What mac should I get?

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hadas
hadas Member Posts: 6 Member
edited February 2024 in Traktor Software & Hardware

Hi,

I need help deciding which mac is ok to buy (after buying a pc that constantly crushes during sets).

I have the S2 MK2 controller and Traktor pro 3.

TRAKTOR KONTROL S2 MK2


Which Mac is sure to work well with this controller? Is Macbook pro better than air?

I want to buy a new mac but it doesn't necessarily have to be the newest macbook.

Thank you :)

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Comments

  • Maciej Repetowski
    Maciej Repetowski Member Posts: 733 Guru

    If you familiar with PCs, probably best to stick to this.

    Macs tend to have compatibility problems, especially M-series ones.

  • Wouter De Muynck
    Wouter De Muynck Member Posts: 253 Pro

    If you go Mac, I would suggest a MacBook Pro, an M2 will be more than sufficient. If you want to spend money one thing, let it be the memory. As @Maciej Repetowski is mentioning, Mac is different ballgame, it will take some time to adapt and be sure to do your homework.

  • Maciej Repetowski
    Maciej Repetowski Member Posts: 733 Guru
    Answer ✓
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/126265#Comment_126265

    Yes, if you go Mac, buy as much memory as you can afford as this cannot be expanded later. As for storage 512GB - 1TB as minimum, you can use external drives to enlarge the space later.

  • viper9711
    viper9711 Member Posts: 249 Pro
    Answer ✓

    If you use only Traktor a MacBook Air M1 or M2 with 16GB RAM is more than enough power. SSD Space is your option.

    MacBook Pro is only useful if you use professional Videoediting or something that's need a more powerful CPU under continuous load- or money doesn't matter :)

  • hadas
    hadas Member Posts: 6 Member
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/126299#Comment_126299

    So as I understand there shouldn't be a problem running the software with M1 or M2, right? There are no compatability problems / crashing and stuff?

    Just need to make sure after having all of these problemes with a brand new pc that native instrument couldn't figure out the reason for them how to solve them.

    Thank you all for your help! :)

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,154 Expert

    I run NI SW, plugins and Traktor on four different Win computers. And no problems.

    You probably had bad luck with your Win computer. If it had Intel with big.little (12th gen and higher), than....

    I would trust @Maciej Repetowski. He is fan of Macs, but also has a lot of experience with Win. If he recomends you stay on Win, I would trust him.

    Maybe, if you writes what computer you have had and what problems you have faced.... Solution might be found, or better computer recomended.

    For example I use Traktor with MS Surface Pro 7, i5 CPU. It is 2in1 passively cooled, something like iPad.... Touch screen is great for preparing playlists and so...

  • lord-carlos
    lord-carlos Member Posts: 4,187 Expert
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/126387#Comment_126387

    I don't own a mac, but it seems there are more and more reports of people with native silicon ship and Traktor having crashes. After they upgraded to 3.9 or higher. The 3.8 rosetta version seems to work better.

    But I can't say if that is one in a million or common.

  • Maciej Repetowski
    Maciej Repetowski Member Posts: 733 Guru

    M series architecture is still young. Has been on a market for just 4 years. Developers are still learning how to efficiently code for this platform, some do it better, some - not really 😜

    I’m still on Intel because of this, don’t want to disrupt my whole studio, just to be at the forefront of modern technology. 🤣

    Despite similarities, MacOS is vastly different user experience than Win 10 or 11. Some (like myself) love it, some hate it passionately.

    Best would be to find a friend with Mac and see if you “click” with it. If not (or if money is tight) - stick to what you know (PC).

  • Stevan
    Stevan Traktor Mapping Mod Posts: 2,330 mod
    Answer ✓

    I'd get a basic M1 powered mac if I was going to buy one now. Everything else is an overkill and also the PRO version of M processors have had more issues than the basic one.

    M1, 512 SSD, 16 GB RAM (only because of the memory swap issue)

  • PK The DJ
    PK The DJ Member Posts: 2,791 Expert

    @hadas As has been suggested, there's no need to move to a Mac just because the PC you had crashed.

    IMO that's an over reaction, in the same way as people reinstalling their entire OS because they couldn't run some software program.

    If it's a computer, it can crash. Buying a Mac will not protect you from crashes. Even things running embedded Linux systems (like the Maschine+) can and do crash.

  • hadas
    hadas Member Posts: 6 Member

    @PK The DJ @Maciej Repetowski

    I don't have a problem with switching to Mac from Windows.

    I would rather solve the problem with this pc, but I think i won't be able, since Traktor is crashing for no apparent reason, and even NI can't figure out why. I have Lenovo Ideapad 5 pro 14'' with AMD Ryzen7 5000 series. Maybe you can understand why crashing keeps happening with this pc.

    I'm not sure if this kind of problem happen constantly with macs.


    THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP!

  • Cheef Roberts
    Cheef Roberts Member Posts: 17 Member

    My old Mac from 2015 performed better than my newer model when it came to more power-hungry tasks including real-time audio. I've read it could be something to do with companies trying to extend battery life by using more power-saving attributes. My advice would be to buy a 2nd hand model from 2015 or before from somewhere like Back Market. Much better value and old Macs are more than capable of running a stable Traktor.

    Or save even more money and buy a laptop and instal a custom Windows 10 ISO that removes all the bloat. I use a stripped 1709 old build of Win10 as the older the build the better the performance. I use RekOS. Google "Best Custom Windows 10 ISO for Gaming" XBitLabs article.

  • oobe79
    oobe79 Member Posts: 167 Advisor
    Answer ✓
    1. Although the newer M2 chips do not translate into massive performance boosts compared to the M1 chips from 3 years ago, I suggest you buy new. The aftermarket on Mac computers is insane. You save maybe $100-150 total compared to buying a brand new Mac. Plus, the older computers use slower RAM and the hard drive will be more prone to a critical failure. Used/reburbish is just not worth it.
    2. If you intend to travel with it, get a MacBook Air M2. If you plan on it being a desktop at home, but a Mac Mini M2.
    3. Don't buy a MacBook Pro. For your purposes, the MacBook Air or Mac mini is plenty. Don't believe me? Go look up the single core and multi core performance differences between the Air and the Pro. Instead, spend the savings on extra RAM (16 GB minimum). Unfortunately, Apple screws everybody over on their RAM by soldering it directly to the board. You can't upgrade it later, and they charge you about 500% higher price on their RAM compared to OEM. And it's not even the newest, best performing RAM!
    4. Do not spend hundreds of dollars on internal hard drive space. Instead, buy an external 2 TSB SSD for $100.
  • oobe79
    oobe79 Member Posts: 167 Advisor
    edited January 2024

    And James Zahn has a bunch of videos on YouTube breaking down how everybody is spending hundreds and thousands of dollars on upgraded Mac computers they don't need. Basically all these dudes with their M2 Ultra MacBook Studios have these $3000 computers designed for video processing that get the same audio/DAW performance as somebody with a MacBook Air M1 gets for $800.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFpCbT3Rx4Y


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