Thinking about gigging with a Mac... Mini or Macbook Air? M1, Intel?

[AnotherScott]

I am putting a toe in this water. I've experimented with using an iPad Pro as a remote screen for other purposes, which went well, so I'm toying with the gigging idea since the remote screen addresses my biggest issue with using a Mac live, the logistics of placing a screen where I can see it, and interacting with it if need be with no keyboard or mouse.

 

I can use a Mac Mini 3.2 gHz Intel i7 with 32 gB RAM and 1TB drive, or I can use a 2020 Macbook Air M1 (1st gen) with 16 gB RAM and 256 GB drive..

 

The Macbook has the nice safety fallback of an internal screen in case anything glitches with using the Mac Mini headless, along with a built-in keyboard and mouse for emergency use without my having to bring that along separately. The battery operation could be convenient. The Mini would not need a USB hub, the Macbook probably would. The Mini, which has been running Mojave, can still run a lot of stuff the M1 cannot, and as I said, it's got the advantage of more RAM and bigger drive. (I'd probably velcro a multi-terabyte SSD to the Macbook, they can be tiny these days, and the Macbook's USB 3.1 should still be plenty fast. Thunderbolt would be faster, but the drives are bulkier/heavier.)

 

Would you go Macbook or Mini here?

[Paul Woodward]

Sorry if I missed a detail of your rig, but how are you accessing the Mac mini? Using iPad as a remote screen?

In which case I would ditch both and keep it simple with a MacBook.

[J.F.N.]

Here's some inspiration:

 

 

 

Been investigating this for recording purposes on the road, the mac, drives, accessories, and a keyboard with trackpad in a drawer, and another drawer to store the monitor in when packed down, all in a rack, then depending on how you want it setup, attach the monitor with a vesa mount in your rig etc.

 

There seems to be a fair number of touch screen monitors supporting Mac, so just dig one up that fits your specs, and with a touch screen you get the direct interaction from your rig, but you still have the keyboard/trackpad in the rack if needed.

[AnotherScott]

I guess one of the things I'm really asking is, based on the VSTs/AUs I'd be using today (many/most of which are not native apple silicon native), will there be a significant performance/capability difference between that Intel i7 model (with 32 GB RAM and enough internal storage to hold everything) and the M1 (with 16 GB RAM and sample libraries likely on an external USB 3.1 SSD)... and if so, which is the one that comes out ahead?

 

17 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

Sorry if I missed a detail of your rig, but how are you accessing the Mac mini? Using iPad as a remote screen?

Yes.

 

16 hours ago, J.F.N. said:

There seems to be a fair number of touch screen monitors supporting Mac, so just dig one up that fits your specs, and with a touch screen you get the direct interaction from your rig, but you still have the keyboard/trackpad in the rack if needed.

 

I don't want to add a second touchscreen. I already have my iPad there for setlist/charts/lyrics. If I were going to add another touchscreen to my rig, I'd consider adding my Surface Pro 7 and then probably not bother with the Mac Mini (something else I'm actually considering). 

 

Also, I don't have a rack. If I use a Macbook or Mini, it will be on the floor under the keyboards, held by something like this...

 

 

 

[AnotherScott]

Another point I thought of in favor of the macbook... In clamshell mode, it is basically a sealed box. The only openings are the 2 USB ports and the headphone jack, all of which will be occupied, leaving no internal piece of the computer itself exposed to moisture or debris (i.e. if playing an outdoor gig). The Mini has a lot of openings, i.e. all the ports on the back panel (HDMI, ethernet, and additional USB/thunderbolt connections I won't be using) as well as the "hidden" openings for air flow for the fan.

 

The Macbook is built specifically for transportable, multi-environment, indoor/outdoor use... the Mini not so much. It may be designed to be more forgiving of "toss it around" treatment. That may make the Macbook the safer, more reliable long term bet.

[Stokely]

I'm not really keen to do all this myself, despite owning mainstage and a lot of really nice vsts, but putting myself in your situation...

