13" Retina i5 vs i7 for basic music production

13" Retina i5 vs i7
Just looking to do basic music production.
Something simple in Garage Band, may be 8 - 16 lays tops.
I'm leaning towards i7 to be on the safe side but if I can safe a couple hundred and be ok, I'll take that route.
Thanks in advance for any advice!

Can CS6 take advantage of the extra cores?
No. Most operations in AI are single-threaded and haven't seen any performance enhancements in the last 15 years or so. That's why AI is so unreliable and slow, after all.
Mylenium

Similar Messages

Basic Equipment for Electronic Music Production

Hi Everyone,
This would be my first question here so please be warned of my inexperience. I just would like to get some advice on what kind of gear is recommended for electronic music production. By that I mean:
Do I need an audio interphase if I wont be connecting any hardware?
What plugins should I look at that would work with my MBP and Logic Pro 7.2?
Which learning tools should a newbie get?
I currently have the last two items mentioned as well as M-Audio BX8s with a SBX sub, M-Audio O2 as a controller, and that's pretty much it. Your advice is much appreciated.
Thanks,
JV

Absolutley get at least 1GB RAM. Good Monitors/Interface. As far as Plugins go, the dynamics are the ones IMO which need the most upgrading. You get EXS24 and a large Library to go with it, as well as many synths. Logic comes with a huge soundset. You should be the judge as to what your tracks are missing. Logic's plugs alone will be able to do amazing tracks. If you are new to this, learning how the synths work (programming them well) and getting your mixing and arranging in place is the priority. Logic's sounds should keep you happy for at least 1/2 year, by then you'll have a good idea as to what you are looking for. Ask alot of questions, theere's alot to learn. Another place Logic doesn't really get far into is Synthesis which requires a good understanding of math (FM, Additive, etc)- the advanced types of these synthesizers are not so common today. FM was very popular but it is more than many people care to get in to. I use FM all the time though.
J

External HD for PB music production?

Can anyone recommend a fast, relatively inexpensive, high quality external HD for my Powerbook dedicated to music production? Looking for 2-300GB.
Thanks

Any fast FireWire drive will work fine.
If you're willing to turn a screwdriver, Circuit city is selling a 250GB IDE drive for $70 (after rebate):
http://tinyurl.com/eykxf
And I like a FireWire enclosure that amazon sells (I have several) for $37:
Macally PHR-100AF
Installation consists of putting in some screws, and can save you a nice bit of coin.
Note: I am an Amazon Associate and would receive a small commission if you purchased this enclosure. I have 3 and am very pleased with the purchases)

System for Orchestral Music Production?

I'm new to the current state-of-the-art in computer music production and I'm planning on purchasing a Mac Pro and Logic Pro 7 to use for creating orchestral music. I'm looking for advice from experienced composers as to what I'll need as to specs on the Mac Pro, as well as the best sample libraries, and other cards, software, and so on that would be essential.
My work goes from chamber-like passages to using the full orchestra, often with pipe organ added.
I'm looking to get five years or so out of this system, and want to burn my compositions to a master CD to use for CD releases.
Current plan:
Mac Pro 2.66, 4-8 GB Ram, 3 500 GB hard drives, USB keyboard (or perhaps a card to use Yamaha DX7 as keyboard input?), Logic Pro, VSL sample library.
Would the 3.0 ghz machine be significicantly better? Is there a need to upgrade from the standard graphics card?
It seems that Logic does well with more processors, so is it wise to wait for the quad core machines based on the recently announced Intel processors?
Any and all advice, directions to online articles and so on would be appreciated - thanks in advance!
MDD G4 Dual 1 ghz. 1.75 GB Ram Mac OS X (10.4.7)
MDD G4 Dual 1 ghz. 1.75 GB Ram Mac OS X (10.4.7)

