Computer specs for student
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Hi David,
I hope you are doing well. I am following your earlier advice to buy a “refurbished” Mac for my family of three students. My plan is to practice three mornings a week for a total visual recording time of 40 min. (2 hours per week). Following are the specs that the tech needs in order to advise me on the computer to buy.
1. Min. OS
2. Min Storage
3. Min memory (RAM)They live 45 min away, so I am wondering if they will still require ethernet to obliterate any latency as I am hoping to play the piano with them.
Thanks David. I appreciate any help you can give me. Have a great evening.
Dale Clark
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P.S. My students have nothing at their end. I am planning on recommending Apple EarPodsI hope I can recommend they buy Apple EarPods–do you think that will work. With my pc , I have a irig stream mic and headphones–works really well.
The family doesn’t seem to be able to tell me what their internet connection is–gigabit fiber internet?? Is there another way I can ask them or help them identify what their internet connection is.
Thanks David. I appreciate any help you can give me. Have a great evening.Dale Clark
Hi Dale,
Very exciting!
- On Macs, FarPlay requires macOS 10.13 High Sierra or higher. When you receive the Mac, upgrade (for free) to the latest version of macOS that supports your Mac.
- For storage, I’d recommend a solid-state drive (SSD) with at least 128 GB of space.
- Get at least 4 GB of RAM.
An example of a Mac that meets these requirements is a mid-2012 MacBook Air — FarPlay runs nicely on one of these in my home! You can find similar Macs at macsales.com. I buy Macs from them to lend to members of a community chorus so I can lead them in lessons/sectionals on FarPlay. A used Mac is a great option when a student doesn’t already have a suitable computer.
Yes, please have the family connect using Ethernet, even though they’re 45 minutes away. If the Mac doesn’t have its own Ethernet port, get a USB-A-to-Ethernet adapter (very old Macs have USB-A ports). The issue is that typical home Wi-Fi adds noticeable, fluctuating latency, which can often make playing together in sync difficult. Tech details are at the bottom of our blog post “Do musicians really need Ethernet?”.
Yes, go ahead and recommend wired Apple EarPods to the family. Note: The Bluetooth Apple AirPods have a similar name. Don’t have the family get the AirPods — have them get the EarPods.
Could you have the family run a speedtest at speedtest.net and privately send me a screenshot at support@farplay.io? I can try to figure out their internet service that way.
Thank you,
David Liao
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