u/BoyGnetik

Macbook Pro M5 Pro overkill for FL Studio? (Kontakt heavy sessions)

Hey everyone,

I’m currently planning a Mac upgrade for my beatmaking setup and I’m a bit torn between two configs.

I currently have a Mac Mini M4 (base model, 16GB RAM) and it’s been crashing quite a bit on FL Studio when projects get busy. I’ve gone 100% legal with my plugins to avoid stability issues, but it seems I'm still hitting a wall.

My typical workflow:

• Plugins: Heavy use of Kontakt (can easily go up to 10-15 instances or more if needed), Serum, and various mixing suites (FabFilter, iZotope).

• Goal: A rock-solid system that won't stutter even with a low buffer size for recording/playing MIDI.

I’m hesitating between:

  1. MacBook Pro M5 (Base chip) with 32GB RAM.

  2. MacBook Pro M5 Pro with 24GB RAM.

Price-wise they are somewhat close, but I’m wondering: is the M5 Pro's extra CPU power actually useful for FL Studio, or is the extra RAM on the base M5 a better "stability insurance" for Kontakt-heavy projects?

I’ve heard the M5 Pro has way more performance cores, but will FL Studio even utilize them efficiently, or should I just prioritize the 32GB of RAM to stop the crashes once and for all?

Has anyone tested the new M5/M5 Pro architecture with FL yet? Is the Pro chip overkill for just beatmaking?

Thanks for the help!

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u/BoyGnetik — 1 day ago