I'd go with a laptop, the smaller the better.  The mini by itself is easier to put someplace but you need a screen, mouse and keyboard.  Extra fiddly bits (EFB) factor becomes higher.  I keep mine closed at home but as someone said, having that keyboard, trackpad and screen is a great backup plan even if you go that way.

I wouldn't do any tossing around of whatever you use, and honestly not having a rock solid place on some stages for a computer is one reason I don't use them.  My stages can be quite small to be sure.   I have a couple small platform mic-stand things and music stands but none would withstand getting bumped with any force.  I'd probably spring for the K&M laptop stand attachment for my Omega Pro, which isn't going to topple over if someone bumps it.

Also just my mindset, but I'd settle on as few different plugins as I could.  For me that would likely be Kontakt (for piano and rhodes), some synth (Diva or Repro or even Alchemy) and make sure that no patch/combo of patches ever cause any cpu/memory issues.    Another thing for me to consider in my band is transposing, we transpose down 1/2 step so that needs to be simple and easy (I'm not going to relearn 100+ songs in a new key).   Additionally, we sometime go stereo, sometimes mono, so less plugins/patches means less testing for patch volume weirdness.  That's just how I look at it.   I have a TON of plugins at my disposal so I'm not sure how restrained I'd actually be  

 

[TommyRude]

I know it’s not on your list, but I use a Macbook Pro, very stable, reliable.  More and more I trust the rig, the interfaces, cables et al, letting me focus less on the screen, and more and more on the show, band, audience.  Any screen - laptop, remote, iPad, keyboard screen - hate to look at them.  It’s unavoidable, but less is better, at least from a performance perspective.

[Paul Woodward]

Bear in mind that the Macbook can work without a power supply. While your other gear might need a mains supply, at least you wont have to fully reboot and setup a mac mini in the event of a power cut...plus one less trailing wire/power cable 🙂

Hell, get the new M3 Macbook with its 22 hour battery!!

With regards to performance, my M1 Mac Mini (8gB) runs everything I throw at it without problem, the i7 Macbook I had did the same to be fair.

An M2 iPad pro trounces both of them. Could you not upgrade your iPad to the M2 256Gb, load up Logic Pro and your plug ins and do it all from the one device?

[RodWichita]

FWIW - I use a macbook air m2 and I used to use a M1 mac mini--I switched over to the air because I have a very very short set up time at church. 20 mins...seems like a lot, but t 6:15am, for me it is always best to keep the set up simple...I use a roland fantom 7 and since it has an audio interface built in...that is just one less thing I have to connect or set up. Having the added monitor plus the power for that monitor was a couple of things I realized I could be much quicker without having to worry about. Plus with the laptop, IF we have to reboot the whole house, power lights and all computers associated with it, the laptop doesn't need to be powered down and/or you don't have to worry that they forget to tell you and they hard stop you mac mini...Not sure if you are doing just rock an roll or what. This is what is best for me....

[ElmerJFudd]

This is always going to be about budget.  At the moment with Intel still being supported there are a lot of inexpensive options.  You can select a 2013 MacBook Pro with i5, 8gb of RAM and 256gb SSD - good enough for MainStage , $250.  An M1 MacBook Air kicks its ass on load time, copy time, number of plugins and FX you have in a patch, but in a practical sense, the two will do the same job.  I just saw Walmart and Best Buy are blowing out Apple's remaining stock of M1 MacBook Airs with the minimum spec mentioned for under $700.  

 

But if your budget is $1k or better the first thing I would do is go for 512gb storage.  The second is 16gb of RAM.  Any of the Apple Silicon chips M1, M2 or M3 will handle MainStage similarly, there isn't a significant gain in performance for us.   The M2 and M3 have more graphics cores and AI cores.  These are not MIDI in -> Audio Out gains.  The only Logic feature I know that uses the AI cores is the new "Mastering Assistant".  

