Mac for Ableton

[jamesbix]

Hi,

I am looking to purchase a new Mac for music production with Ableton and associated third party plugins.

I'm currently using an old 2010 Macbook Pro with around 2.1Ghz and 4gb RAM... this is now grinding to a hault with my more complex projects.

I don't need portability, nor do I need a monitor, so my initial thought is a Mac Mini.

The ability to pimp to 16gb of RAM and bump to 2.3Ghz quad core immediately leads me to this model: http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MD388B/A?

Anyone see any problems with this for Ableton and musical production??

Thanks

 

[fa8362]

You should google that. There are definitely professionals using Minis for music production (I've seen threads in Google searches), but I don't know if they're using Ableton.

 

[jamesbix]

Yup

Yes have Googled relentlessly... I can see mixed commentary though. Specifically about the processor.

Wanted someone with concrete knowledge on here ideally to confirm that the processing power of the Mac Mini shown above is of no less capability than that of the MacBook Pro processor for example.

Thanks

 

[benwiggy]

Wanted someone with concrete knowledge on here ideally to confirm that the processing power of the Mac Mini shown above is of no less capability than that of the MacBook Pro processor for example.

I use the 2.3 i7 Mini for Logic, Finale, as well as Creative Suite. You can check out the CPU benchmarks on Geekbench. The 2012 Mini beats recent (single-core) MacPros.
It will serve you very well.

 

[d0nK]

The Mac-mini still contains a mobile CPU inside which I personally definitely wouldn't go for if you're creating all your music ITB with loads of plugins and soft-synths, etc.
But I'm mainly OTB these days, so...

 

[paulrbeers]

The Mac-mini still contains a mobile CPU inside which I personally definitely wouldn't go for if you're creating all your music ITB with loads of plugins and soft-synths, etc.
But I'm mainly OTB these days, so...

OP is already doing all his work with a mobile processor in his MacBook Pro....

 

[jamesbix]

OP is already doing all his work with a mobile processor in his MacBook Pro....

Yeh I was just confused as the MacBook Pros seem to have the same CPU as the Mac Mini no?

If that is the case then Ill def get the Mac Mini, pimp to 16gb RAM and use 64bit Ableton....

Cheers all

 

[paulrbeers]

Yeh I was just confused as the MacBook Pros seem to have the same CPU as the Mac Mini no?

If that is the case then Ill def get the Mac Mini, pimp to 16gb RAM and use 64bit Ableton....

Cheers all

Correct. A Mac Mini is nothing more than a Macbook Pro without screen and keyboard....

 

[blanka]

And the Mini still has Firewire, so you can use your old multi channel sound mixer right away. I have a Mini here with a Phonic Helixboard II FW and combined with Audio/Midi setup it works great.

 

[andalarct]

Sorry to revive a fairly old thread, but how well do you think the dual core i5 would fare with ableton?

Im on a tight budget of about £700 (or $1000) and was thinking the mini would be a decent upgrade to my 2010 iMac.