Need some advice on buying a new Mac.

[BigEcat]

Hello everyone, I desperately need some input on buying a new Mac.

Finally getting rid of my old system and am a bit confused on which way to go. I’ve looked at what everyone is using and I see a lot of diversity. The thing I’ve noticed the most stytems across the board is to get as much RAM as possible. So I figured If I show you what I use my system for my needs may become clearer.

• I only record 2 track live at a time at 24bit at 44.1.

• The most tracks I’ve run during mix down is around 24. Though with more RAM I’d go higher.

• I sum my reverbs (around 2 pre mix), on most tracks use compression and some EQ if room.

• I use a few VI’s and two to three tracks running Guitar Rig 3.

• I’ll use Mach5 when I can afford the increase, but I’ve got to watch how much CPU is being drained!

• I do all mixing in the box.

So as you see I’ve got to be careful of how I record and mix, I can’t do everything I’d like just do or I’ll put to much stress on my system.

So here’s what I’m debating over.

System 1(the Budget)— iMac, 27-inch: 3.2Ghz with 16gb and a external HD to put my samples.
The beauty of this system is I can use the saved money to upgrade all my software.

System 2(Big step up)—3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor with 12 GB RAM and two HD’s
This makes the most sense on paper.

System 3(Bigger step up?) 3.33GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon processor with 12 GB RAM and two HD’s
I think that in the long run this may be the best, but it does have a large “Ouch factor”.

Any advice you all give my will be greatly appreciated.

[Aramis]

Hi ! Recently , i had to do the same as you !!!!!!

asking myself .....

Which one ??????

Since long time, i was dreaming of a big srcreen for DP !!!!!

So, i opted for a 27' iMac and replaced my 828 firewire interface with a TRACK 16 to usb .

Aramis

[jweisbin]

System 1(the Budget)— iMac, 27-inch: 3.2Ghz with 16gb and a external HD to put my samples.
The beauty of this system is I can use the saved money to upgrade all my software.

System 2(Big step up)—3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor with 12 GB RAM and two HD’s
This makes the most sense on paper.

System 3(Bigger step up?) 3.33GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon processor with 12 GB RAM and two HD’s

System 1: you are paying for the 27" screen. If you don't need one (already have one?), then Mac Pro might make more sense, except that Mac Pro's are way behind the curve right now:
no thunderbolt ports
only 3g internal SATA bus
no USB 3.0

If you go for an iMac (and the screen is beautiful), I would go for the 4-core i7 CPU, not the i5.

Otherwise, I would either wait for new Mac Pro's to arrive (there are rumors but nothing definite), or build your own Hackintosh, which is what I did: 4 core 3.5 ghz i7, thunderbolt ports, USB 3.0, all working and costs less than a 6 core 3.3 ghz Mac Pro.

One other thing, I would factor in an SSD boot drive. I'm not sure how hard it is to install a third party SSD in iMac (and Apple charges a lot for the SSD option), but it's easy in a Mac Pro (though you only get 3g speeds). It makes a huge difference.

[Aramis]

My iMac has thunderbolt and usb3
I got eSata with my my Lacie Thunderbolt to eSata converter
And, of course, i had no 27 inch monitor prior to buy my new iMac


Aramis

System 1(the Budget)— iMac, 27-inch: 3.2Ghz with 16gb and a external HD to put my samples.
The beauty of this system is I can use the saved money to upgrade all my software.

System 2(Big step up)—3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor with 12 GB RAM and two HD’s
This makes the most sense on paper.

System 3(Bigger step up?) 3.33GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon processor with 12 GB RAM and two HD’s

System 1: you are paying for the 27" screen. If you don't need one (already have one?), then Mac Pro might make more sense, except that Mac Pro's are way behind the curve right now:
no thunderbolt ports
only 3g internal SATA bus
no USB 3.0

If you go for an iMac (and the screen is beautiful), I would go for the 4-core i7 CPU, not the i5.

Otherwise, I would either wait for new Mac Pro's to arrive (there are rumors but nothing definite), or build your own Hackintosh, which is what I did: 4 core 3.5 ghz i7, thunderbolt ports, USB 3.0, all working and costs less than a 6 core 3.3 ghz Mac Pro.

One other thing, I would factor in an SSD boot drive. I'm not sure how hard it is to install a third party SSD in iMac (and Apple charges a lot for the SSD option), but it's easy in a Mac Pro (though you only get 3g speeds). It makes a huge difference.

[BigEcat]

Thanks to you all for the advice.
The iMac is tempting, and is more current the the Pro line (and it's hard to beat the real-estate of a 27" monitor). I will wait to see what happens with the Pro line this Spring, and see how competitive they become. But I'm now leaning toward a iMac, i7 processor with a Fusion drive, and 16gigs ram.

One more question:
I like having two hard-drives (one for my DP files and one to stream my samples from). Can I get the same performance with a external? And if so what advice would you all recommend?

Again, thanks for all your help.

[jweisbin]

My iMac has thunderbolt and usb3
I got eSata with my my Lacie Thunderbolt to eSata converter
And, of course, i had no 27 inch monitor prior to buy my new iMac

I said that the current Mac Pro's don't have thunderbolt or USB 3 or 6g SATA bus. I wasn't saying that iMac's don't.

[Aramis]

First of all, any Thunderbolt drive would be great to do that !

And , here is 2 products that bring you the possibility to access any sata drives .

http://www.lacie.com/cafr/products/product.htm?id=10574

http://www.datoptic.com/thunderbolt-to- ... ology.html


They both have thunderbolt in and out


I currently use the Lacie one and a Raid array to install all my plugins samples

Aramis

Thanks to you all for the advice.
The iMac is tempting, and is more current the the Pro line (and it's hard to beat the real-estate of a 27" monitor). I will wait to see what happens with the Pro line this Spring, and see how competitive they become. But I'm now leaning toward a iMac, i7 processor with a Fusion drive, and 16gigs ram.

