Topic by k.veenvliet

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  • Registered: 23-08-2011
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Topic: Mac mini 2011 vs MacBookPro 2008

Hi,

I'm running Mainstage 1 with Pianoteq (PLAY) mostly layered with some strings or pads from ESX or other plugins.

Running this on a MacBook Pro from 2008 with 4GB RAM and a Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 2.4GHz. Performance is okay. Sometimes I miss some polyfony. But not a big deal.

Now I'm thinking to buy the cheapest Mac Mini with i5 processor at 2.3 GHz and 4GB RAM to put in my on the road rack. With a small monitor. (like the http://www.lilliputuk.com/monitors/hdmi/fa1011/)

Will the performance better, equal or worse on the Mac Mini?

I hope you guys can help me out .

Reply by Michael H

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Re: Mac mini 2011 vs MacBookPro 2008

The Intel  i5 is a newer better processor and should be a substantially better performer than a Core2Duo.

Unless I'm mistaken, the i5 has two cores, but each core has two threads, so in some instances the processor can act like a quad core.

Last edited by Michael H (26-08-2011 04:09)

Reply by k.veenvliet

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Re: Mac mini 2011 vs MacBookPro 2008

Okay, thanks!

Reply by nutela

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Re: Mac mini 2011 vs MacBookPro 2008

You just missed polyphony? I had clicks until 3.6.7 weird... now I have only click when I got too much polyphony / a web browser with flash

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Reply by Michael H

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Re: Mac mini 2011 vs MacBookPro 2008

nutela wrote:

You just missed polyphony? I had clicks until 3.6.7 weird... now I have only click when I got too much polyphony / a web browser with flash

If you're web surfing while you're using Pianoteq your processor may be 'burping'. I get clicks if I leave my wireless card on, and they're gone (usually) when I turn wireless off.

Often OS tasks that run in the background can interfere with processor intensive apps, such as Pianoteq. At least in the Windows world that's how it works, I don't know about Mac.