Mac buying advice for use with Logic pro

[roster05]

Hello! I was hoping to see if I could get a bit of advice on what mac to upgrade to. Currently i'm using MacBook air 11' early 2014 1.4ghz i5 with 4gb of ram.

Seems to work fine for GarageBand and stuff (i maybe get up to 10-15 tracks at most when making loops and song and such)

downloaded the free trial of logic pro.. while it works okay for a bit after a few tracks it starts to really get choppy and audio crackles and such. from my understanding this is because i need a better computer

i was looking at the new mac mini for the apple canada store. i can afford the first one that's $999 plus $250 upgrade to make it into 16gb of ram but I've been reading around that this option may not be good enough. This is where I'm having a bit of trouble... this computer i had is i5 and it says that model is i3, but quad core, so I'm assuming that's still better? even though its an i3 compared to an i5..anyways i've put the link below for that:

Buy Mac mini

Mac mini with the M4 and M4 Pro chips. Built for Apple Intelligence. With front and back ports. Get credit when you trade in an eligible Mac. Buy now.

www.apple.com

the other options i'm now looking at in the same price range (1200-1300$ CAD, live in Ontario, Canada) are linked below, they are refurbished but they seem to be quite powerful and i'm hoping they wouldn't have a problem running logic pro.

option 1:

Canada Computers | Best PC, Laptop, Gaming Gear, Printer, TV, Cables - Canada Computers & Electronics

The best deals on laptops, PC, game systems, components, small appliances, cables, and office supplies. Save more by shopping online or in-store!

www.canadacomputers.com

option 2:

Apple Macbook Pro-15.4"Retina Display-A1398-MJLT2LL/A-Mid 2015-Core i7-2.5 GHZ -16GB -512GB SSD-Refurbished-Grade A(Excellent) | Best Buy Canada

Apple Macbook Pro-15.4"Retina Display--MJLT2LL/A-Mid 2015-Core i7-2.5 GHZ -16GB -512GB SSD-Refurbished-Grade A(Excellent)

www.bestbuy.ca

i'd prefer to get the mac mini, and that way I've got a desktop for logic and laptop for other stuff but I'm open to any suggestions that you may have in regards to one of my options are maybe something I'm not even thinking about.

and apparently i've written a novel. oops. thanks for your time i appreciate it a ton!

 

[Fishrrman]

I'd suggest the current Mini (some call it the "2020", but it's nearly identical to the 2018, you can buy either and do fine).

If money is a consideration, you might buy from Apple's online refurbished store. I did just that myself, and am very satisfied with the purchase.

I'd suggest at least the i5 CPU.

If you're thinking 16gb of RAM, order it "from the factory". You can add RAM to the Mini itself, but it's not "a simple job", and some folks have broken connections while getting inside. For 32gb, it might be worth trying to do it yourself, but for 16gb, again, I'd just get it "in the box".

Get at least the 256gb SSD.
512 might be better, but the 256 will be "enough room" for OS, apps, plugins, and temp files. You might want to store your actual projects on an external drive. External SSDs are cheap and work fine.

 

[roster05]

Thanks so much for the info! That makes sense. And yea I suppose it was the 2020 mini I’m looking at as it’s from the store. I’m going to take this all into consideration but based on what you’ve said it may be better to do the MacBook refurbished since a Mac mini i5 with 16gb is $1650, just a touch outside of my budget. Appreciate your time and info