# Logic Pro on 2013 MacBook Air?



## ampaholic (Sep 19, 2006)

Hi folks, looking for a bit of advice here.
I have been doing some recording on GarageBand and am considering a next step to Logic Pro. I know there are lots of other options out there but after some research Logic seems like the right fit for me.
I have a 7 year old MacBook Air and am wondering if this has enough horsepower for the software. First issue is that I am running High Sierra and from what I understand the minimum requirement for Logic is Mojave 10.14.6
I have heard that Mojave will slow down an older Mac and that High Sierra is the best OS.
Is there a chance that I'm biting off more than I can chew and buying the software might lead to needing a new computer?
Thanks in advance!


----------



## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

I am running on a 2012 MacBook air and it seems to run decently. I have a beefier machine as well, bit the Air is my grab and go recording unit. Granted, I don't push it crazy hard, but I haven't had issues.

I am pretty sure there's a free 90 day trial of logic put right now (Covid related). So you can always just try it out.

Also I haven't had issues with Mojave on my old Macs. If anything, they are running better.


----------



## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

Short answer, not great. We have tried to run Logic Pro on our first generation MacBook Air at the studio (I’m pretty sure its a 2013 as well) it runs, but it simply doesn’t have enough processing power to run smoothly-we had tons of lockups and crashes. The other issue is that it only had the 128G drive and it just didn’t have enough space for all the plug ins and add ons that we normally use. It runs fine on the 2017 IMac that we have there so it doesn’t need the newest hardware to run smoothly.

My newer MacBook Air (2019) runs it just fine


----------



## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

zdogma said:


> Short answer, no. We have tried to run Logic Pro on our first generation MacBook Air at the studio (I’m pretty sure its a 2013 as well) and it simply doesn’t have enough processing power to run smoothly-we had tons of lockups and crashes. The other issue is that it only had the 128G drive and it just didn’t have enough space for all the plug ins and add ons that we normally use. It runs fine on the 2017 IMac that we have there so it doesn’t need the newest hardware to run smoothly.


It can run because I am doing it. But your point is the important one, it depends on what you are doing. I am hobby recording. I would never recommend an aging Air as some type of studio platform. But I can throw down songs with a bunch of emulated instruments and live tracks on mine for hobby recording.

My air is an 8 gb model, which makes a difference too. I don't even think i'd try on a 4 gb model.

But as mentioned, I am pretty sure you can get that 90 day trial. That gives you lots of time to just try it out and see for yourself. If it's unusable, you can think about another machine. I can tell you my 2015 MacBook pro runs it great.


----------



## ampaholic (Sep 19, 2006)

Yes, my Air was the entry level model. 4 GB ram, 128 GB SS drive. 1.4 GHz Intel processor.
The 90day trial is a good suggestion. I don't have a lot of free memory but only because I downloaded the huge GarageBand loop file.
Would it be the same as Logic or perhaps I'd delete it to make room?


----------



## GuitarPix (Jan 11, 2007)

My recommendation for recording without spend a ton of cash on a computer would be the Mac Mini i5 6-core, if you are reasonably handy you can upgrade the ram yourself but it is tricky, I put in 32gb of aftermarket ram for $200. That runs logic very well. 

I also added an SSD external hard drive to put loops and samples for sample libraries - which can eat up a small drive very quickly.


----------



## ampaholic (Sep 19, 2006)

Also, for the free trial do you think I'd need to upgrade my OS first or try it with High Sierra and see what happens?


----------



## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

You need to upgrade the OS-it won’t let you run it on High Sierra.


----------



## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

I'm using Logic 8.5 on a black 2008 macbook. It works fine fast enough within my current needs. If I was a pro studio I don't think so. But I'm not and it's what I have, which is a big selling point. I'd try it on the 2012 machine and see. It's really a question of your OS supporting the current version.


----------



## ampaholic (Sep 19, 2006)

Mojave OS and 90 day trial of Logic Pro X now locked and loaded. Let the games begin!


----------



## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

ampaholic said:


> Mojave OS and 90 day trial of Logic Pro X now locked and loaded. Let the games begin!


Have fun! Logic is huge, try not to get distracted from what you actually want to do. (Or do get distracted if you'd prefer … )


----------

