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ProTools 10 Mac Mini

F

funaroma

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 29, 2014
16
0
I simply cannot wait any longer, and am nearly ready to make the move to purchase a mac mini rig to run ProTools 10 for a small home recording studio.

I need to make as much of my purchases at Best Buy as I can, because that's where I can get the best financing.

Here are the links to what I'm considering purchasing:

Mac Mini

16GB RAM Upgrade

SSD (Laptop??)

OR

SSD (more expensive, for desktop?)

(would the laptop one work in the mini? I wonder why it's so much less...)

The OS will need to be downgraded, as ProTools 10 is not officially supported by Avid on a Mavericks machine. I don't really care, as long as the hardware I'm looking at will be compatible.

I'm thinking of just removing the factory drive altogether and replacing it with the SSD, and then putting the factory drive in an external enclosure... so if anyone has advice on which enclosure would be best, please post a link.

I guess I need the drive to support TRIM...? Any other suggestions are welcome of course. DAW usage is going to need good hard drive performance so I don't want to go TOO cheap, though I don't anticipate creating hundreds of tracks at once.

A substantial cost savings on any of the upgrades might allow me to purchase outside of my Best Buy account, but the most expensive items (i.e. the mini itself) really need to be on that account; interest free for 18 months is well within my budget.

Thanks for any help you all can provide... I've been lurking here for weeks and weeks and am sick of waiting for the magic Tuesday. I feel certain that this machine will get me by for at least a couple years.
 
T

thedeske

macrumors 6502a
Feb 17, 2013
963
58
Assuming you have the other stuff in hand (keyboard, Monitor, etc) you might pull it off.
SSD is important, I agree. An i7 processor is as well.

Pro Tools and Logic run well with a quad core, not the video processor, so you're OK. Ram will help.

Many try to target below an iMac and discover it's so close, why bother. Depends on what's in hand.

Good Luck
 
WillFisher

WillFisher

macrumors 6502
Feb 19, 2011
387
16
I have a 2011 Dual-Core i5 Mac Mini with 500GB HD and 8GB of RAM

I run PT11 and it really kicks the fans when its playing back, but thats with 16 tracks with numerous plug-ins, where as my MBA doesn't kick up at all.

I highly recommend going for an SSD, it REALLY makes a difference when running DAW's. Its the same instance on Reason 5, Ableton Live and Logic X.
Thats all on Mavericks as well.

You'll love that Mac Mini with a SSD, enjoy.
 
R

RCAFBrat

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2013
270
79
Montreal, QC
funaroma said:
The OS will need to be downgraded, as ProTools 10 is not officially supported by Avid on a Mavericks machine. I don't really care, as long as the hardware I'm looking at will be compatible.
Click to expand...

I don't think the OS can go backwards (ie you may be stuck with Mavericks if that is what the Mini originally shipped with).

Cheers,


Mike
 
T

thetruth1985

macrumors 6502
Sep 17, 2010
371
4
funaroma said:
I simply cannot wait any longer, and am nearly ready to make the move to purchase a mac mini rig to run ProTools 10 for a small home recording studio.

I need to make as much of my purchases at Best Buy as I can, because that's where I can get the best financing.

Here are the links to what I'm considering purchasing:

Mac Mini

16GB RAM Upgrade

SSD (Laptop??)

OR

SSD (more expensive, for desktop?)

(would the laptop one work in the mini? I wonder why it's so much less...)

The OS will need to be downgraded, as ProTools 10 is not officially supported by Avid on a Mavericks machine. I don't really care, as long as the hardware I'm looking at will be compatible.

I'm thinking of just removing the factory drive altogether and replacing it with the SSD, and then putting the factory drive in an external enclosure... so if anyone has advice on which enclosure would be best, please post a link.

I guess I need the drive to support TRIM...? Any other suggestions are welcome of course. DAW usage is going to need good hard drive performance so I don't want to go TOO cheap, though I don't anticipate creating hundreds of tracks at once.

A substantial cost savings on any of the upgrades might allow me to purchase outside of my Best Buy account, but the most expensive items (i.e. the mini itself) really need to be on that account; interest free for 18 months is well within my budget.

Thanks for any help you all can provide... I've been lurking here for weeks and weeks and am sick of waiting for the magic Tuesday. I feel certain that this machine will get me by for at least a couple years.
Click to expand...

You are overpaying for that SSD. It's only $140 on Amazon and I've seen it even cheaper on slickdeals. Also, the desktop version comes with a bracket that you won't need so buying the laptop version will be fine.
 
F

funaroma

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 29, 2014
16
0
RCAFBrat said:
I don't think the OS can go backwards (ie you may be stuck with Mavericks if that is what the Mini originally shipped with).

Cheers,


Mike
Click to expand...

is there some sort of hardware dependency that requires Mavericks if it ships with Mavericks? This comment didn't really make sense to me... if you have an installer for an earlier version of the OS, I'd think you could install that on a brand new SSD and Robert Would Be Your Mother's Brother...?
 
R

RCAFBrat

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2013
270
79
Montreal, QC
funaroma said:
is there some sort of hardware dependency that requires Mavericks if it ships with Mavericks? This comment didn't really make sense to me... if you have an installer for an earlier version of the OS, I'd think you could install that on a brand new SSD and Robert Would Be Your Mother's Brother...?
Click to expand...

To be honest, i don't know.

A google search seems somewhat inconclusive on the question although given the fact the current mini was released in 2012 I would agree that there should be no issue.

This is Apple's advice on downgrading:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2186?viewlocale=en_US

Discussion blogs aren't that much more helpful since many say cannot downgrade to a version earlier than that which originally shipped with the Mac (this seems aimed at those trying to use a recovery disk) while others offer suggestions on how it might be done such as using retail version, target disk, etc.

Perhaps someone else with first hand experience can chime in?

Cheers,


Mike
 
brand

brand

macrumors 601
Oct 3, 2006
4,390
456
127.0.0.1
The reason that Macs do not support downgrading to an OS prior to what it shipped with is because the older OS does not have the drivers for the newer hardware.
 
Fishrrman

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,346
12,461
The late 2012 Minis originally shipped with 10.8.2 installed.

I'll reckon that every late 2012 Mini, including those sold today, can still run OS 10.8.
 
F

fredr500

macrumors regular
Apr 12, 2007
227
19
thetruth1985 said:
You are overpaying for that SSD. It's only $140 on Amazon and I've seen it even cheaper on slickdeals. Also, the desktop version comes with a bracket that you won't need so buying the laptop version will be fine.
Click to expand...

If it is "sold by Amazon" and not by someone else BestBuy will price match them. Just show them on your phone at customer service (that's a misnomer at BestBuy, but that's what the counter you need to go to is labeled).
 
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