 

 

[Docbop]

1 hour ago, AnotherScott said:

Another point I thought of in favor of the macbook... In clamshell mode, it is basically a sealed box.

 

Running a Mac in clamshell mode they get hotter and faster being closed less air circulating over keyboard and that would normally be helping with cooling.   The Macbook Air has no fan so they do throttle when they get hot.    Just something to think about you might want to keep the Macbook Air open for cooling. 

[ElmerJFudd]

4 minutes ago, Docbop said:

 

Running a Mac in clamshell mode they get hotter and faster being closed less air circulating over keyboard and that would normally be helping with cooling.   The Macbook Air has no fan so they do throttle when they get hot.    Just something to think about you might want to keep the Macbook Air open for cooling. 

This is a much bigger factor on Intel designs.  

[Reezekeys]

11 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

Would you go Macbook or Mini here?

 

I vote Macbook. My perspective is from being on the road doing a variety of gigs but many that feature multiple bands, some where we're not headlining - and the last thing I would want to happen is a glitch with my iPad remote screen or some other failure. Too many pieces here, and having to rush a setup to make a start time can be extremely stressful. Laptops - especially one that's asleep with all your software loaded - go a long way to alleviate that stress. My 2p anyway.

[Docbop]

10 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

This is a much bigger factor on Intel designs.  

But his Intel Mini has a fan. 

[J.F.N.]

7 minutes ago, Reezekeys said:

 

I vote Macbook. My perspective is from being on the road doing a variety of gigs but many that feature multiple bands, some where we're not headlining - and the last thing I would want to happen is a glitch with my iPad remote screen or some other failure. Too many pieces here, and having to rush a setup to make a start time can be extremely stressful. Laptops - especially one that's asleep with all your software loaded - go a long way to alleviate that stress. My 2p anyway.

 

Why I suggested a touch screen instead, the remote control iPad is definitely a SPOF to avoid.

[cphollis]

Walmart and others have a $699 deal on a M1 Macbook Air.  More machine than you'll ever need in the ultimate portable package.  Apple is unlikely to obsolete the hardware for many moons.  Enough battery life to get through a gig, too.  Add a USB-C port expander, and that's my target computer rig.

[Greg Mein]

I've used MBP's on gigs with bands and later, with my duo, for many years. I started with Powerbooks and have upgraded many times over the years with my current gig MBP being a 2017 model. I've nearly always used Digital Performer with MOTU 828 interfaces, keyboards, external midi devices, etc..

 

I actually haven't used this system for a couple years after forming my latest live band but I'm revisiting it now because my wife and I will be doing a couple duo gigs this Summer when we travel back to the midwest.

 

It's a fairly complex setup that I won't waste time explaining unless someone is interested in discussing such things.

[Reezekeys]

1 hour ago, cphollis said:

Walmart and others have a $699 deal on a M1 Macbook Air.  More machine than you'll ever need in the ultimate portable package.  Apple is unlikely to obsolete the hardware for many moons.  Enough battery life to get through a gig, too.  Add a USB-C port expander, and that's my target computer rig.

 

Unfortunately that M1 Air deal at Walmart applies only to the base config. 8GB ram is probably OK - you're probably not gonna have 20 Safari tabs open or be rendering a FCP video while you're on a gig. The 256GB SSD might be an issue if this computer is to be used for general-purpose needs as well as making music. The other ding on this model is that one of the two USB-C ports is used for charging, unlike the later Airs that brought back the magsafe port - that's gonna make a hub more of a necessity. I have a hub for my 15" Air M2, but rarely need it.

[ElmerJFudd]

1 hour ago, Reezekeys said:

 

Unfortunately that M1 Air deal at Walmart applies only to the base config. 8GB ram is probably OK - you're probably not gonna have 20 Safari tabs open or be rendering a FCP video while you're on a gig. The 256GB SSD might be an issue if this computer is to be used for general-purpose needs as well as making music. The other ding on this model is that one of the two USB-C ports is used for charging, unlike the later Airs that brought back the magsafe port - that's gonna make a hub more of a necessity. I have a hub for my 15" Air M2, but rarely need it.