i can echo jonathans reccommendation regarding the esx route. the rest of his advice is bang on too.
i have had quite a bit of experience in this area. with logic you have enormous flexibility when it comes to this sort of thing.
i have a large orchestral template up on logicprohelp.com that you might find interesting as a starting point in using logic. the way i have evrything set up, i have my score appearing as a tradional score (i notate almost exclusively with step time) and making articulation switches from within 1 esx instrument. i have 1 large instrument for say violin1 with all the articualtions saved to it, and switched by cc1 (actually i convert program changes i insert in the score). using my method you can mix and match your orchestral libraries either within the esx instrument, or from within the environment.
which brings me to my next point - i would pick and choose between the libraries as much as possible. i still get a lot of mileage out of the old miroslav and siedlecek libraries and supplement it with VSL and some of my own samples. i think some of the VSL samples are appalling - completely unusable - and even some of their best ones are hard to use. in general i find VSL has to be smashed into shape - but they are extrremely well recorded and vibrant samples at times.
as for computer speed - i have run quite extensive mock-ups for large orchestra on my old G4 1ghz DP. you are waaaayy over spec unless you work extremely inefficiently. you'll be good to go on any modern system.
jonathan is correct about RAM. i run big mock-ups on just 2.5 GB and was running quite big mock-ups with less than 2GB on my old system. 4 GB will be tons - unless you are using 3rd party samplers that don't work as efficiently as the esx. if you do go 3rd party sampler YOU CAN use more than 4 GB of RAM by using AU lab. it is a standalone application in which you can load your sample libraies independent of logic but which logic will be able to access. it comes with Xcode developer kit that comes with tiger.
with regards to VSL - i would say if you just want to get one big to get started rather than fiddle around picking and choosing (and driving yourself to distraction as i have done) then it would be the one to go for.

Mac mini for video / music production

hello!
i'm really into music and video, i currently do all my video work in premiere pro on the pc, and music is done in a combination of packages like reason, soundforge, etc.
i'm really tempted by the offer of a mac mini for a few hundred pounds complete with garageband, imovie, etc. plus i can always get final cut on there too.
I am serious about what i do and would want high quality results. what i'm asking is basically, consdiering the specs of the mac mini, (i'd have to go for the top of the range to get the dvd writer) will it be capable of performing well with video work and more importantly, will garageband let me do professional sounding sequencing and mixing?
or am i kidding myself that the mini is capable? because if the option is buying a G5, i'll use the cash to upgrade my windows pc instead. it's all about tools for the job for me, i've got no brand loyalty.
thanks for any advice / opinions!!
-the swan

There's no doubt that the mini CAN do what you want - it outperforms many Mac systems that have been sucessfully doing pro-level video and audio work for years. On the video side the system is very capable, and whether in iMovie or Final Cut, professional results are achievable. Indeed, being digital, there's no practical way to tell from the rsult whether it came off a mini or an old G3 iMac or a brand new G5 tower. The mini's only drawback is that rendering takes time. Less time than older systems, and more time than a G5 would. Some rendering (such as transitions or effects in iMovie) run in the background and don't prevent continuing work.
On the audio side, I'll leave that to people who have a better knowledge of the application than I do as a rather 8th-rate amateur!
As for the model you should buy, I would suggest NOT the $699 version with superdrive. I'd suggest you buy the $599 model, replace the 512Mb RAM with a 1Gb stick, and add an external burner. That way you would be getting enough memory to give the mini a solid performance in video work, and giving yourself the choice of DVD burner which not only would include possible dual layer devices (the superdrive is single) but also better burn speeds.

Music Production / Music work

Hi All,
Just wondered if anyone on the forum was interested in or actually does any music production of any sort? In their spare time or even professionally?
Apart from working for BT music production is a passion of mine. I'm not sure if this would be to most peoples taste but I love to produce dance music. I started off messing about on cubase/reason and ableton many moons ago at home and now use Logic with a mac pro and do it semi-professionally in my spare time.
Here's a youtube video of a remix I have done, DJ Simon Patterson played this on BBC Radio 1 recently
This is not a shameless plug, just an example of my work
Anybody else enjoy dabbling or do this as a job in any music genre? I'd be interested to know
If you like a post, or want to say thanks for a helpful answer, please click on the Ratings star on the left-hand side of the post.
If someone answers your question correctly please let other members know by clicking on ’Mark as Accepted Solution’.

