I picked up a 2nd generation solid state drive MacBook Air recently, and I have to say I'm surprised at how well it handles Sibelius/VDL 2.5.
The laptop was mainly purchased for photography use (I assist and edit for a wedding photog), but just for the heck of it I installed Sibelius and VDL 2.5. With my usual startup speed tweaks (disabling ideas, unneeded plugins, soundsets, etc) Sibelius boots up in 15 seconds from icon click to quick start window. I also loaded up my default indoor template score (20 staves with VDL Lite Instruments) and it loaded everything in 41 seconds. I haven't been able to make it hiccup in playback yet either, which I definitely didn't expect after spending a fair amount of time writing on a MacBook Pro (which would occasionally choke in high polyphony settings).
Just thought I'd pass that along. There are certainly better options out there if you want a laptop specifically for writing on, but with DDR3 and SSD the new Airs can definitely handle most of what you can throw at them.
I can't wait for SSDs to come down in price and have a larger capacity. I have the new ";aluminum brick"; Macbook Pro w/ 320 GB drive and it takes about 20 sec for Sibelius to load.
L
Legacy Forum Post
said
almost 16 years ago
[quote author=Justin Belcher link=topic=2818.msg14946#msg14946 date=1227034895] With my usual startup speed tweaks (disabling ideas, unneeded plugins, soundsets, etc) Sibelius boots up in 15 seconds from icon click to quick start window. [/quote]
how does one change these settings ?
L
Legacy Forum Post
said
almost 16 years ago
[quote author=E. Cruickshank link=topic=2818.msg14955#msg14955 date=1227142438] [quote author=Justin Belcher link=topic=2818.msg14946#msg14946 date=1227034895] With my usual startup speed tweaks (disabling ideas, unneeded plugins, soundsets, etc) Sibelius boots up in 15 seconds from icon click to quick start window. [/quote] how does one change these settings ? [/quote]
It definitely will make a good bit of difference in your startup time. That's a great blog for general Sibelius tips.
L
Legacy Forum Post
said
almost 16 years ago
+1 Karma for you Justin. Didn't even know about this site.
L
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said
almost 16 years ago
Thanks Justin, for the report on MacBook Air performance with Sibelius/VDL. I hadn't heard much about running these things under this sort of configuration. Sounds great!
L
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said
over 15 years ago
I tried sending Justin a PM with no avail...
How's that MBA working out for you? I've been considering a new machine and then I had a grand idea after reading his post...
Get an iMac for home and an MBA for the road. Small, portable and easy to roll with.
Legacy Forum Post
The laptop was mainly purchased for photography use (I assist and edit for a wedding photog), but just for the heck of it I installed Sibelius and VDL 2.5. With my usual startup speed tweaks (disabling ideas, unneeded plugins, soundsets, etc) Sibelius boots up in 15 seconds from icon click to quick start window. I also loaded up my default indoor template score (20 staves with VDL Lite Instruments) and it loaded everything in 41 seconds. I haven't been able to make it hiccup in playback yet either, which I definitely didn't expect after spending a fair amount of time writing on a MacBook Pro (which would occasionally choke in high polyphony settings).
Just thought I'd pass that along. There are certainly better options out there if you want a laptop specifically for writing on, but with DDR3 and SSD the new Airs can definitely handle most of what you can throw at them.