New Mac For Music Production - Mini Or Imac ?

Mac Mini should suffice for music production? Although don't hold me to that.

Since you aren't going to be using much of the gpu with music production, I'd take the mini. It's also more flexible if you want to hook it up with more displays. One thing I'd suggest is to get some better speakers though, since the ones on the mini are crappy.

Either will do fine.

For the mini, don't buy the extra RAM from Apple: buy it elsewhere and fit it yourself. MUCH cheaper. Then you can go for the Fusion Drive in the mini.

Logic needs a powerful CPU, and a SSD will give you fast read times for loading in audio samples. Both of these Macs are powerful enough.

A lot of external audio hardware still runs on FireWire: the mini has FW but the iMac doesn't. Also, the iMac doesn't have audio in; the mini does.

Mini should work for music production. The $1800 you quoted for the mini seems a little high if it doesn't include accessories. Are you going to upgrade it yourself? I'd get the 2.6 quad from apple for 900, 16gb of ram off amazon for around 75 and an SSD for around 400. Ram is simple to swap, SSD takes a little longer but there are some great instructions on the Internet

Dont pay apple for ram - mini will be much cheaper and if you are little more skolled, donp pay for apple ssd and buy your own

Ron12 said:

which ram apple use for the mac mini ?
which brand ?

thanks

Click to expand...

Critical ram works very well.

I use my mini 2.6 ghz ssd and 16 gb ram for music production. Its a solid machine. I dare say quicker than the 2.9 ghz i5 processor, because of hyperthreading i7. Logic will show 8 cores. Def get with ssd its well worth it!

Pie Chips Salad said:

Critical ram works very well.

Click to expand...

I think he meant "Crucial" RAM...

OWC RAM is also very good but it is more expensive than Crucial. Newegg has 16GB for $50; check out Dealmac.com for the specifics/link. I stick with Crucial/OWC because I don't like dealing with RAM returns...

I use it for pro tools 10 with a Metric Halo ULN-8

2.6/256G SSD from apple - $1300 delivered
Samsung 840 500GB - $370 amazon
Thermal take silver river USB3 case - $40
16G ram new egg- $70

Total - $1880 - warranties all in place - works excellent

We assume you have a monitor right?

All that said the imac is a darned nice machine too and would also do the job.

Ron12 said:

but its important , i want to know the model of the apple parts .

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Most RAM suppliers will sell you the correct RAM if you specify "2012 MacMini".
You don't need the Apple part numbers, as you're not buying from Apple. But the specifications of the RAM, and how to perform the upgrade can be found here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5475

Ron12 said:

which ram apple use for the mac mini ?
which brand ?

thanks

Click to expand...

If it is 2012 mini - PC3-12800 DDR3, 204-pin module, 1600 MHz - you can choose brand you want, many here buy crucial RAMs...

Ron12 said:

so i buy from apple mac mini with 8GB , and buy one more 8GB RAM ?

can you give me link for 8GB ram like apple use in the mac mini ?

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No, buy mini with 4 gigs ram and then buy 2*8 gigs.
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=FFD020F5A5CA7304

Ron12 said:

thanks friend , you are awesome .

its easy to install that alone ?

thanks

Click to expand...

Absolutely - just open mini (it is made to do - bottom is made to be open by user) and then you see RAM modules - they are user upgradable. It is super easy and it wont brake you guarantee - watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjc_5qHF-i4

Ron12 said:

really thanks my friend .
but its important , i want to know the model of the apple parts .

did you know ?

thanks !

Click to expand...

Hi If you use the crucial system scanner tool on the website you cannot make mistakes! Really easy put in the make and model etc!!!

http://www.crucial.com

Here's a link of the ram I put in mine

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpa...z Quad-Core Intel Core i7 - Late 2012&Cat=RAM


And yes sorry I did mean crucial not critical!!

Don't order from Crucial store!!!!!

It took 16 days for my order of ram to get to me from the crucial store. Order it from Amazon. They have stock on hand. Gskil is also a good option.

I opted for free shipping and they use UPSMI. UPS Mail Innovations. UPS picks it up and they drop it at the Post Office. It is ridiculous to have to wait that long with free shipping. I was one day away from cancelling the order when it came. I have never had a problem with Crucial hardware. I did drop a note to the CEO telling him it takes 16 days for his product to be delivered in the US with UPSMI.

16 days from Crucial is a fluke and not the way it has worked for me. Two-day shipping cost $8.99 and it arrived on time.

Ron12 said:

Hello dear friends , i think which computer take for music production .

Mac Mini 2012
Quad Core I7 2.6
16GB Ram
512 SSD

Price : 1800$

so friends , i need that for music Production ( Logic Or Cubase )
This the Only thing i do with the computer .

what to take ?

Thanks !

Click to expand...

512SSD? Do you mean the 2x256 drives of the mini server?

What are you using for the display of the mac mini?

If you have a larger display then the 21.5 imac then I'd go for the mac mini as it is quite a bit more powerful compared to the imac of your choice.

If you need more hd space as well you could also buy a cheap external hard drive also - if the price is similar i'd go for the mini as you'll get more for your buck.

Ron12 said:

Hello dear friends , i think which computer take for music production .

Mac Mini 2012
Quad Core I7 2.6
16GB Ram
512 SSD


OR

Imac 21.5

Quad Core I5 2.7
8GB RAM
1TB HARD DRIVE

so friends , i need that for music Production ( Logic Or Cubase )
This the Only thing i do with the computer .

what to take ?

Thanks !

Click to expand...

i'd buy the mini. the configuration you wrote is much powerful than that iMac. and for music production, you don't need strong GPU (only advantage of the iMac).