PCs are more complicated, as there are many more possible hardware combinations out there, but whatever you do, don’t be tempted to go for a cheaper machine or use cheaper components that aren’t on the list. For a list of currently supported Macs go to the Mac Qualified page on the Avid web site. The new Mac Minis, iMacs and Mac Pros all now only offer Firewire 800 ports, so Firewire 800 to 400 adaptor leads will be needed for Firewire interfaces.
#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE PRO TOOLS PRO#
For instance, a while back there were some Macbooks that didn’t have a Firewire port at all, so you couldn’t connect external drives or Firewire interfaces like the M Box Pro or 003 family. Occasionally, Apple launch machines that are more problematic, usually because of I/O issues. For Macs it is reasonably simple: as a rule, the current machines are approved, although there can be a time lag between a new Mac being released and Avid approving it. Not just any old computer will do, and I cannot recommend too strongly that you follow the advice in the compatibility charts for Mac or Windows on the Avid web site and then choose the page for the version of Pro Tools that you are using as the compatibility inforamtion is different for different versions of Pro Tools. Next we will look at choosing a computer and hard drives to put your projects and media onto. In part 1 of series designed to help people get started with Pro Tools we looked at choosing an interface and software.