Am I pushing my luck?

looksthatkilllooksthatkill
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Ok, so I'll be getting a black Macbook Spring next year (leopard and X3000 hopefully), and also a 23' ACD too, for using my macbook on my desktop. I understand the 23' ACD has two USB's and 2 Firewire 400's, and was wondering... if the macbooks performance would take a hit if I used:

1. FW400 External HD

2. FW400 Edirol Fa101 interface

3. USB Elgato EyeTV

4. USB iPod dock



with the ACD.... ie. would file transfers w/ Ex HD be slower, or TV quality take a hit with the EyeTV etc...



any help would be great!!!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    goettelgoettel Posts: 18member
    Hi there,



    They way I see it, the macbook has only one firewire bus @ 400Mb/s so if you use the external HD and the Edirol interface at the same time you will se a bit of a performance hit. The same goes for usb but since the ipod does not constantly transfer data (when it has finished syncing) the eyeTV should be fine. Basicly the ACD is only a hub so you will see a performance drop only if your two devices are constantly using bandwith.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    joe_the_dragonjoe_the_dragon Posts: 931member
    if you are useing a 23' screen you may be better off getting a system with a real video card.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    ajpriceajprice Posts: 320member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon


    if you are useing a 23' screen you may be better off getting a system with a real video card.



    ^^^ What he said. If you are going to spend on an ACD 23" and all the external stuff, it might be worth going for an MacBook Pro instead, and balance off the price with a Dell 24" screen instead of an Apple 23", or as the Pro has a bigger screen, a Dell 20". The only thing affecting what you want to do is that the Dell screens don't have a firewire hub, but do have 4 x USB ports and card reader slots.



    I know you are getting this stuff next year, but these are current prices to give an idea -



    MacBook 13" & ACD 23" = $2498

    MacBook Pro 15" & Dell 24" = $2678

    MacBook Pro 15" & Dell 20" = $2338



    Prices and specs are going to change between now and next year, but it gives an idea of what you can do if you go Dell (I have a Dell 24", and its a great screen).
  • Reply 4 of 8
    benzenebenzene Posts: 338member
    It all depends on what you're going to do with your MB/MBP.



    No, the integrated graphics on the MB isn't going to burn any barns, but unless you're going to play games on your ACD, it's not going to make any noticeable difference, as long as you have enough RAM (as the integrated graphics will steal some).



    If, however, you do plan on playing any kind of graphics-intensive games, by all means, go for the MBP, or buy a console. (That's what I did)



    Oh, and with just two firewire devices, you won't see any appreciable performance hit. Unlike USB, it's designed with multiple devices in mind.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    mystmyst Posts: 112member
    I wouldn't recomend a Dell 24" to anyone doing any sort of graphics work as the banding issues with that display have yet to be resolved. The ACD is the safer bet or the new 24-inch from BenQ. I don't see a MacBook getting a dedicated graphics card anytime soon in anycase -- if Apple wanted to walk that route they would have used this revision to do so.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    looksthatkilllooksthatkill Posts: 56member
    thanks for the input guys....

    Quote:

    No, the integrated graphics on the MB isn't going to burn any barns, but unless you're going to play games on your ACD, it's not going to make any noticeable difference, as long as you have enough RAM (as the integrated graphics will steal some).



    It'll be the blackbook with 2GB RAM.



    thats the trick, I dont play any games, or do any movie editing at all.

    I do all the basic tasks, safari, mail, itunes, adium, word processing/excel mixed with:

    handbrake ripping,

    light photo editing (iPhoto and PS Elements)

    Some web design & Java programming

    and will definately be using Garageband for recording,

    I dont think any of these are really gpu intensive tasks..



    I have two 19' Sony's right now with my PC, I really really like my big screens !



    thanks for the info on firewire devices too benzene!
  • Reply 7 of 8
    joe_the_dragonjoe_the_dragon Posts: 931member
    Don't 24" and bigger screens need duel link DVI?
  • Reply 8 of 8
    ajpriceajprice Posts: 320member
    No, anything upto 24" / 1920x1200. The Mac my Dell is linked to is an 867MHz G4 quicksilver with 64MB Geforce 2 graphics. The 30" screens need dual link DVI.
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