Which Mac Mini is fast enough to run Logic Pro and X properly?

[Melodist]

Howdy fellas,

Which Mac Mini is fast enough to run Logic Pro and X properly? Especially some of the older ones.

Mike

 

[shaunp]

Look at the requirements for the product and get the right spec based on that.

 

[Boyd01]

I ran Logic 9 on my 2011 i5 1.7ghz/4gb/256gb SSD MacBook Air with no problems. That machine had a geekbench score of 5372. The current (2014) i5 1.4ghz base model Mini has a geekbench score of 5923. I have read plenty of reports that it ran fine on older core2duo machines also.

No experience with Logic X, sorry.

 

[dandeco]

For a really speedy Mac Mini, I would recommend the 2012 quad-core 2.3 GHz i7 Mac Mini, especially with the RAM maxed out to 16 GB. I have one, and it performs great, including when I edit video on Final Cut Pro X.

 

[Micky Do]

Look at the requirements for the product and get the right spec based on that.

Simple, common sense advice…. there's not a lot of it about, unfortunately!

While a Mac Mini with the basic specs required will run an app, higher specs may provide improved performance, which may or may not be beneficial, depending on your use, budget and expectations.

 

[HappyMBAowner]

A bit slow on core2duo, but will work if you have only a few tracks. Runs great on 1,7 GHz Intel Core i7 (2013) to a certain extent. I've tested with 40 audio tracks mixed and processed with various audio processing. Beyond that, if you don't use proper bus rerouting, you may have problems. But honestly, for most projects, you won't need that much processing power. For video editing though (imovie and final cut), this is definitely not enough. If you plan doing this, even in the future, more power will be required.

 

[uller6]

I track recording sessions in Logic X (8-16 simultaneous tracks) on my 2.3 i5 2011 mini with 16 Gb of RAM. Recording is very smooth using a firewire interface. My finished songs are ballpark between 20-50 tracks with 1-5 plugins per track. My mini isn't quite fast enough for mixing with a full suite of plugins - for that I use my late 2013 MacBook pro quad core. The late 2013 mbp quad core has a similar CPU to the late 2012 mac mini quad core - I would recommend getting this model and upgrading to an SSD and 16 Gb of RAM.