Tips for making the most of a new computer?

[Mighty Motif Max]

Hi everyone,

 

I debated which forum to post this in, but since computers are a focus of this forum, I"m going with this one. If you think it"d be better off posting elsewhere, I can do that as well.

 

I have a new computer coming. Our 2015 iMac was finally diagnosed with a serious memory system problem (I spent about a total of 1 month in hours over two years trying to isolate and fix it as problems popped up, but it ended up being non functional eventually). In the end, repairs would have cost as much as a new one, and wouldn"t have guaranteed longevity. So, since I"m attending college currently, I needed a decent laptop to work with. I"ll primarily be using it that way for the next few years, but I"m also planning on transferring all my music, web design, and audio/visual stuff over from the old computer. After talking with the physics and astronomy department (where I"ll be spending most of my time), the specs they recommended ended up being pretty nice for music production as well.

 

So, here"s the planned setup. Everything listed is en route. Of course I"ll also have a USB-C hub and a protective case. It's an Apple Macbook Pro 16" (the new 2019 model), running MacOS 10.15.6 Catalina (pre-installed, not my pick).

Computer specs:

2.4GHz 8âcore 9thâgeneration Intel Core i9 processor, Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz

AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory

32GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory

1TB SSD storage

Four Thunderbolt 3 ports

 

Drives:

2TB external drive (HDD)

2TB backup drive (HDD)

1TB external SSD

 

I figure that with those specs this should last me quite a while. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips for optimizing the computer for both college and music work? Anything you"ve found useful to make the most of one?

 

For the moment I"m planning on using the external HDD for project files, video and photo libraries, documents, etc. I"m thinking of using the external SSD for sample and sound libraries only. Internal drive for everything else. Internal backed up frequently.

 

Anything I should know about?

 

Thank you so much!

 

Max

[KuruPrionz]

You don't mention your chosen operating system.

It sounds like you have a very workable system now.

 

Backing stuff up is HUGE. So far I've been lucky, only once has a hard drive simply up and died. Usually they whimper a bit and you can backup before they cack.

[Mighty Motif Max]

Oh, am I stupid. I've edited the original to reflect it, but it's MacOS here as I have close to $1000 in Mac software and some of it would not work with Windows. Catalina unfortunately came preinstalled and that is an absolute nightmare! Can't downgrade to Mojave. Let's hope Big Sur will be more fully developed rather than a glorified beta!

 

I'm probably going to run Parallels with Windows 10 for the few Windows things I need. Pricey though ($220 total).

 

Yes, the backing up thing. That iMac had a good backup system (backup, backup of the backup, external, back up of the external), but some of that got changed the last time I tried to get it running. It died in the middle of rearranging the external drive setup, and I didn't have anything else that read newer Mac-formatted drives. I just discovered tonight that one of those drives, the one I was in the process of setting up for music at the time, has completely fried. It's still in warranty, but as everything was in flux when the iMac finally died, I DIDN'T have a backup of that drive as I was modifying the entire multi-drive setup. So shoot...

 

I've managed to get the iMac running for a few minutes to deauthorize the Waves plugins I had there and a few other things.

[KuruPrionz]

Ah, Catalina.

 

I posted a thread about upgrading to Catalina. I have a 2014 Macbook Pro and decided to go ahead and do it a few months ago. I am using my computer mostly for music but also for Photoshop, the interwebs and whatever else. So far it is working great.

 

https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3035938/updating-to-catalina-success-story#Post3035938

 

It went pretty smoothly, this page on Sweetwater's website was extremely helpful. They advise on changing settings to make life easier. It worked for me. Even older software that I thought would die still runs fine.

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/macos-10-15-catalina-optimization-guide-for-recording/

[Mighty Motif Max]

Thanks for the links - I'll have to read through them.

 

Glad you haven't had too many issues. My problems with Catalina so far have been related to it not liking external drives in general - a fairly well-documented issue that Apple has done zilch to fix, and the computer not liking to respond to the mouse when woken from sleep without pressing a key (and Caps Lock seems to freeze the keyboard if the computer goes to sleep with it on - you have to turn it off and then everything comes back). All of those are documented Catalina glitches that I didn't know about ahead of time (I'd purposely kept the various family computers on Mojave because of the hot mess that Catalina is, but hadn't kept up with *new* bugs). It's not encouraging that as I may have posted in the past, Apple's own Support people have told me in the past to NOT upgrade to Catalina, because 80% of the calls they get each day end up being about issues that can be traced back to Catalina itself, and nothing else. But in this case I didn't have a choice, and as has been the case for quite some time, you can't install an OS older than the one your machine shipped with.

