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Post by ragan on Sept 30, 2019 21:22:52 GMT -6
I'm trying to decide when to bite the bullet and get a new machine for recording. I'm sticking with Mac (despite really enjoying my little Windows machine for school). I like the Symphony MKII too much and don't want to change that. Also, the iMac I've been using since 2011 has been a beast (3.4 GHz i7 Quad, 16g RAM). It still more or less runs like the day I got it. Problem is, I use a bunch of virtual instruments now and it takes a toll on the ol' gal. Usually an instance of Keyscape or two, always an instance of SD3, some B5, some Diva... Even freezing things like Keyscape and Diva, I max out CPU all the time just having the SD3 (and associated auxes) running along with the rest of the stuff I use in a session.
So anyway, I'm staying in Mac land for music. Anyone have any great insight into the latest Mac stuff? I'm mostly looking at either a Mini or a Macbook Pro. The MBP has the portability advantage and that's a significant plus for me. And I know they're fast, but there's a lot of conflicting/contentious feedback out there about heat and throttling and whatnot. I don't really want the fan screaming at me all the time. The Mini seems like a lot of bang for the buck, but by the time you buy good peripherals, it's no small potatoes.
Thoughts?
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Post by Martin John Butler on Sept 30, 2019 21:31:06 GMT -6
I still like the iMac. Big power and bigger screen size! I liked the idea of the Trashcan and a huge monitor, but it was too expensive.
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Post by ragan on Sept 30, 2019 21:37:48 GMT -6
I still like the iMac. Big power and bigger screen size! I liked the idea of the Trashcan and a huge monitor, but it was too expensive. I've liked mine but now they have the iMac/iMac Pro delineation. iMac only goes up to i5 processor and iMac Pro starts at $5k. I'm not spending that.
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Post by wiz on Sept 30, 2019 21:38:44 GMT -6
following
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Post by Martin John Butler on Sept 30, 2019 21:46:35 GMT -6
I still like the iMac. Big power and bigger screen size! I liked the idea of the Trashcan and a huge monitor, but it was too expensive. I've liked mine but now they have the iMac/iMac Pro delineation. iMac only goes up to i5 processor and iMac Pro starts at $5k. I'm not spending that. Dang, I didn't know that Ragan. That sucks. I have a 27" 2015 iMac i7, 32 gig video memory, 2 GB hard drive/512 Fusion SSD and it's pretty great.
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Post by drbill on Sept 30, 2019 22:35:42 GMT -6
I'm beefing up my cheese graters. Getting the second one up to the latest specs, SSD's all around, max ram, Mojave and PT 19.x. Should last me quite awhile. Hoping. Unless Catalina sinks things.... There's controversy there. I hate apple, I dislike avid, but I'm in for the duration.
Apple had better pull things together if they want to keep the pro audio market.
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Post by mike on Sept 30, 2019 22:36:49 GMT -6
I've liked mine but now they have the iMac/iMac Pro delineation. iMac only goes up to i5 processor and iMac Pro starts at $5k. I'm not spending that.
Following this thread too,...I'm on a 2012 macbook pro and starting to think about future choices. I'll stay mac , but hate how apple always finds ways to extract maximum dollar. Agree on preferring an I7 but not paying imac pro money. Can you still upgrade both ram and HD on a mini yourself or have they glued and Soldered those in on a mini now also?
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Post by tasteliketape on Sept 30, 2019 22:58:11 GMT -6
On the new Mac mini only ram is upgradable but not the hard drive
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Post by ragan on Sept 30, 2019 23:05:27 GMT -6
This ^^^
Gotta shell out for the SSD on the Mini but can do the RAM yourself.
