friend.
240GB WD Green SSD, 3 year warranty £37.79 delivered, from a certain ubiquitous online giant.
It might not be the absolute bestest, fastest etc. but as bang for your buck, it's fine.

Original HD, 2 minutes 20 seconds to boot Catalina. SSD 15 seconds... 

How much is that ?

Cookiemonster

I take it Amazon btw ha ha

Cookiemonster

smoore said:

I'm afraid I can't remember the exact year and model so couldn't give a definite price, but from memory it's probably about the same year, but has a 15" screen.

It'll be a while until I can get to the office to collect it, but if you want to wait for that you are welcome to have it for a decent price. I was thing around 500 but would have to confirm the spec first.

Cheers,

Simon

Thanks. I was hoping for between 400 and 500 so it would be in budget

Cookiemonster

Just out of interest, do you think an iMac is a better option price wise ?

Danny1969

Cookiemonster said:

Danny1969 said:

What kind of recording are you gonna do ......... if your gonna be using intensive VSI's and huge sample library's across 100 odd tracks then the better the spec the better it will be. If you only plan on recording 30 odd tracks of guitars  \ drums \ bass keys and vox etc then older Macbook with 4Gb will be fine 

Always look up the serial number before buying rather than the AXXX number ... the year it was built can determine the last supported OSX it can run which can be crucial. 

Give a lot of though to what your really gonna be using it for ... I lot of people think they need incredible amounts of power for their music production and they really don't ..... My Macbook Pro is the very first one from 2006 with 2Gb ram and I've done quite a few professional projects with that. I'm not suggesting you go that old .... mid 2012 machine be a good bet as very upgradable and pretty solid design 

The Drummer In our band using his Mac to record us on, we mostly play live and overdub a bit, I would like to play with the stems and remix the tracks a little 

At home i would be using loops, drums mainly and synth plug ins, probably some for of Amplitube type software.

I was hoping 8gb would suit. I have been looking at this one 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274333096556

For what you want to do you would actually get away with 2Gb ram and a core 2 processor ... 8Gb and an i5 is capable of 100 tracks of audio all with plugins. 

That Macbook Pro your looking at is fine, nice machine as long as it's all kosher. You just need to be careful buying used Apple products because the spares are more expensive. A motherboard failure in something like a Dell Latitude laptop might be as much as £150 to replace but changing a Macbook Pro motherboard can be £300 upwards just for the part. When looking at one check the condition of the screws on the bottom ... they use a certain torx size. If the screws look marked and not in pristine condition you know someone who didn't even have the correct tools has been in there and that's never a good sign. 

smoore

Cookiemonster said:

smoore said:

That's not a bad machine, but probably a little overpriced, and the SSD is lacking at just 128GB. Yes I know you can use USB external drives, but I'd like 256GB as a minimum at that price point.

It's also worth noting that the screenshots show that the O/S is quite out of date, that spec should support the latest Catalina version - but remember that Catalina does not support some older applications so this version may suit you better.

I would ask the seller to do the system upgrade to the latest O/S version, send you a screenshot to prove it, and then offer no more than 400 for it. 

Macs are amazing machine but they aren't made out of dead unicorns, it's fine years old already.

Regards,

Simon
 

From looking at the ones sold, doesn't look like a lot go for 400. It has been offered at 550 Is that too much, I do have an external drive. 

Still sounds too much to be honest, but if it is local to you and you need it in a hurry, get the seller to do the upgrade to the latest O/S before anything else

Cookiemonster

I will have another look. I have looked at the refurbished ones but they always seem to mention something negative, I thought refurbished meant they had worked on them, not just bought cheap and sold on

Maybe the Amazon and specialist refurbished sites are better, some on eBay seem shocking 

Danny1969

Cookiemonster said:

I will have another look. I have looked at the refurbished ones but they always seem to mention something negative, I thought refurbished meant they had worked on them, not just bought cheap and sold on

Maybe the Amazon and specialist refurbished sites are better, some on eBay seem shocking 

I used to run a company that was the biggest supplier of laptop spares in the south and we actually did refurb laptops. We replaced marked plastics and worn keyboards, cleaned the heat exchangers and put new fans and harddrives in as well as a new battery. The laptops we sold were effectively as good as new but we had the advantage of having the parts to do that. 

Your adverage laptop refurbisher buys ex corporate lease laptops and wipes the harddrive, loads a new OS, cleans the laptop and it's sold as a refurb. There's very little margin for the seller so they don't spend any money on them. Amazon sellers are often just people working from home or small companies buying ex lease laptops same as Ebay. Anyone can sell on Amazon, we used to sell 35K of Dell, HP and IBM parts a fortnight before the market became a wash with cheap fakes and we couldn't compete pricewise as our genuine parts cost more to start with. If you buy from Amazon themselves then that's different but most of Amazon is just re-sellers like I used to be

darcym

May have a 2014 macbook pro i7 16GB ram 512SSD (think it's PCI interface storage).