Hi Christopher,
I'm not into music production but I am passionate about radio production and have been involved now for many years in programming internet stations. Again not a shameless plug but I expect you will have come across di.fm, sky.fm, jazzradio.com and rockradio.com. Digitally imported is the number 1 Internet destination for electronic music.
Life | 1967 Plus Radio | 1000 Classical Hits | Kafka's World
Someone Solved Your Question?
Please let other members know by clicking on ’Mark as Accepted Solution’
Helpful Post?
If a post has been helpful, say thanks by clicking the ratings star.

Music production, which one to buy?

Hi,
After a lot of hopeless crap with PC, I decided to go with a mac.
I already made up that for (portable) music production, the macbook pro is the best choice.
But now I'm stuck in choosing between the 13" and 15" (17"-> too big, too expensive),
So now my question is,
which is, in sense of music production (logic pro, orchestral) the best choice, the i7 quad-core 2.0Ghz (15"), or is the 13" i7 dual-core enough, and save money?
Niels
Message was edited by: Nielshak

It depends largely on how serious you are using this MBP for your music production. If your music pays for your bread and butter at home, it is always best to get the highest specs you can afford. Otherwise, I believe the 13inch is more than adequate as the i7dual core is already quite impressive (I'm using mid 2010 MBP with i7dual core).
It also depends on how many VSTis and plugins you are going to be running on your standard projects, ie how heavy you are going to work your Logic Pro.

Is a MacBook Pro 15 retina enough for film music ?

Hi everybody.
I'm a performer live musician and composer woking also with advertising music, film and TV music for the 60 percent of my business.
'Cause 6 months per year touring, i'm used to use portable Mac.
Until now i worked with my MBpro 2007 bumped with SSD raid configuration ( one ssd replaced the main 7200 rpm original drive, and a second SSD is installed in the optical DVD slot, and 6 gig of RAM with the 10.6.8 OSX and Logic 9.1,8. When i'm at home, i use it plugged to an apple cinema display 30"-
I run super rock solid and flawlessy lot of VST and heavy orchestral libraries here, being a 15 years Mac and Logic user i know how to save resources and use things at the best with freeze, workarounds eccetera BUT now it's time to upgrade seriously to have less limit to my music ideas and speed up the work, especially with orchestral oriented stuff.
I'm open to every solution, also the nMac pro 'cause is very portable but i think the minimum configuration that have sense is at least 8 cores but at that price?!?
So that's why i'm oriented on a macbook pro retina 15" in super top configuration ( 16 gig RAM, 1 tb superfast SSD, 2.7 processor, double video with 2 gb RAM in europe kind of 3300 Euro) and maybe use as a slave the current mbook pro. I would be more ok if the mbpro could have more RAM, but is'nt more than 16.
The question is: have anyone experienced in film tv music tell me if the mbook pro 15 retina is enough to do tv music? I know is a generic question but to have an idea, i don't do VERY HEAVY orchestral stuff but i'd like to run flawlessy in a template like, per example: 3 multis of simphobya, 5 albion instruments, 2 LASS instances, 6 audio tracks and a bunch of audio/outboard plug ins to mix everything?
OR must i to take a 8 or 12 core nMac Pro and maybe take a mbpro 13 retina to work at the fly when i'm on tour for example?
i don't consider the old 12 cores Mac Pro, and i really would, 'cause i don't want to upgrade in something not having a thunderbolt, assuming i'll use tha new machine for about 6 years.
Thanks a lot, hope someone can help to make my decision.

Go to Geekbench
http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks
and check out the relative values for the system you're currently using versus the one you're going to buy. My guess is a fullly spec'd MBP Retina will do the job, but you're undoubtedly better qualified than anyone on here to tell what kind of a machine you need.

Mac Pro 2.66 quad or MacBook Retina 2.7 quad for Logic Pro?