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Post by mike on Sept 30, 2019 23:10:52 GMT -6
On the new Mac mini only ram is upgradable but not the hard drive
Bummer, but at least one can go external HD fairly affordable
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Post by christopher on Sept 30, 2019 23:18:37 GMT -6
I’ve been studying these companies a little closer. I guess apple seriously wants the iPad model, as they get a cut from every app sold. So they hate having to make Macs, where we can buy software and add without them getting their percentage. So they don’t prefer us buying them obviously. Though I saw today they will be building Mac pros in the states, so maybe they’ll start to care about us lowly starving creatives..
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Post by tasteliketape on Sept 30, 2019 23:56:51 GMT -6
I bought an apple refurbished Mac mini i7 3.6 16g ram. I’ve only had it about a month and working with Pro Tools 2018 and a live 16 track recording it’s been great running several cpu intensive plugins no issues . I haven’t loaded any VI ‘s yet so to be determined. The only complaint which is not DAW related is with the Ethernet downloads are very slow. Apple says it my provider and of course my provider says it Apple . This is with DSL ,which is all that’s offered in my remote area .
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Post by drbill on Oct 1, 2019 0:08:25 GMT -6
Though I saw today they will be building Mac pros in the states, so maybe they’ll start to care about us lowly starving creatives.. If they cared about us lowly starving creatives, they wouldn't cost $65k.
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Post by kcatthedog on Oct 1, 2019 0:20:51 GMT -6
Drew got the new mini a while back and I thought posted here and at ua forum, it’s a beast.
Yes peripherals add up but you can pick want you want and likely get better value than the iMac pro?
The new large curved monitors might be nice icandy the more cores, faster chip and double or trebled ram, would be sweet: you’d never look back?
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Post by kcatthedog on Oct 1, 2019 0:40:35 GMT -6
Apple did drop the prices of the ssd and Ram upgrades a little I thought ??
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Post by Blackdawg on Oct 1, 2019 1:02:31 GMT -6
Just get a Mac mini pro with the biggest processor you can and decent HD. Upgrade the RAM.
Use external drives for everything else. USB 3 does 20Gb/sec and TB3 does 40. aka WAY more than anything you'll need it for. Setup one drive that houses all your VIs. A second one for your audio projects. Third for direct backup.
Only apple computer worth buying at this point.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 1, 2019 3:47:14 GMT -6
I'm trying to decide when to bite the bullet and get a new machine for recording. I'm sticking with Mac (despite really enjoying my little Windows machine for school). I like the Symphony MKII too much and don't want to change that. Also, the iMac I've been using since 2011 has been a beast (3.4 GHz i7 Quad, 16g RAM). It still more or less runs like the day I got it. Problem is, I use a bunch of virtual instruments now and it takes a toll on the ol' gal. Usually an instance of Keyscape or two, always an instance of SD3, some B5, some Diva... Even freezing things like Keyscape and Diva, I max out CPU all the time just having the SD3 (and associated auxes) running along with the rest of the stuff I use in a session. So anyway, I'm staying in Mac land for music. Anyone have any great insight into the latest Mac stuff? I'm mostly looking at either a Mini or a Macbook Pro. The MBP has the portability advantage and that's a significant plus for me. And I know they're fast, but there's a lot of conflicting/contentious feedback out there about heat and throttling and whatnot. I don't really want the fan screaming at me all the time. The Mini seems like a lot of bang for the buck, but by the time you buy good peripherals, it's no small potatoes. Thoughts?
Great deal is an old 4.1 tower which you can CPU upgrade and flash to 5.1 up to 12 Core. I bought h whole thing refurbished form a dealer with 1 year warranty for 1200 Euro.
Not to mention that my old mac pro 1.1 still runs under El Captian and still is a powerful machine with 2 x 2,66 Quad Core.
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Post by gouge on Oct 1, 2019 4:39:19 GMT -6
3.4 i7 is still a very solid cpu. tbe i9 don't benchmark much higher.
im not sure how a new machine will help other than improve connection the peripherals.
double ram would help though.
