MacBook Air?

[M. Florian Staab]

Hi guys,

i'm being asked to put together a small, portable QLab system for a touring theater company, and the question about the MacBook Air came up. 

Do any of you have experience with a recent MacBook Air running QLab? We'd use the thunderbolt to firewire adapter to use a MOTU audio interface. This is for audio only, no video, straight playback.

Any thoughts either way? Any help is appreciated.

Cheers,

-Staab

--

M. Florian Staab

Sound Design

www.florianstaab.com

+1.917.982.3210

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[Sam Kusnetz]

> i'm being asked to put together a small, portable QLab system for a
> touring theater company, and the question about the MacBook Air came up.

If the design goals are modest, there's no problem with a modern MacBook
Air (the original MacBook Air is not a good candidate for QLab, in my
opinion). I wouldn't design a major complex head-spinning show on an
Air, but straightforward shows should run well. More RAM and a faster
processor is better.

> Do any of you have experience with a recent MacBook Air running QLab?
> We'd use the thunderbolt to firewire adapter to use a MOTU audio
> interface. This is for audio only, no video, straight playback.

Beware the combination of the Thunderbolt to Firewire adaptor and bus
powered devices. Thunderbolt supplies much less current than real
Firewire, and so I strongly recommend using a power supply with the
MOTU. Actually I recommend that anyway for the MOTU Ultralight.

Cheerio
Sam

--
Sam Kusnetz
QLab Field Operative
s...@figure53.com

[M. Florian Staab]

Thanks Sam. That's good to know on the bus powered devices - wasn't aware of that.

The shows to be run shouldn't be too difficult, a couple of audio tracks at a time, but pretty straightforward otherwise. We'd buy a brand new Air. So with the 1.7GHz processor and the 8GB RAM we should be okay to do most basic shows?

(Although the price step-up to the MacBook Pro 13"  at better specs is only $270)

Cheers,

-Staab

--

M. Florian Staab

Sound Design

www.florianstaab.com

+1.917.982.3210

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[sam kusnetz]

$270 isn't much... I'd do it!

--
Sam Kusnetz
QLab Support Operative
(mobile)

[M. Florian Staab]

Thanks Sam.

Seems like the 13" MacBook Pro is a better bet than the Air afterall…

Cheers,

-Staab

--

M. Florian Staab

Sound Design

www.florianstaab.com

+1.917.982.3210

--

[Tyler]

I run with a MBA I purchased in March with a MOTU Ultralite. Works great. I did opt for the i7, upgraded SSD and ram.

[Bastien Bouchard]

I use almost daily a 2011 Macbook Air (i7 1.8 GHz, 4 Go Ram) with a Roland Octa capture or a Behringer 610 for a multimédia project, playing simultaneously 1, 2 or 3  8 channels audio files without any issue.