macs - your recommended min. specs?

[Fragle]

hey there,

i wonder what you guys would recommend regarding the minimum specs one should go for when getting a new mac? being a pc user ever since i "sorta" know about the hardware side of things as far as pcs are concerned, but i'm not really sure what to look for in a mac - dedicated music production machine obviously.
thing is, i'm just not able to shell out the 5k or whatever for a real highend mac pro, so you could say i'm looking for the best bang for the buck solution.
moreover i'm not quite decided between a mac pro, or an imac. the latter really looks tempting and obviously is also cheaper, but i wonder if i can get a decent performance for music production out of an imac too. also, i assume that a mac pro could be upgraded later, another thing to consider when looking at the higher price tag.

so, what would you guys recommend?

btw, i'm currently using a PC based on a intel e8400 dualcore with 3ghz (i think), 4 gig ram (win xp though so only 3gig are really used) and 500gig harddrive. seeing how most macs are more in the 2.x ghz range i wonder what i'd have to get to at least match the current performance?

thanks!

ps: i'm NOT trying to start another pc/mac discussion....just as a disclaimer

 

[LydonB]

You could get the i7 iMac...that thing is pretty awesome. Comes standard with 4GB RAM and 1 TB HD. The RAM is upgradeable to 16GB and the HD is upgradeable to 2 TB.

I am sure if you search around, you can probably find some used Mac Pros for as much as a new Core i7 iMac.

 

[::XeS::]

If you're aiming to a dedicated music production machine, mac pro without any doubt. The new iMac 27 i7 is pretty awesome but you don't have too much expansion capabilities.
I would wait the new macpro with i7 processor

 

[greyskull]

anything newer than g5 anything will be great.

 

[dkZero]

You can upgrade the RAM and HDD in an iMac and I would have thought that by the time you would want to upgrade your i7 CPU/board the Mac Pro will be a completely different machine.
There will be new boards with USB 3.0/ new CPU sockets etc etc..
I know I say this all the time but with computers, there's only so much future proofing you can/should do because before very long the entire base of your system will be old news.
If I was you I would spend less now as this is your first Mac, get the iMac and then down the line when you're an experienced Mac user then upgrade to a Mac Pro.
The i7 iMac will last you a long time if music production is it's main job.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

anything newer than g5 anything will be great.

I agree.

 

[Trevoire520]

To be honest, the top of the line Mac\s are just silly powerful now.

I'm using the bottom of the line Macbook (2Gb RAM and 2Ghz Dual Core Processor) and it works pretty well for me. Can start to struggle a bit if I have a heavy session on with lots of plugs and some mastering stuff going on, but if it's pissing me off then I just bounce everything down to a stereo track and do my mastering seperately.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

my old G5 2.oghz dual is still fucking awesome and handles anything I throw at it (with PT HD THough)

 

[Airborne]

To be honest, the top of the line Macs are just silly powerful now.

I'm using the bottom of the line Macbook (2Gb RAM and 2Ghz Dual Core Processor) and it works pretty well for me. Can start to struggle a bit if I have a heavy session on with lots of plugs and some mastering stuff going on, but if it's pissing me off then I just bounce everything down to a stereo track and do my mastering seperately.

+1
Same here.

 

[Josh.bodnar]

currently, i own a white macbook, 2.4ghz core2duo processor, 2gb ram, 160gb HD 5,400rpm. Ive been running Logic Pro 9 and it runs smoothly. Although lately i have been noticing when i reach the 20 track count with about 4 plugins on each track with some busses while running superior drummer 2, this thing sometimes comes up with error messages saying "system is too slow or disk is too slow." I bet with a faster hard drive and some more ram it would work a lot better. but instead, im buying the new iMac i7 with 8gb of ram. I think that will last me a LOONGG time. I also do graphic design so the larger screen will definitely help.

 

[Ola Englund]

my old G5 2.oghz dual is still fucking awesome and handles anything I throw at it (with PT HD THough)

+1 I'm good with my Quad 2.5 G5 for another while aswell!

 

[Kazrog]

Anything Intel-based. Stay away from PowerPC, the platform is being phased out quickly.

 

[mick thompson]

dont buy a new mac yet - im going to suggest you wait until early feb - a min of 3gb's ram, dual hard drives (solid state if you can afford them - if not minimum of 7000ish rpm) and the beefier the processor the merrier

oh - and firewire - dont leave yourself stuck

 

[grkmetlhed]

dont buy a new mac yet - im going to suggest you wait until early feb - a min of 3gb's ram, dual hard drives (solid state if you can afford them - if not minimum of 7000ish rpm) and the beefier the processor the merrier

oh - and firewire - dont leave yourself stuck

I agree about the waiting thing...for economical reasons...once apple comes out with their newest line, they blow out their old machines, which are still plenty powerful...I got 1000 dollars off of my Mac Pro last Feb when the new ones came out....my computer is way more than i need right now,but have not a single hint of buyers remorse..not a single hiccup since i got it, which to me is worth every penny I paid..(multiple instances of EXS24, Kontakt, and Superior Drummer in one session barely show up on the comp usage meter)...the quad core Imacs look pretty sweet too, if you want something that doesnt take up much space, but has a sweet ass display.....Don't buy Ram from Apple, way overpriced..check out other world computing for good ram deals...the beauty about buying a mac is that you don't have to worry too much about the specs...they just work right out of the box..

 

[mick thompson]

I agree about the waiting thing...for economical reasons...once apple comes out with their newest line, they blow out their old machines, which are still plenty powerful...I got 1000 dollars off of my Mac Pro last Feb when the new ones came out....my computer is way more than i need right now,but have not a single hint of buyers remorse..not a single hiccup since i got it, which to me is worth every penny I paid..(multiple instances of EXS24, Kontakt, and Superior Drummer in one session barely show up on the comp usage meter)...the quad core Imacs look pretty sweet too, if you want something that doesnt take up much space, but has a sweet ass display.....Don't buy Ram from Apple, way overpriced..check out other world computing for good ram deals...the beauty about buying a mac is that you don't have to worry too much about the specs...they just work right out of the box..

oh yea like you said fuck buying ram from apple - its a fucking ripoff - try crucial