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Post by Vincent R. on Oct 1, 2019 5:13:50 GMT -6
Honestly, if running VIs is the issue you are better off setting up a multi Mac system. I use a fairly new iMac as my main computer to run protools off of and picked up a used Mac mini to run some of my libraries. I’m usually working on tracks with full orchestra or full big band and it’s nearly impossible to run all that on one machine unless it’s a 10k+ beast. I picked up my used Mac mini here: www.macofalltrades.com then I upgraded the ram to the Mac it could go and installed an SSD. I use Vienna pro to run the remote libraries.
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Post by stratboy on Oct 1, 2019 7:31:44 GMT -6
I’m going to have to radically shrink my studio next year. I’m thinking of going with a MBP and Apollo Twin Quad. A 2016 i7 MBP nicely equipped is going for around $1400 these days. I could keep my 2012 mini to run VIs. So I’m following this thread with great interest. Thanks, Ragan!
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Post by popmann on Oct 1, 2019 8:03:41 GMT -6
They still make nice iMacs. I was just helping a buddy here the other day with his i9 8core.
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Post by EmRR on Oct 1, 2019 8:05:24 GMT -6
I still like the iMac. Big power and bigger screen size! I liked the idea of the Trashcan and a huge monitor, but it was too expensive. I've liked mine but now they have the iMac/iMac Pro delineation. iMac only goes up to i5 processor and iMac Pro starts at $5k. I'm not spending that. Nope, you can get i9 in the top two iMacs.
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Post by ragan on Oct 1, 2019 8:30:46 GMT -6
Oh ok. I was looking at the config page. I must have just missed it.
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Post by drbill on Oct 1, 2019 10:23:55 GMT -6
I'm trying to decide when to bite the bullet and get a new machine for recording. I'm sticking with Mac (despite really enjoying my little Windows machine for school). I like the Symphony MKII too much and don't want to change that. Also, the iMac I've been using since 2011 has been a beast (3.4 GHz i7 Quad, 16g RAM). It still more or less runs like the day I got it. Problem is, I use a bunch of virtual instruments now and it takes a toll on the ol' gal. Usually an instance of Keyscape or two, always an instance of SD3, some B5, some Diva... Even freezing things like Keyscape and Diva, I max out CPU all the time just having the SD3 (and associated auxes) running along with the rest of the stuff I use in a session. So anyway, I'm staying in Mac land for music. Anyone have any great insight into the latest Mac stuff? I'm mostly looking at either a Mini or a Macbook Pro. The MBP has the portability advantage and that's a significant plus for me. And I know they're fast, but there's a lot of conflicting/contentious feedback out there about heat and throttling and whatnot. I don't really want the fan screaming at me all the time. The Mini seems like a lot of bang for the buck, but by the time you buy good peripherals, it's no small potatoes. Thoughts?
Great deal is an old 4.1 tower which you can CPU upgrade and flash to 5.1 up to 12 Core. I bought h whole thing refurbished form a dealer with 1 year warranty for 1200 Euro.
Not to mention that my old mac pro 1.1 still runs under El Captian and still is a powerful machine with 2 x 2,66 Quad Core.
I did exactly that a couple of years ago with my main cheese grater that had the OS go bad last week. I'll be doing the same with my spare in the coming weeks. All new SSD's, Mojave, latest PT for both, that generation of Mac was amongst the best they ever made IMO.
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Post by Blackdawg on Oct 1, 2019 10:27:50 GMT -6
Great deal is an old 4.1 tower which you can CPU upgrade and flash to 5.1 up to 12 Core. I bought h whole thing refurbished form a dealer with 1 year warranty for 1200 Euro.
Not to mention that my old mac pro 1.1 still runs under El Captian and still is a powerful machine with 2 x 2,66 Quad Core.
I did exactly that a couple of years ago with my main cheese grater that had the OS go bad last week. I'll be doing the same with my spare in the coming weeks. All new SSD's, Mojave, latest PT for both, that generation of Mac was amongst the best they ever made IMO. Still is..
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