Mac Mini Choice for Media Centre + Logic 9?

[oneinten]

Hello,

I know there's a million threads for chosing a mac mini but being new(ish) to mac I think I'll be able to get a reasonably straight answer from the forum.

Basically I want a mac that will deal running Logic 9 and a simple firewire interface to record bass/guitar/vocal tracks and a few virtual instruments, so nothing HUGE but I want it to run this well.

Aside from logic I will be using the Mac to be my media centre hooked up to my TV, But I doubt any newer mac mini's would have trouble with this.

Would the base 2012 mini's dual core CPU be up to that kind of use with logic? Or would is the quad core the only way to go?

(I'll be upgrading to 8gb ram regardless)

My other concern was the HD, I'd love to put a 256gb SSD in there for running logic/applications on and have a 2TB USB hard drive for storage, but as that voids the warranty I would be reluctant to swap the hard drive out of a brand new 2012 mini..

So looking at used 2010/2011 models, how does the dual core 2.3ghz compare to the 2012 2.5ghz in view of running logic.

My other tasks will be web browsing, music/video playback and the odd music conversion, I'm just wondering if either the 2011/2012 dual cores would be up to it or should I save for a 2011/2012 quad?

Thanks!

 

[blanka]

but as that voids the warranty I would be reluctant to swap the hard drive out of a brand new 2012 mini.

Are you serious?
Here it doesn't (EU). If it does in the US, you seriously have some crap consumer rights.

 

[benwiggy]

Basically I want a mac that will deal running Logic 9 and a simple firewire interface to record bass/guitar/vocal tracks and a few virtual instruments, so nothing HUGE but I want it to run this well.
My other tasks will be web browsing, music/video playback and the odd music conversion, I'm just wondering if either the 2011/2012 dual cores would be up to it or should I save for a 2011/2012 quad?

I could do all this with my 2006 iMac.

Unless you're folding proteins, or creating Pixar's next movie, then a recent MacMini is going to be fine.

 

[oneinten]

Are you serious?
Here it doesn't (EU). If it does in the US, you seriously have some crap consumer rights.

I'm in the UK. I was under the impression that apple classes the HD's on Mac Mini's not "User replaceable parts"?

If that's the case I wouldn't mind buying a new one and putting a 2nd hard drive in it.

 

[oneinten]

I'm in the UK. I was under the impression that apple classes the HD's on Mac Mini's not "User replaceable parts"?

If that's the case I wouldn't mind buying a new one and putting a 2nd hard drive in it.

Can anyone verify the warranty status if you add/replace the hard drive yourself in the UK/EU?