[The Real MC]

Cardinal rule of computers used in your studio - keep them off the internet. Use a separate computer for surfing, and transfer files over thumb drive.

 

In the case of Mac, the only time I put my music computer online is to download apps.

[KuruPrionz]

Thanks for the links - I'll have to read through them.

 

Glad you haven't had too many issues. My problems with Catalina so far have been related to it not liking external drives in general - a fairly well-documented issue that Apple has done zilch to fix, and the computer not liking to respond to the mouse when woken from sleep without pressing a key (and Caps Lock seems to freeze the keyboard if the computer goes to sleep with it on - you have to turn it off and then everything comes back). All of those are documented Catalina glitches that I didn't know about ahead of time (I'd purposely kept the various family computers on Mojave because of the hot mess that Catalina is, but hadn't kept up with *new* bugs). It's not encouraging that as I may have posted in the past, Apple's own Support people have told me in the past to NOT upgrade to Catalina, because 80% of the calls they get each day end up being about issues that can be traced back to Catalina itself, and nothing else. But in this case I didn't have a choice, and as has been the case for quite some time, you can't install an OS older than the one your machine shipped with.

 

I've had zero problems with external drives or using the mouse when awakening from sleep. I run the free version of Avast Security and other than them trying to sell me an upgrade, zero problems with using the same computer for online work.

 

If you really want to go back a version, you probably can. It may not be impossible at all. That said, for you it will be a lot of work, maybe more than it's worth.

Try all the Sweetwater settings first, I just did them in good faith and it worked fine.

 

Try this:

If you really need to go back to Mojave, hook up a blank external drive. Use Disk Utility to format it and install Mojave from the App store (I am assuming it is still available?). I used High Sierra when I created backups for everything. If that works, see if it allows you to copy over all of your Applications and Files. If it does do so, this will save a ton of work later. If it doesn't and you are determined, proceed.

 

Once you have a bootable external drive, restart the computer and hold down the Option key. All bootable options will appear. Select your external running Mojave. It may offer to allow you to copy all the apps and files for your other drive, if you can, do it. Once it boots, you can use Disk Utility to refromat the drive in your new Mac. This should erase everything. If it won't comply, drag everything to the trash, empty it and try again. Once the drive is cleared out, reformat the drive again. Then install Mojave. You will be offered the opportunity to copy everything from the external boot drive.If you were able to install everything from the previous installation do it.

 

I am honestly not very optimistic that you will be allowed to copy your own software back a version. Re-installing it will be a lot of work. And, I could be wrong and it will not allow anything I've posted above.

Which is why I would try the Sweetwater settings first. Good luck!!!!

[MoodyBluesKeys]

I use Parallels and it works well for most of my purposes (although I don't have any Windows music stuff on the Mac). Since my business is computer networking and service, the Macbook Pro has Parallels with a total of four virtual machines: one Windows 10 Pro normal for some software not available on the Mac, including my accounting program. Another very similar Windows 10 Pro that has Java installed. Some of the older stuff I work on must be interfaced for service with Java, so that one isn't used often. I don't really want Java on my normal machines. The third is Windows 10 Pro Windows Insider version. I need to know what is ahead before release to the public, and it is used only for that purpose. The fourth is Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.0.

 

I planned to use that notebook for all service calls, but there are a few deep down network and wide area network diagnostic things that don't really work on a virtual machine; so I do also have a standard HP Windows 10 Pro notebook as well.

 

TimeMachine has proven to be very good as a backup mechanism, except that the MBP (which is running High Sierra) developed a problem where the backup never finished and failed after totally filling up the backup drive; so I use SuperDuper for backup, which also gives me an external bootable drive that can be booted on any Mac which has sufficient processor and RAM.

 

Parallels is also useful in running older versions of Mac OS. Like, if you just have to have some 32-bit app that won't run on Catalina, and if you have install media, you can make a virtual machine with an older version of Mac OS.

 

I do use MainStage and GarageBand from time to time on the Mac; but most of my musical sound source not runs on the iPad.

[Joe Muscara]

If you really want to go back a version, you probably can. It may not be impossible at all.

