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On a budget limited to base model M2....but....(Logic Pro users?)

R

rich32gb5s

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2013
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Berkshire
Hi All.
As in the title i'm on a tight budget. I'm running Logic Pro on my few year old Macbook pro I5 2.00Ghz Quadcore, 512gb. I use quite a few VST's spread about within around 10 tracks per project. My PC is just starting to complain with throttling/latency etc .
I only have a budget for the base model (8gb RAM , 256 SSD), but with some spare cash to be only able to take one upgrade ( either SSD or RAM) . I think the best option is increasing the RAM from 8 to 16gb but will the machine perform any better or at least worth the spend ?
Obviously I can increase SSD volume externally.

Thanks
R
 
Instead of getting a base model m2, why not get a mid tier m1? The increase in ram and base ssd size will be more of a benefit than the bump in cpu speeds. There are some really good discounts to be had on the m1 Macs lately. The various loops and instrument packs in Logic can be quite large. I'd want more than 256gb for sure. But it is easier to add an external SSD for more storage or to keep your projects on. I think the upgrade to 16gb or RAM is a must just for some small degree of future proofing.
 
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hxlover904 said:
Instead of getting a base model m2, why not get a mid tier m1? The increase in ram and base ssd size will be more of a benefit than the bump in cpu speeds. There are some really good discounts to be had on the m1 Macs lately. The various loops and instrument packs in Logic can be quite large. I'd want more than 256gb for sure. But it is easier to add an external SSD for more storage or to keep your projects on. I think the upgrade to 16gb or RAM is a must just for some small degree of future proofing.
Click to expand...
Thanks hxlover904... Does read/write speed have as much impact on performance on Logic Pro as the video rendering folks mention? I.E faster storage from 256 upgrade to 512g a substantial benefit?
 
I don't know to be honest, but i doubt that's going to be your bottleneck if you're only doing 20 tracks or so. Right now, i've got almost 60gb used on my SSD for logic and garageband. That's a lot of space taken up on a 256gb drive. If you can afford it, I'd up that drive and any r/w speed increases would just be icing on the cake.
 
16gb ram would be better than a larger SSD; after all, you can always plug in an external drive for extra storage (for example, i keep completed projects on an 'archive' drive). the advice above is good: 16/512 on an m1 mini vs 8/256 on a newer one...
 
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Yes, lots of good deals on second hand M1s these days.
I'm selling my M1 mini 16/512 because I just got a M2 mini 16/256.
After only a few days I can say that the overall experience is otherworldly. I thought the M1 was fantastic, but the M2 has just a touch of even more snappiness.

I knew about the slower ssd, but saved $200 with the 256. (The 256 is one nand chip, and the 512 consists of two chips, therefore 3000MB/s - and the 256, 1500MB/s.) I can not see any bad effect. I had thought perhaps a couple of seconds slower boot and app launch - instead they are both faster. Because of the M2 chip, I guess. I say there is no penalty for going w/256.

I'm using Pro Tools Studio, and with the first beta of PT for M1/M2 it's performing great. I did try a M1 mini w/8GB for a time and PT eats that memory pretty quickly. I would definitely recommend you go for 16 - means much more than the faster drive.
 
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I have to agree with the majority of replies here. The best bang for the buck seems to be getting the 16GB RAM upgrade and then augmenting storage externally when needed.

I've always run my Macs with an external boot drive, which besides getting cheap fast storage, allows me to effortlessly switch the boot drive between Macs. The video below shows how fast an external NVMe drive can be - with the caveat that swapping due to low RAM puts it at a disadvantage.

When the M1s came out - the hype was that 8GB RAM was plenty, and was the same as 16GB on Intel. That was completely false. For anything but the most basic usage, 16GB should really be the minimum.

This is a good video showing how nice an external boot drive can be. If the machine in the video had 16GB RAM, I think it would have prevented most of the swap slowdowns.

I had recently sold my Mac Studio with 32GB RAM (which I regret now). I was thinking my MBP 16 could be my only machine - but decided I really like having a desktop Mac as well. Right now, I am considering a Base M2 Mini with 24GB RAM / 256GB SSD, and booting externally to an external NVMe drive.

 
Amazing ,thanks everyone. You've all been fantastic in your responses with very useful but also interesting information thank you.
My plan was to also run an external boot up so I can switch between the Mac mini and MacBook . I think I’ll take this route and indeed the minimum 16gig RAM.