Hi Guys,
It has come time to replace my ageing Mac Pro in my home studio, and I am in a quandry as to what to choose.
Up until now, the sensible choice has always been a Mac Pro, because it allows a number of hard drives (separate drives for audio, and for virtual instruments) to stream at high-speed, which was not possible with a laptop using external USB or firewire drives.
Thunderbolt changes all this, and I'm now wondering whether to replace the Mac Pro with a MacBook Pro 15" Retina, and connect two external drives via Thunderbolt for my audio and virtual instruments...
The alternative is to get a newer Mac Pro, and I've noticed a demo 2.66GHz quad at a great price at my Mac dealer.
I'm really not sure which way to go. On the one hand, I like the idea of just one computer (the MacBook 15") for both studio and non-studio work, as it would mean I no longer need my 13" MacBook for non-music related tasks. I also like the idea of the main drive being SSD in the Retina. The MacBook 15" can be specced with 16GB of RAM, letting go of the previous RAM limits of earlier MacBooks. The downside is that external Thunderbolt hard drives are still incredibly expensive, and I'd need two!
On the other hand, the Mac Pro is brilliant in that it can house all the hard drives I need, is expandable port-wise (although is that really such a big deal these days?), and it would mean I have a dedicated computer in the studio just for music, and can keep my non-music stuff separate on my 13" laptop.
I'd love some thoughts on what will do a better job for me in the studio. Perhaps I've missed a key benefit of one of the approaches above, that actually puts one option significantly ahead of another!
Keen to hear people's thoughts, perhaps from people who have had experience running DAWs on both machines I'm looking at.
Thanks guys!
Mike

What are you using for an audio interface? It's not just disks...
I have a similar question, currently 8-core MacPro, and a couple of 17" MBPs for live rig and general use.
There's another option, the non-retina MBP...
There's supposed to be new MacPro next year. I would hope it's a serious rethink of the architecture. Internals via thunderbolt connectors for starters? No version of SATA will keep up with that... So... I keep my supposedly long-in-the-tooth MacPro, feed it memory, swap out eSATA card for USB 3, so I can transition external drives to something faster and get away from eSATA connectors - hate those things! OWC has a bootable SSD card that goes in a slot, which is supposedly. Much faster than any version of SATA. It's pricey, and... If I didn't think they'd be doing away with expansions slots as we know 'em, I'd score one of these, but it's a lot of cash for something that may not go over to the nextgen MacPro. I have *no idea* what it's going to be, just looking at a machine today and wondering about what they could leave off a new version, while giving the kind of power and expansion we want in-the-box as opposed to hanging off of it.
I would personally *not* buy a new MacPro today, because I have hopes for what the next one will be.
Laptops, MBPs. Love the power of the new machines! C'mon. Those geek bench scores are ridiculous, so I would score one in a sec, but have to have a strategy for my live rig. Audio interface is FireWire and I run an eSATA card in the express slot for streaming samples (rack mounted drive from Glyph). Oops, the FW audio interface can't connect and there's no express card slot so my streaming performance falls back to usb2 speeds (my Glyph has a quad interface, but not USB3). The non-retina MBP gives a FW port but doesn't have the sexy screen... Assuming cost is not an issue (not true), hanging an SSD off one of the USB3 ports would surely bring good to great sample streaming rates, but still have to get another audio interface, and then strange as it sounds, probably something over USB...
So... I ultimately decided to wait for the market for peripherals mature for the new connectors, usb3 and thunderbolt.
End of story. MacPro=next year and... Pull the trigger on a retina MBP once I'm sure my peripherals are all in place. The MBPs do go out live, so they're in Speck protective cases. Adds bulk, probably ugly bulk to a rMBP, but it beats trusting the roadies at the venue. MBP, audio interface and streaming HD all in a nifty rack case the size of a carry-on bag, even wheels and a trolley handle!
Not really a 1-2-3 answer, but these are my thoughts on the pieces of kit you seem to be considering too...

Can I use my APT as storage for my music and movies?

