My strangely unexpected best-sound source --- my laptop!

I've had Macbooks for 20 years and never had any sort of keyboard issues nor have I heard rampant reports of issues. If one is only doing what is specified in the OP then a newer model with this type is certainly not needed.

 

How did we get here? From audio to keyboard issues??

 

Early on, Macintosh computer's were widely used in vertical markets back when DOS was the only other alternative, other than specialized machines.

Mac's were the first to feature graphic applications, like desktop publishing.

Final Cut Pro is an excellent program.

 

The OP is being dissuaded to consider a Macbook because apparently some newer ones have a keyboard prone to failure.

 

In general Apple builds good reliable hardware.

And...

They come with warranties.

 

Overblown issue that gained momentum. Happened to a relatively few users in comparison to the total number of units sold. Also, many of the butterfly keyboard problems were caused by food, dirt, foreign objects being dropped into the keyboard.

 

Yet here I am still banging the crumbs out of my 24 year old USA made keyboard...

 

You have a USA made keyboard?

 

Yep, the original Microsoft Natural Keyboard from 1995, and have a backup for when it finally poops out. It was $95 new, which seemed ridiculous until mechanical backlit gaming keyboards started showing up even more expensive than that.

There was a super rare black one that I missed on eBay a couple years ago. I have a couple Natural 4000 keyboards, the closest to the original after several missteps, but they don't feel quite the same.

 

I’ve been thinking of doing something like this. Purchasing brand new MacBook Air Because those are solid-state drives and are therefore entirely silent. The problem is that their hard drive capacities aren’t that large. I’m afraid to log onto the Apple website because I know they collect personal data, so I have to do it from work, but my employer recently put up firewall and the Apple site is now blocked. So I have to rely on friends. It’s not easy being a music lover these days.

 

Mostly overblown for sure. I've used a 2016 MacBook Pro professionally every day for over a year. The spacebar did have issues when I accidentally dumped confectionary sugar all over it, but even that was easily fixed by compressed air. The 2018 model I use at home is even more resilient thanks to the tweaked keyboard design. Now if you want to nerd out about keyboards yeah the butterfly one kind of sucks.

IMO it's very hard to find a PC built and designed (industrial design) to anywhere near the standard of a MacBook. Of course with the PC laptops you’re getting way more value per dollar spec wise, and usually better cooling as well. For audio purposes either should work as a source. They’re certainly being used in music production...

 

Totally bro. No clue about any of it but like cool. I'm originally from Portland too! Go Blazers.

 

If you want a MacBook Pro strictly for music, get a non-retina display model from 2012 or before and install two 8 gig RAM cards and the largest SSD you want. (Anything after mid-2012 can't be easily upgraded.) It's super easy. You can get everything from Other World Computing (a Mac specialist), and they provide all the documentation and install videos you need to do it. If I remember correctly, they sell SSDs up to 2TB for the MacBook.

My wife upgraded to a new MacBook Air, so I took her 2010 MacBook Pro. I replaced the battery, upgraded from 4GB ram to 16, and swapped the 500GB hard drive for a 500GB SSD. Cost me about $290 for all the parts. Took about an hour or two to install. It's like new, and has USB ports and a DVD/CE drive - something else you don't get on modern Macs. Works perfectly for music (Audirvana Plus), web browsing, video, cloud computing, etc. I use a Moon Audio Silver Dragon USB cable to run it into my DAC.

If you don't want to do the mods yourself, Other World sells refurbed MacBooks.

 

Why the need for a RAM update? Just to use iTunes ? Is that really necessary?

I’m fairly facile with my hands and with using small tools, but know diddly about electronics. Can I do this?

 

It's all plug and play. Other World Computing has great online documentation and videos that show the procedure and how to reformat your new drive. They even included the tools I needed to swap the battery and the hard drive.

I don't recall the specific reasons for maxing out RAM, but when I used a Mac Mini as a music server I remember reading several recommendations that you install 16GB. RAM is cheap - the two 8 GB cards cost me $98 IIRC.

If you feel at all uneasy about it, you could buy a refurbished. They can't be that expensive given their age.

OWC install video library:
OWC Install Videos