Does anyone have a best solution to clone? Either 3rd party or the onboard option? Thanks again
 
rich32gb5s said:
Does anyone have a best solution to clone? Either 3rd party or the onboard option? Thanks again
Click to expand...

Cloning is not quite the way it used to be. There are two ways that have worked for me.

The recommended way: Make a Time Machine backup of the source drive. Install MacOS on the target drive, and then boot from the target drive and restore from Time Machine.

The second way: Make a 'clone' of the source drive using something like Carbon Copy Cloner. This clone will not be a bootable clone, and will be just your data and not the protected system files. After clone is complete, install MacOS over the clone, and boot. I have done this before, and was surprised to see that it worked, without the install overwriting the data partition.

Either way, you will now need to do an install of MacOS on the target volume, as opposed to an all-in-one-shot clone.
 
rich32gb5s said:
Does anyone have a best solution to clone? Either 3rd party or the onboard option? Thanks again
Click to expand...
For cloning disks, I use Carbon Copy Cloner. It also has a good function for creating a bootable backup. I don't know if you're aware, but the old ways of copying a bootable disk is over. It's possible to boot from external drives, but it has to be the same version as the one on the internal, and if the internal is failing or not there, the external will not boot. Big topic. Google it.
 
OldMike said:
I have to agree with the majority of replies here. The best bang for the buck seems to be getting the 16GB RAM upgrade and then augmenting storage externally when needed.

I've always run my Macs with an external boot drive, which besides getting cheap fast storage, allows me to effortlessly switch the boot drive between Macs. The video below shows how fast an external NVMe drive can be - with the caveat that swapping due to low RAM puts it at a disadvantage.

When the M1s came out - the hype was that 8GB RAM was plenty, and was the same as 16GB on Intel. That was completely false. For anything but the most basic usage, 16GB should really be the minimum.

This is a good video showing how nice an external boot drive can be. If the machine in the video had 16GB RAM, I think it would have prevented most of the swap slowdowns.

I had recently sold my Mac Studio with 32GB RAM (which I regret now). I was thinking my MBP 16 could be my only machine - but decided I really like having a desktop Mac as well. Right now, I am considering a Base M2 Mini with 24GB RAM / 256GB SSD, and booting externally to an external NVMe drive.

Click to expand...
Hi Mike

Thanks for this. Im considering the same spec of going 24g RAM keeping 256G SSD. Then go for the external NVMe.
From what I can work out , going for a 40G bandwidth caddy and a fast M.2 will upgrade the bottle necked speed of of single chip 256GB SSD in the mini.
Don't quote me but figures I've come across are approx 1900m/s for the mini Mac 256GB SSD vs around 2900m/s from the multiple chipped 512GB hard drives upwards. The NMVe setup gives 2700m/s from watching some YouTube videos.
 
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I have another scenario to throw out . M2 with 24GB RAM or M2 Pro with 16GB RAM. Which would be best performing for music production (VST hungry) ?
Thanks
 
rich32gb5s said:
I have another scenario to throw out . M2 with 24GB RAM or M2 Pro with 16GB RAM. Which would be best performing for music production (VST hungry) ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
i'd go with the pro; that processing power will make a difference, more than the extra 8gb ram on the base model.

i've been running logic (dense, automation and 3rd-party plugin-heavy mixes), and all is well. best logic/mac experience i've ever had 👍
 
fisherking said:
i'd go with the pro; that processing power will make a difference, more than the extra 8gb ram on the base model.

i've been running logic (dense, automation and 3rd-party plugin-heavy mixes), and all is well. best logic/mac experience i've ever had 👍
Click to expand...
That sounds like good advice. I agree too. Thank you.
 
Ben J. said:
Yes, lots of good deals on second hand M1s these days.
I'm selling my M1 mini 16/512 because I just got a M2 mini 16/256.
After only a few days I can say that the overall experience is otherworldly. I thought the M1 was fantastic, but the M2 has just a touch of even more snappiness.

I knew about the slower ssd, but saved $200 with the 256. (The 256 is one nand chip, and the 512 consists of two chips, therefore 3000MB/s - and the 256, 1500MB/s.) I can not see any bad effect. I had thought perhaps a couple of seconds slower boot and app launch - instead they are both faster. Because of the M2 chip, I guess. I say there is no penalty for going w/256.

I'm using Pro Tools Studio, and with the first beta of PT for M1/M2 it's performing great. I did try a M1 mini w/8GB for a time and PT eats that memory pretty quickly. I would definitely recommend you go for 16 - means much more than the faster drive.
Click to expand...
Thank you
 
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