I m Using MacBook Air and APT 160
I have three questions:
1- Can I use my APT as storage for my music and movies I need the space in my MacBook Air? If yes please tell me how?
2-What is the best way to pair my APT with my MacBook Air through WiFi “g” or “n” or what is the latest, which will save me time?
3-What is the best external drive that might fit my need?
Thanks

Waleedan wrote:
I m Using MacBook Air and APT 160
I have three questions:
1- Can I use my APT as storage for my music and movies I need the space in my MacBook Air? If yes please tell me how?
No, it is not a storage solution as if you need to get the things off it you can't. If you deete things from iTunes they'll delete at the next sync. Provided you have backup copie on an external drive or CD/DVD, you could delete the actual file from the Finder leaving the database entry in iTunes - in this way you free space on the laptop but files stay on AppleTV.
An alternative would be to change itunes Preferences (Advanced tab) not to import into the library, then for things you don't want on the Macbook Air, have them on external drive, drag and drop to itunes, sync, then disconnect drive for portable use. Again when the files aren't available they won't be deleted, unless you delete the itunes database reference.
2-What is the best way to pair my APT with my MacBook Air through WiFi “g” or “n” or what is the latest, which will save me time?
n is faster.
3-What is the best external drive that might fit my need?
Your options are basically small portable drives most of which are USB powered (though may require powered hubs if you have a hub) or larger desktop externals requiring power adapter and more space.
For value the desktop externals give more capacity per pound/dollar, and will also have bigger capacity maximums at a given time (bigger and bigger capacity discs being developed all the time).
Try and work out the capacity/pro
ice point and if a portable might be useful, then you have a variety of option.
Peronally I like Western Digital, Seagate and Freecom models, but they're all fairly good these days, and even popular brands can fail. I avoid Maxtor and IBM/Hitachi having had failures in the past, but all drives eventually fail.
AC

Which is better for music production: macbook air or pro?

Which is better for music production: macbook air or pro?

The MacBook Pro has higher specifications, depending
on the model, and then CTO additional upgrades.
The Air does not have a Retina display, but has lesser
specs, so that may make a difference. They still offer a
low-end MB/Pro w/ optical drive, w/o Retina; specs vary;
it may work in your instance. You'd have 14 days to take
a new Apple computer back, so keep that in mind.
Good luck!

Which is better for outdoor music bluetooth or airplay speakers?

which is better for outdoor music listening airplay speakers or bluetooth, cost, etc.?

The MacBook Pro has higher specifications, depending
on the model, and then CTO additional upgrades.
The Air does not have a Retina display, but has lesser
specs, so that may make a difference. They still offer a
low-end MB/Pro w/ optical drive, w/o Retina; specs vary;
it may work in your instance. You'd have 14 days to take
a new Apple computer back, so keep that in mind.
Good luck!

Which program for basic business presentations?

