Does Logic Pro work on my MacBook?

tommyb

Hi John,
I do music editing and want to use Logic Pro. My friend has a 2009 MacBook Pro for sale and he said it would work fine. Does this sound right ? I don't want to buy a laptop that doesn't do what I want it to.
Thanks

John

Thanks for the post!

This question and endless variations of it are very common, and they all have the same answer: Do a Google search to determine what the system requirements of the software are, and then see if your computer meets the system requirements.

If you Google "Logic Pro system requirements", you'll find the following link:

https://www.apple.com/logic-pro/specs/

The first requirement is "Mac OS 10.12 or later". Mac OS 10.12 is also called Sierra (which you can learn by simply Googling "Mac OS 10.12"). Whether or not the laptop has the necessary hardware specs to run Logic Pro (RAM, processor, etc.), from this we know that the laptop must be running Mac OS Sierra or later in order for Logic Pro to work -- as is often the case, it's a matter of having compatible hardware, and also having a compatible operating system.

If you pull down the Apple menu, choose "About This Mac". The box that pops up will state which OS is installed, so if it confirms that you're running Sierra or later, then you're in good shape.

But if not, the next question is, CAN the laptop be upgraded to run Sierra? To determine that, use the same method, i.e. Google "Sierra system requirements", which gets us the following link:

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP742?locale=en_US

In this link it is specifically stated that Mac OS 10.12 Sierra requires at least a Mid 2010 MacBook Pro. Therefore a 2009 MacBook Pro cannot run Sierra, and therefore the 2009 MacBook Pro will NOT work with Logic Pro. You're done!

But for fun, let's say you have a Mid 2010 MacBook Pro, and we will continue on to the second requirement -- 4GB RAM. Most any Mid 2010 will have 4GB, but you can determine the amount you have by, again, pulling down the Apple menu and choosing "About This Mac".

The next requirement: "OpenCL-capable graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later". Yet again, "About This Mac" will generally tell you what video card you have, and how much VRAM it has (the next requirement). If not, you can always click "System Report" in the "About This Mac" box, and then click "Graphics/Displays" on the left side of the box that appears, after which you will see all of the relevant information on the right. As for "OpenCL-capable", you can Google the name of your video card and read its specifications. When in doubt, Google almost always saves the day.

The last basic requirement is 6GB of free disk space. You can determine the amount of free space on your drive by right-clicking "Macintosh HD" (or whatever your hard drive is called) and choosing "Get Info", after which a box will appear showing you the capacity of your drive, as well as the "available" amount of free space.

So that it -- it's pretty easy, and just requires a couple minutes of Googling, if that.

I would add that the system requirements listed for any given program are usually the MINIMUM system requirements, so although the program may technically work with the minimum configuration, it could still be a miserable, slow experience. For that reason, unless I have personally used a program myself, I never offer advice on whether programs are suitable for any given computer, because the fact is that I don't know to any degree of certainty. Instead, I tell people to do the research as I've outlined above.

And if people aren't capable of following the instructions above, then they probably aren't capable of using the program they're asking about either, so why waste your own time on them?

Hope that helps!

John