It is, the M1 is astonishingly capable with the minimum spec.  The 256gb storage - should be ok if you’re just using it for MainStage.  I had to recently put 11gb of samples on my MacBook Pro for show specific sounds.  I deleted it after the gig.  
 

The M1 MacBook Air has a 3.5mm audio out - that’s all you need.  Use one USB port for charging the other for MIDI input from your controller - if you really need more use a hub.   If price is a factor I wouldn’t ignore the inventory clearing sell off.  But if you can afford better, by all means, go for a 512gb/16gb model.  

[Reezekeys]

Agreed, if you just want a very capable music-making laptop for gigs, the M1 Air would be a great choice. Some iPads cost more - a lot more – and need the various doodads to get midi in and audio out. Of course there are some positives for going with an iPad (had to say that since that's what I'm doing for my local gigs now! 🙂 ) but at least with that $700 Air you'll have the keyboard, trackpad, and access to a great selection of productivity software not necessarily in the tablet world (yet).

[yannis D]

Just now, Reezekeys said:

Agreed, if you just want a very capable music-making laptop for gigs, the M1 Air would be a great choice. Some iPads cost more - a lot more – and need the various doodads to get midi in and audio out. Of course there are some positives for going with an iPad (had to say that since that's what I'm doing for my local gigs now! 🙂 ) but at least with that $700 Air you'll have the keyboard, trackpad, and access to a great selection of productivity software not necessarily in the tablet world (yet).

+1

The iOS instruments are not yet there compared to the Mac endless libraries, both within Mainstage and others. 

I use both as sound sources for fly in gigs, but Mainstage always has the lion's share. 

[analogika]

5 hours ago, Docbop said:

But his Intel Mini has a fan. 

Intels will throttle down to 30% or 40% speed when they get hot, which kills any workload using, say, half the available CPU power (which is easy to do with MainStage on an Intel). I’ve had this happen several times with my Intel MacBook Pro. 
 

When Apple Silicon gets hot — and it very, very, very rarely does — it throttles down to something like 80%. Even then, it runs circles and a marathon around the Intel machines. 
 

The only thing that manages to really tax my 14” M2 Pro is Final Cut. 
It absolutely laughs at anything audio I’ve been able to throw at it over the past year. 

[Reezekeys]

On my fan-less M2 Air, my setup running in Bidule is using ONE of its eight cores and never gets over 20% usage. Ain't no throttling happening!

 

[EDIT  to add: I forgot I had reduced my buffer to 32 samples! My late-2013 MacBook Pro ran this same setup with the CPU hitting 35-45% at a 128 buffer]

[TommyRude]

I’m running a macbook pro, 100% Mainstage at the moment, 2 boards, Key Largo.  Midi hub to connect the Mac to the boards and the KL.  Fairly bulletproof.  Noting - however - I need to keep the macbook plugged in, I came close to running out of juice once when I forgot to plug it in.

 

For safety, in the early days, I kept another Mac running on the side in case the first Mac crashed.  It hasn’t crashed yet.  But I rehearsed switching them out, just unplug the midi hub from the first Mac, plug it into the 2nd - - voilà, took about 30 sec, worked perfectly.

[David Emm]

1 hour ago, TommyRude said:

I’m running a macbook pro, 100% Mainstage at the moment, 2 boards, Key Largo.  Midi hub to connect the Mac to the boards and the KL.  Fairly bulletproof.  Noting - however - I need to keep the macbook plugged in, I came close to running out of juice once when I forgot to plug it in.

For safety, in the early days, I kept another Mac running on the side in case the first Mac crashed.  It hasn’t crashed yet.  But I rehearsed switching them out, just unplug the midi hub from the first Mac, plug it into the 2nd - - voilà, took about 30 sec, worked perfectly.