One more question:
I like having two hard-drives (one for my DP files and one to stream my samples from). Can I get the same performance with a external? And if so what advice would you all recommend?

Again, thanks for all your help.

[Aramis]

You are right, i am sorry !!!!

My iMac has thunderbolt and usb3
I got eSata with my my Lacie Thunderbolt to eSata converter
And, of course, i had no 27 inch monitor prior to buy my new iMac

I said that the current Mac Pro's don't have thunderbolt or USB 3 or 6g SATA bus. I wasn't saying that iMac's don't.

[Aramis]

I need to add this

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echo1 ... tdock.html

First of all, any Thunderbolt drive would be great to do that !

And , here is 2 products that bring you the possibility to access any sata drives .

http://www.lacie.com/cafr/products/product.htm?id=10574

http://www.datoptic.com/thunderbolt-to- ... ology.html


They both have thunderbolt in and out


I currently use the Lacie one and a Raid array to install all my plugins samples

Aramis

Thanks to you all for the advice.
The iMac is tempting, and is more current the the Pro line (and it's hard to beat the real-estate of a 27" monitor). I will wait to see what happens with the Pro line this Spring, and see how competitive they become. But I'm now leaning toward a iMac, i7 processor with a Fusion drive, and 16gigs ram.

One more question:
I like having two hard-drives (one for my DP files and one to stream my samples from). Can I get the same performance with a external? And if so what advice would you all recommend?

Again, thanks for all your help.

[mikehalloran]

If considering a 27" iMac, absolutely go for the i7 over the i5. I recently worked the same project on one of each and it was a real eye opener.

Although the common wisdom is that there is a 30% speed difference due the the way that the i7 handles floating point processing, some DP functions are no different while others are much faster.

[tonomud]

don't forget about the Mac mini. I have a 2011 model i5/2.3. 256 GB SSD boot drive, 750 GB 2nd internal drive, 16 GB RAM. Total cost? Less than $1000 last fall.

It handles audio as well, or better than, the 2006 Mac Pro that it replaced. I just did a session, and recorded 10 channels of 44/24 audio with nary a hiccup. Mixing is smooth as butter as well. I don't work in MIDI or VI's, but when working with 10 tracks (plus or minus) of audio with a bunch of effects and filters, it works very well and doesn't bog down at all.

The iMac is a great machine, but for my money, the mini is by far the better choice. I can actually get inside it to upgrade drives and RAM quite easily, and am not tied to the display options that come with the iMac. Granted, both the 21.5 and 27" Apple options are great, but I hate having everything in a single unit. With the mini, I can use just about any display (and I have 2 in use right now), and if the mini ever dies or gets sold, I can keep using my displays and get a new machine. In many ways, the mini is now the Mac Pro (albeit with slightly less power and expandability). It offers a lot of bang for the buck.

[mikehalloran]

If considering the Mini, again get the i7 chip.

DP does some things a great deal faster than on the i5. The first thing I noticed was how much slower even 2 track projects opened on the i5 - much slower than the published speed difference of 30% would indicate, On things that involve disk access where floating point processing is not an issue, the difference is negligible.

While the Mini is perfectly fine for many DP users, I don't agree that the Mini is equal to the iMac. The iMac has much better graphics for starters. If the two machines are equally equipped including an Apple monitor, the Mini is more expensive. The 2012 iMac has a sharper monitor.

Of course, the most tricked out iMac is nowhere the equal of a well equipped Mac Pro. When my 2010 is no longer under AppleCare this summer, I'll make the decision to replace it with a 2012 or a Mac Pro depending on my budget and Apple's current offerings.

I need to run multiple drives and am tired of the limitations imposed by USB and FireWire having only one eSATA drive is not good in my case. I was thinking of swapping mine for my wife's 2011 but it's an i5 - way too slow for DP now that I am used to my i7.

[bayswater]

Just remember with the iMac, you'll be sitting close to it when mixing, and you'll hear the fans when processing loads are high. The other Macs can be placed further away.

[Wolfie2112]

Hey BigEcat, did you ever make a decision on the Mac purchase? I'm in the same boat as well (except I'm coming from PC ). Rumours are that the new Mac Pro will be announced late this month...but even at that, they wouldn't start shipping until June or July. I can't wait that long! So...the i7 iMac is my next choice based on what I've researched. In my case, I'll be slaving all of my huge orchestral templates from slaves (including my current i7 w/64GB Ram), so storage is not a concern. I talked to several pros in the industry and the general consensus was that if a slave(s) is used, the iMac is the best choice. The "current" refurbished Mac Pro offerings are tempting, but they are seriously outdated unless you want to spend over 5K on a well equipped 12 core. I personally have a hard time justifying the SATA II and lack of Thunderbolt, PCI or USB3.

So, unless you are going to be requiring PCIe slots and specialty video cards, etc, the i7 iMac is definitely the way to go at this point. If you do, DO NOT upgrade the RAM through Apple, you can do it yourself on the 27" and get it cheap through places such as Macsales.

[Michael Canavan]

My suggestion is to go the used market.
It took me a long time waiting but I found an 8 core 2.66Ghz Mac Pro on craigslist for $1,100! It's still rated at #5 in the mac benchmarks. You can find great buys if you're patient.

Also if you can wait, the rumor mill is saying we should see the updated new Mac Pros in the next couple months, at least by the Developers conference in June! There's the whole 'don't buy the first generation of anything' logic, but they've had three years at least to redesign the case and it's obviously going to be much smaller, plus it's likely it gets i7 desktop chips, which is where Intel has been putting it's R&D into for a couple years now.