MAC mini - now or later (music production)

[dpulse]

Hello,

Im new here and I have a question for you guys. I am planning to buy a mac mini 2012 (i7 2,3 GHz) and I need it for music production. So graphics card is not important for me, only the processor, and ram, even harddrive. ...

so What do you think, is is worth to wait a few months (till october) for a new mac mini ?, or should I buy an "old" 2012 mac mini version. I repeat I am not a gamer, so i graphics card doesnt really matter. I will need it mostly for Logic (the most important) and FL (Win7) .. and also for Photoshop and after effects. I will also upgrade RAm (16 GB) and maybe add an ssd.

Sorry for my english, I hope you understand what I was trying to say.
Greets from Slovenia

EDIT: I forgot to say that I am a Windows user and Ive got a 7 years old computer that is making me crazy of cpu overloads (FL studio)... and it has only 2gb of ram... so I think I should switch to a mac mini, I mean the processor is good enough (i7 quad core) to run smooth on any of those heavy apps. So i will have Logic and Windows on bootcamp for Fl studio. Sometimes I will use photoshop and after effects.

 

[pianoman88]

It works for me

I downsized from a Mac Pro 5,1 after I realized that I was rarely using more than 2 cores. I'm using the 2.6 server version for Logic 9 and I run Windows XP using VMWare for the single application (Kunake) that isn't written for OS X.

I works fine for me. Upgrade to 16gb RAM but don't purchase it from Apple.

I just purchased an external Thunderbolt drive (Lacie Little Big Disk 240GB SSD Raid 0 - $400 at Best Buy) for my sample libraries.

Richard

 

[blanka]

The current Mini is probably the last mac with Firewire, so if you have some Firewire music interface you use, you can continue to use it on your mini.

 

[dpulse]

I dont use any firewire interface

 

[benwiggy]

The current models are more than enough for doing music work. The new models are unlikely to represent a massive improvement in CPU power.

Never count on Apple producing new hardware on a given date.

 

[fig]

The current models are more than enough for doing music work. The new models are unlikely to represent a massive improvement in CPU power.

Never count on Apple producing new hardware on a given date.

And we may not even see those new models until January or later.

Your hardware begins to become obsolete as soon as you buy it. Pull the trigger, if it's horribly slow or something immensely faster comes out then sell it off (likely for most of what you paid for it) and upgrade to the new one.

 

[dpulse]

I downsized from a Mac Pro 5,1 after I realized that I was rarely using more than 2 cores. I'm using the 2.6 server version for Logic 9 and I run Windows XP using VMWare for the single application (Kunake) that isn't written for OS X.

I works fine for me. Upgrade to 16gb RAM but don't purchase it from Apple.

I just purchased an external Thunderbolt drive (Lacie Little Big Disk 240GB SSD Raid 0 - $400 at Best Buy) for my sample libraries.

Richard

Hello Richard

So, you are saying that this mac mini 2012 i7 is good enough for music production ? Because I need a new computor and i dont feel like waiting for the new mac mini 2013. Is it smooth, any lags in logic 9? ... I will also have to have a second operating system like win7 on bootcamp. Can you please explain more about this. Thank you!

Dominik

 

[Fishrrman]

"is is worth to wait a few months (till october) for a new mac mini?"

Apple seems to have an unusually long "lag time" between new Mini releases.

It's probably going to be longer than a few months before a new Mini appears.

I'm guessing it won't be out until November/December at the earliest, perhaps not until February/March 2014.

Are you willing to wait that long?

 

[Moonjumper]

You mentioned that RAM is important to you. Buy the Mac Mini with the standard amount of RAM, then buy a 16GB upgrade from Crucial or someone else. It will be a lot cheaper that way, and is an easy upgrade.