 

It seems like a good time to recommend a UPS again, even though it adds a few pounds to the gear schlep. Its easier than ever, with the more efficient, conservative electronics we have. SSDs are less forgiving of voltage hijinks, so look for a UPS that employs a simulated sine wave. Its kinder to them than the standard square wave models. Hard ON/OFF bad, sine wave good. I've had one of that stripe from CyberPower and despite the brown power in my area, its kept my rig humming along for a couple of years now. Keeping a computer rolling is fidgety enough on its own. I appreciate being able to apply those meat-CPU cycles to my music and not worry about a power glurp. That's like the Mellotron Glurp, but a lot more damaging. ⚡(Says the guy who has never owned one and screamed like a giant chicken at a snarl event.)

[David Emm]

3 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

It is, the M1 is astonishingly capable with the minimum spec.  The 256gb storage - should be ok if you’re just using it for MainStage.  I had to recently put 11gb of samples on my MacBook Pro for show specific sounds.  I deleted it after the gig. 

 

I had to scramble for SSDs when I realized that 2 years of my usual doings had eaten most of my 500 GB of storage. Its been tedious to shuffle libraries around and delete a few casual things I would have otherwise kept, but whose fault is that? Why, mine, for not buying the 1 TB size, or more! That's a sea change from the more generous behavior of my Intel Macs. Live & learn. Its not a bad trade for amazing stability and speed. Besides, every paradigm shift features a few growing pains. The M1 is as solid as a rock, so I'm filling up my Cuss Word tip jar labeled "M2 GoF**k Me Page."

[ElmerJFudd]

32 minutes ago, David Emm said:

 

I had to scramble for SSDs when I realized that 2 years of my usual doings had eaten most of my 500 GB of storage. Its been tedious to shuffle libraries around and delete a few casual things I would have otherwise kept, but whose fault is that? Why, mine, for not buying the 1 TB size, or more! That's a sea change from the more generous behavior of my Intel Macs. Live & learn. Its not a bad trade for amazing stability and speed. Besides, every paradigm shift features a few growing pains. The M1 is as solid as a rock, so I'm filling up my Cuss Word tip jar labeled "M2 GoF**k Me Page."

256gb is too small for creatives - it’s really for general use. It assumes you don’t need much local storage and are paying for cloud storage backup.  But if you’re just running MainStage, it’ll do if $ is an issue (Apple charges a lot of scratch for ram, storage and screens). 
 

 

The Thunderbolt ports are Apples solution for everything.  More storage, monitors, io devices.  

[Reezekeys]

21 minutes ago, David Emm said:

1 hour ago, TommyRude said:

I’m running a macbook pro, 100% Mainstage at the moment, 2 boards, Key Largo.  Midi hub to connect the Mac to the boards and the KL.  Fairly bulletproof.  Noting - however - I need to keep the macbook plugged in, I came close to running out of juice once when I forgot to plug it in.

 

It seems like a good time to recommend a UPS again, even though it adds a few pounds to the gear schlep.

 

I'm getting confused thinking of what possible scenario would warrant needing a UPS for a laptop.

[Bobadohshe]

13 hours ago, Stokely said:

honestly not having a rock solid place on some stages for a computer is one reason I don't use them.  My stages can be quite small to be sure. 
 

 

I'm still in this boat too.

[AnotherScott]

13 hours ago, RodWichita said:

FWIW - I use a macbook air m2 and I used to use a M1 mac mini--I switched over to the air because...Having the added monitor plus the power for that monitor was a couple of things I realized I could be much quicker without having to worry about.

12 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

I vote Macbook....the last thing I would want to happen is a glitch with my iPad remote screen or some other failure. Too many pieces here, and having to rush a setup to make a start time can be extremely stressful. Laptops - especially one that's asleep with all your software loaded - go a long way to alleviate that stress. 

13 hours ago, Stokely said:

I'd go with a laptop, the smaller the better.  The mini by itself is easier to put someplace but you need a screen, mouse and keyboard.  Extra fiddly bits (EFB) factor becomes higher.  I keep mine closed at home but as someone said, having that keyboard, trackpad and screen is a great backup plan even if you go that way.