Forgive me but I need to ask for advice on what program to use for video editing for basic business presentations. I think Premiere Pro is way beyond my needs, mainly in terms of learning curve (as well as the cost).
For what it's worth, I'm an avid Adobe user, and have been for years, for other programs: I currently use InDesign, Photoshop Elements, Dreamweaver, Audition, and Acrobat Standard (and also subscribe to the Acrobat Connect service). So, I don't feel too bad asking this forum to recommend "different" software for video editing. (Maybe Premiere Elements is best for me, but maybe not.)
I do not have any experience in video editing, and I do not have any time for a significant learning curve. I also don't need to do anything fancy.
I bought a MiniDV camcorder (Panasonic PV-GS300). I'm using a PC (3.6G, 1G RAM, half the 160G HD available, though I'll have to add a Firewire PCI card shortly) and Windows XP Pro. I'll get tripod lights and a good headworn mic. I use Nero Burning ROM 6 to burn DVDs (I've used its simple wizard to convert files and burn DVDs).
My purpose is to create about a dozen or so 6- to 12-minute clips consisting mainly just of me standing and giving a verbal speech and with some still images created from the computer (PDF, GIF, or whatever) stuck in between the video (I'll probably want some of the speech from the video taping, or else some speech I create in Audition, to play through the showing of the still images).
I'm not concerned with fancy video effects! I don't need it and I can't justify the learning curve (or cost) for it! Fades in and out are probably as advanced as I will get, though I really don't even need that.
I'll want to create the videos in file formats for Windows and for Mac, and to put them on our web site for streaming video as well as burn DVDs.
I'm sure I'll want to be able to adjust the image sizes and file sizes by choosing the tradeoff level with quality, though I hope there will be a set of standard defaults. I also really need good user forum support (I have no idea if Premiere Elements is enough for me but I sure have come to rely on the users on the Adobe forums).
I need to ask whether I should get Premiere Elements or... yes, I know it's blasphemy but I swear I'm a loyal member of the clan in all other ways... whether there is another video editing program that's light-weight enough to be pretty quick in getting through the learning curve for the basics I want, and that's relatively inexpensive. (I've been told on one forum... blasphemy again, I know... that I should look into Vegas 7, but the price and sophistication seem way beyond my needs based on an initial glance on the web -- but maybe I should just spring for it and go. It also seems Vegas 7 is more practical for my needs than Premiere Pro -- but I'm really hoping I'll be pointed at much lower-end programs.)
I really appreciate any advice I can get. I run a small business with big growth ahead (I have a tiger by the tail) and need to jump on this and to do it myself for now, and I just do not have a lot of time for learning.
Thanks so much!
Jay

OK, fair questions.
In my opinion, the learning curve for the most commonly used 95% of the programs is exactly the same between Premiere Pro and Premiere Elements. It really is. Capture video, figure out what you want on the timeline, put it on the timeline, add transitions, add music, export to something a DVD program can use, all of that. It is darn near identical.
However... then you decide you want to do something interesting. You come online and we tell you that is it very simple. Just use Premiere Pro to do... oh, wait, you don't have Pro? Just Elements? Too bad.
OK. Then you say "How do they make those great motion titles?". We say "It's easy, just use one of the text animation presets in After Effects". What? No After Effects? Too bad.
So let's say you like using After Effects for titles and you decide you want to expand your knowledge. Simple. Get some projects from Dean Velez and modify them to suit you. Do you need to learn it all at one time? No. Just what you need when you need it.
This is one reason that if you buy the Production Premium, one of the choices for extra goodies is a one month subscription to Lynda.com to watch their tutorials.
Spend the time watching the tutorials. If something catches you eye, write down where you saw it so you can go back and really learn it.
Just because you own a hammer and a saw and other hand tools doesn't mean you need to learn to be a carpenter. It just means that when your wife asks you to do something, you will have the required tools so you can go on the web and learn how to do that task, without having to run to Home Depot - which may be closed at the time you need it.
I originally bought Premiere 6.0 and when I went to an Adobe demo at DVExpo in NYC back in 2002 I saw an After Effects demo. I called from the Adobe booth to order After Effects. Why? When I saw that the learning curve was only hard if you tried to tackle the whole thing, and I realized I could just use the part I needed, my whole opinion changed.
If you only used After Effects for text in motion and for Stills in motion (Ken Burns and much more), you would get your money out of it. And that stuff can be learned in 15 minutes. Add in the real need for you, the chroma key, and the time savings is HUGE. You really need to know less to use Keylight than you do to use Premiere Pro to attempt the same thing.
Having the full version of Photoshop is nothing more than you have now. Until you need more. Then you have it.
The ability to use all of the Adobe products together outweighs any Vegas or Avid (consumer) advantages.
Besides, we are much more helpful on this forum than those other guys! ;)