It depends on the hardware. If the Mac model he bought initially shipped after Catalina shipped, no previous macOS version will work on that hardware. For instance, the new iMacs that Apple just announced will only ever run that current version of Catalina or later, period.

 

If the Mac was a model that came out in the Mojave days and was still the "current" model when Catalina came out, I guess it might be possible to install Mojave on it, but I've never heard of anyone doing that.

[KuruPrionz]

If you really want to go back a version, you probably can. It may not be impossible at all.

It depends on the hardware. If the Mac model he bought initially shipped after Catalina shipped, no previous macOS version will work on that hardware. For instance, the new iMacs that Apple just announced will only ever run that current version of Catalina or later, period.

 

If the Mac was a model that came out in the Mojave days and was still the "current" model when Catalina came out, I guess it might be possible to install Mojave on it, but I've never heard of anyone doing that.

 

That sounds correct.

For whatever reason, I really haven't had any serious problems at all running Catalina on a 2014 MBP. I did find the Sweetwater page I linked above early on and made the suggested changes to settings.

Even Painter 2016 runs fine, although I really don't use it at all.

[Joe Muscara]

I've been running Catalina for a while on my 2017 iMac and 2018 MBP and it's been fine. A few older apps that weren't updated were culled, but I wasn't using them much anymore anyway.

[KuruPrionz]

I've been running Catalina for a while on my 2017 iMac and 2018 MBP and it's been fine. A few older apps that weren't updated were culled, but I wasn't using them much anymore anyway.

 

 

Yes, I think the fear and loathing is a bit over-rated.

I've got automatic updates turned off, plan on staying right here for now. Maybe until the next computer, whatever that may be.

[Joe Muscara]

I've got automatic updates turned off, plan on staying right here for now. Maybe until the next computer, whatever that may be.

That's the other funny/not-so-funny thing. Apple doesn't upgrade macOS without your permission. When Catalina came out, all these sites were advising people to turn off Automatic Update. I was like, "no, no, no!" That just turns off updates for your current macOS. You know, bug fixes and security patches. You generally want those though I understand waiting especially if you're in the middle of something.

 

I have a disk that I occasionally run with Mojave and Automatic Update turned on. It does remind me that Catalina is out there, but I ignore that and it does the updates.

 

You can leave Automatic Update on in Catalina and it won't upgrade you to Big Sur. It will update Catalina to the latest version of that though.

 

Upgrade - next full macOS version

Update - latest version of your current macOS (security updates and ".x" releases)

[Mike Rivers]

You can leave Automatic Update on in Catalina and it won't upgrade you to Big Sur. It will update Catalina to the latest version of that though.

 

A new version of an OS, or even an intended bug fix, has been known to screw things up. It doesn't have to be that you wake up one morning and find that you have a new OS installed that you didn't ask for. Those of us who use fairly complex music and audio applications seem to be more susceptible to this than your typical Instagrammer because the OS programmers don't usually test for problems with those applications until they get complaints from users.

[KuruPrionz]

I've got automatic updates turned off, plan on staying right here for now. Maybe until the next computer, whatever that may be.

That's the other funny/not-so-funny thing. Apple doesn't upgrade macOS without your permission. When Catalina came out, all these sites were advising people to turn off Automatic Update. I was like, "no, no, no!" That just turns off updates for your current macOS. You know, bug fixes and security patches. You generally want those though I understand waiting especially if you're in the middle of something.

 

I have a disk that I occasionally run with Mojave and Automatic Update turned on. It does remind me that Catalina is out there, but I ignore that and it does the updates.

 

You can leave Automatic Update on in Catalina and it won't upgrade you to Big Sur. It will update Catalina to the latest version of that though.

 

Upgrade - next full macOS version

Update - latest version of your current macOS (security updates and ".x" releases)

 

I still receive notification of updates and can choose to allow them. I prefer that.

[Joe Muscara]

You can leave Automatic Update on in Catalina and it won't upgrade you to Big Sur. It will update Catalina to the latest version of that though.

 

A new version of an OS, or even an intended bug fix, has been known to screw things up. It doesn't have to be that you wake up one morning and find that you have a new OS installed that you didn't ask for. Those of us who use fairly complex music and audio applications seem to be more susceptible to this than your typical Instagrammer because the OS programmers don't usually test for problems with those applications until they get complaints from users.

That's why I said

 

You generally want those though I understand waiting especially if you're in the middle of something.