 

Yeah... I had never considered the Mini for just that reason (screen, mouse, keyboard), until I found that Jump Desktop on my 12.9 iPad Pro (or other similar solutions) could give me wireless touchscreen that also obviated the need for keyboard or mouse... but yes, the question of a backup plan is one thing solved by the macbook (the backup screen/keyboard/mouse are right there). So to Reezekey's point, yeah... no matter how reliable the headless Mini might be (and I don't know for sure yet), there is always going to be higher potential for a glitch that I can't quickly fix, compared to the Macbook with its built-in fallback screen/keyboard/mouse.

 

13 hours ago, Stokely said:

I wouldn't do any tossing around of whatever you use, and honestly not having a rock solid place on some stages for a computer is one reason I don't use them.  My stages can be quite small to be sure.   I have a couple small platform mic-stand things and music stands but none would withstand getting bumped with any force.  I'd probably spring for the K&M laptop stand attachment for my Omega Pro, which isn't going to topple over if someone bumps it.

38 minutes ago, Bobadohshe said:

I'm still in this boat too.

 

My idea of the small vertical floorstand was that it could keep it out of the way (physically and visually/aesthetically) and still safe (raised off the floor, but placed under the keys out of any traffic path... and if by chance it got knocked over, it's just falling a a matter of inches rather than feet), plus less setup  time than dealing with some kind of shelf attachment.

 

13 hours ago, TommyRude said:

More and more I trust the rig, the interfaces, cables et al, letting me focus less on the screen, and more and more on the show, band, audience.  Any screen - laptop, remote, iPad, keyboard screen - hate to look at them.  It’s unavoidable, but less is better, at least from a performance perspective.

I usually have the iPad there for the set list (with any lyrics or chord charts I might need); using the same iPad for patch selection of whatever sounds I get from the Mac seems sensible. You do need some way to choose your sounds, regardless.

 

13 hours ago, RodWichita said:

Plus with the laptop, IF we have to reboot the whole house, power lights and all computers associated with it, the laptop doesn't need to be powered down 

13 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

Bear in mind that the Macbook can work without a power supply. While your other gear might need a mains supply, at least you wont have to fully reboot and setup a mac mini in the event of a power cut

 

Yeah, I did mention that the battery could be convenient, but yes, it's a good point that, even though I have plenty of stuff plugged in, a momentary power glitch still has me up again and playing very quickly, whereas if the Mac Mini has to reboot after a hard power cut, I suppose it might have the potential to yield a kronos-calibre delay.

 

13 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

Could you not upgrade your iPad to the M2 256Gb, load up Logic Pro and your plug ins and do it all from the one device?

 

I'm interested in Mac for more than the Logic/Mainstage instruments. But I didn't think Logic on iPad was really suited for live performance... but maybe I'm wrong about that. Does the iPad version of Logic actually give you the full Mac Logic sound library, including access to third party AU plugins? I didn't think that was the case. Also, without the Mainstage component, what is the facility for splits/layers and quick patch changes? (I do have an iPad Pro capable of running Logic, but it's not an M1/M2 model, it's older, 4th gen.) - Though as an aside, picking up from what Elmer said elsewhere, I think the real advantages of M2 over M1 are in graphics, which isn't a factor for music, so for those looking at options, it may be worth saving the bucks and choosing an M1 option where available.

 

At any rate, I'm not looking to upgrade my iPad, which brings me to...

 

13 hours ago, TommyRude said:

I know it’s not on your list, but I use a Macbook Pro

13 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

Hell, get the new M3 Macbook with its 22 hour battery!!

11 hours ago, cphollis said:

Walmart and others have a $699 deal on a M1 Macbook Air.  More machine than you'll ever need in the ultimate portable package. 