Which is better MBPr for music production? 8gb or 16gb

Hi everyone:
I am seeking suggestions here from fellow music artists/ DJs and tech wizards to help me make the "right" decision in where to invest my money.
I don't know wether to buy the base model MBPr 15inch with 2.0Ghz Quad Core i7, 8gb ram and 256 flash drive. I am a musician and this laptop will solve two purposes
1) Usual everyday Microsoft Office kinda stuff and web surfing and
2) More importantly for Music production using Logic Pro X, Ableton 9 using KONTAKT and Omnisphere along with Reason Rewire for loops.
THEREFORE, now I am second guessing my purchase on two aspects -->
1) Is the 8GB enough to run, say a typical setup of Ableton along with 2-3 vsts softwares, would these specs on the MBPr last about 3-5 years?
2) Is the 256 GB SSD going to be an issue with file sizes? I mean like I can always transfer stuff to an external drive and keep creating space but then its almost like having a McLaren SLR and running it constantly on EMPTY and getting gas filled in it every 2 miles. Idk....
Any advise, nudge in the right direction, suggestions, recommendations would be much appreciated. . Is 8gb of ram enough? I am more on the 8gb ram side because of money issue also the place I am buying is offering 10% discount (cannot configure with the specs) I want to be happy with my purchase, but I don't want to be 2 years down the road kicking myself for not having gone with the 16GB and bigger SSD.
Which is a notable problem with the rMBPs and their lack of upgradability.

Hi whopkins85
Well I ended up going with the 16GB Retina MBP. For the simple reason that the 8GB would've seen me constantly second guess my decision. Plus I wanted to "future proof" myself as best as I could knowing that these babies cannot be 'upgraded' with additional ram at a later date due the whole soldered RAM issue. So yeah I shelled out some extra money, bought my rMBP from B&H in NYC through their webstore and saved a ton on not having to pay sales tax since I am not a resident of NY state.
Another thing I'd like to recommend to you is that if you plan on running a number of VSTs or AUs with your DAW especially of the nature of heavy sound libraries such as Spectrasonics Omnisphere or KOMPLETE then I would highly highly recommend purchasing a Lacie 2 or 3TB 7200 RPM external drive. I wish I had known this earlier but an incredibly efficient (and correct) way to run DAW with sound libraries to load your VSTs on an external drive which is either a fast SSD or at least a 7200 RPM. This way your system drive doesn't get overloaded reading and writing at the same time between multiple programs running in parallel. Once your system drive runs the DAW and the system accesses the sound libraries through and external drive, it makes for a much more efficiently managed read/write process.
I hope this helps. My mantra for technology is, when in doubt go with max specs on a machine.
Thanks for your post

Is the Mac Mini for me ? (used for basic operation and recording)

I have always owned a PC and ready to make the change to Apple, since we have iPhones and iPads.
Here's a list of what we would use the computer for:
- basic Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, etc)
- browsing
- storing files (ITunes movies and music)
- storing photos
- streaming video
- recording music via pro tools (demo versions)
Thanks for the help; very unfamiliar with Apple desktops.

dwb wrote:
Depends on how many wires the user wants on and under the desk. I’ve related a number of times my own experience with a base 2012 mini which I found frustrating to use until I upgraded the RAM and installed an SSD. I started with a quality USB 3 enclosure - not all enclosures are created equal - and that was significant but an SSD in a Thunderbolt enclosure tested as fast as when I installed it internally. One thing is certain - for the 2012 with Yosemite, the SSD made a bigger difference than the 8GB RAM in my usage tests and both upgrades created a very enjoyable computer. One thing is certain - Apple did us no favors by making the new mini basically unupgradeable.
I hear ya. My 2012 Mini's HD is quite a bottleneck, but fortunately, I don't think that matters for my intended use. I found that even running it from a 7200 rpm HD in an external FW800 enclosure was zippier than running off the internal drive. Thunderbolt must make a huge difference. Apparently you can get at the HD in the new model, but you need a TR6 Torx Security screwdriver to get into the Mini. The iFixit teardown does not look like fun.
According to a someone I know who does certified repairs on Macs, improperly-installed and/or incorrect RAM accounts for quite a few problems, so the move to soldered RAM will eliminate that possibility. But it's disappointing to those of us who are careful about such things.

13" Retina i5 vs i7 for basic music production

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for