Which iMac would be faster for Logic?

[h4lp m3]

I own both of these computers and I was going to put an SSD in one of them and sell the other one.

• 21.5" 2.5Ghz i5 (Mid-2011) iMac with 32GB RAM
• 21.5" 2.7GHz i5 (Late-2012) iMac with 16GB RAM

I am totally capable and experienced in opening a tapered iMac

 

[keysofanxiety]

It's a difficult tradeoff. The 2012 has a quicker CPU which will definitely help when you've got a lot of plugins running, whist the 2011 can support more RAM. I had the same Mid-2011 iMac with 32GB RAM and the CPU was pretty taxed (granted, running LP9 way back when), yet the same projects absolutely flew on my 15" 2012 cMBP thanks to the significantly more powerful/hyperthreaded i7 CPU.

Personally I'd say upgrade the 2012. It has a better GPU with API Metal support and the faster CPU would benefit your workflow. If your projects are using over 16GB RAM then you'll be hitting CPU/GPU bottlenecks long before the RAM becomes a problem.

 

[h4lp m3]

It's a difficult tradeoff. The 2012 has a quicker CPU which will definitely help when you've got a lot of plugins running, whist the 2011 can support more RAM. I had the same Mid-2011 iMac with 32GB RAM and the CPU was pretty taxed (granted, running LP9 way back when), yet the same projects absolutely flew on my 15" 2012 cMBP thanks to the significantly more powerful/hyperthreaded i7 CPU.

Personally I'd say upgrade the 2012. It has a better GPU with API Metal support and the faster CPU would benefit your workflow. If your projects are using over 16GB RAM then you'll be hitting CPU/GPU bottlenecks long before the RAM becomes a problem.

Do you think the 2012 would get better SATA speeds from the SSD, or would they both be the same?

 

[keysofanxiety]

Do you think the 2012 would get better SATA speeds from the SSD, or would they both be the same?

Pretty much the same as they're both 6Gb/s SATA. Any fluctuation between the speeds (a MB here, a MB there) wouldn't be noticeable whatsoever with real-world performance.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Not a lot of difference but go for the 2012 model wih slightly faster CPU and GeekBench Test Score.

But only slightly.