12 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

But if your budget is $1k or better the first thing I would do is go for 512gb storage.  The second is 16gb of RAM...If price is a factor I wouldn’t ignore the inventory clearing sell off.  But if you can afford better, by all means, go for a 512gb/16gb model.  

 

Computer budget is zero. 😉 This is something I want to play with, and am not sure how much I will make use of. That's why I was so specific in my OP, the only options are the two I listed, those are the two models I have at my disposal to potentially use for this without having to buy another computer. So that much is a done deal... it will either be the i7 mini (32 gb, 1 TB) or the M1 Macbook, which is indeed the same as that Walmart model but with 16 GB (though still only 256 gb storage). As mentioned, I would attach a tiny USB 3.1 SSD to get around the storage limitation, (a Crucial X9 Pro, which I also have other uses for.) But that Macbook reliance on external storage could be something that might give the Mini some potential performance advantage. Or maybe even the external SSD here is so fast that faster storage won't make a difference (for audio purposes), or any benefit is more than offset by the M1 itself... these are the kinds of variables I'm curious about, along with the other kinds of real-world experiences people have been sharing here.

 

12 hours ago, Docbop said:

Running a Mac in clamshell mode they get hotter and faster being closed less air circulating over keyboard and that would normally be helping with cooling.   The Macbook Air has no fan so they do throttle when they get hot.    Just something to think about you might want to keep the Macbook Air open for cooling. 

7 hours ago, analogika said:

Intels will throttle down to 30% or 40% speed when they get hot, which kills any workload using, say, half the available CPU power (which is easy to do with MainStage on an Intel). I’ve had this happen several times with my Intel MacBook Pro. 
 

When Apple Silicon gets hot — and it very, very, very rarely does — it throttles down to something like 80%. Even then, it runs circles and a marathon around the Intel machines. 

 

Interesting points, I hadn't even considered the throttling possibility when comparing performance potential, though I've read that's indeed a concern with the Surface Pro tablets (and a reason one might prefer a model with a fan to one without).

 

I see some variations of the stand I mentioned, a floor stand that supports a semi-open clamshell for more air circulation, might be worth doing that, even if the hit on the M1 is less to be concerned about than on Intel. For either, it may also be worth thinking about the vertical orientation being non-standard, i.e. its natural heat dissipation may be more efficient when used horizontally, so the chance of reaching higher temps may be higher in the less common vertical orientation?

 

 

Thanks to everyone for participating in this thought experiment... I am now more firmly leaning toward the Macbook.

 

I'll also mention one of my use cases for this, the one that inspired me to pursue this idea further than I had in the past. I really like the Liano as a super-lightweight piano board. One negative is that it has very few sounds. I expected to address this with iPad sounds, and that will certainly work, but since I do have these other computers at my disposal and (in brief experiment) using that iPad as a wireless screen seems very do-able, why not consider the additional benefits of a Mac? It seems like it would add very little hassle (i.e. additional travel weight or setup time), and give me a wider range of high quality sound options, probably better performance (especially since, as mentioned, I don't have the newest iPads), and what seems like a better working environment (although I don't have extensive experience here, Gig Performer looks like it will be a better solution than anything on iPad). Though whether GP and my selected VSTs will be as touch friendly with iPad operation as the iPad-native solution would be is an open question. I'm also considering the viability of using the iPad both as a Mac display *and* as a sound source for some apps, but that complicates the audio wiring, and may lead me to over-taxing the iPad.  (And as I mentioned, I also have the option of using a Surface Pro 7, but I'm not as Windows-savvy, and it seems like every time I tinker in that environment, I end up feeling like I'm banging my head against a wall!)

 

As an aside, Liano nicely has a built-in audio-over-usb interface, a stand that holds a tablet, and battery operation. If you don't need too much out of the speakers, then a Liano, Macbook, and iPad, has the potential to be a very capable super-light almost wireless rig... just a single USB cable from the Liano to the Macbook. (Of course, you could also omit the macbook and still have a nice iPad-based system.)