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- MAC MINI FOR HOME RECORDING STUDIO PATCH
- MAC MINI FOR HOME RECORDING STUDIO UPGRADE
- MAC MINI FOR HOME RECORDING STUDIO PRO
- MAC MINI FOR HOME RECORDING STUDIO MAC
20% load = 95degC processor and 4000+ rpm fans. I have owned a fullly tricked out 2012 mini 2.6 i7 dual SSD and 16G ram for a year. I can use 70% of an imacs cpu power and never hear the fan!!!!! I bought a Late 2013 27" 3.4G i5 imac and proved it to myself (will return this when my BTO imac listed in my sig comes in). Thermal management on the imac is miles beyond the mini. In my opinion you must first look at what your requirements are: Specifically -ġ) How much total cpu load will you tpypically/maximum useĢ) How quiet do you need the machine to be at that loadģ) What is more important? Low latency performance or sheer number of tracks.ġ - I use about 15%/30% loading on an i7 2.6 - at these loads even an i5 would be more than sufficient!Ģ - I hate fans and will do just about anything not to ever hear them.
MAC MINI FOR HOME RECORDING STUDIO MAC
I have all my audio library and patches on my SSD and record to a HDD, it screams and yet my Mac has a third of the CPU power an i7 Mac Mini offers.
MAC MINI FOR HOME RECORDING STUDIO PATCH
This really comes into it's own with software like Logic or Reaper because you can add a second system to some of the rackmount systems available and use it for extra processing power.ĥ) By opting for an SSD (or adding your own), you can put all your software synth patches on the system drive and everything will be faster from booting to application loading, patch loading/searching. You could also use an external Firewire drive if need be.ģ) The raw CPU power of the i7 Mac Mini may be to slower than the iMac but it's not half the speed and you'd be paying double or more for an iMac just for the screen and input devices but only gain 15-20% more CPU power.Ĥ) They're very compact and there's plenty of third party options for rackmounting etc. This is vital for higher end audio interfaces which a lot of people have mentioned on Apple's support forums don't play nice with the Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter you'd need with an iMac.Ģ) It has a user upgradable hard drive bay you can add a second drive to for recording purposes. With DAW software there's several things that make the Mac Mini a great system if you opt for the fastest one you can get as a BTO option:ġ) It still has Firewire. So that's why in my case (and not only requiring the Mac for music production btw, but all around computer) the choice went down to $$$ and the lesser space required by the mini. Mouse and keyboard come 'free' on the iMac (but not like you can not purchase em along the mini) and the rest of what you need more or less would be the same (midi keyboard, control surface, so on). Of course high end iMacs will beat the horse power of the mini, shall that power be required, making the mini the less preferred option.Īs for external devices, well, maybe some built-in ports might be a 'relieve' but it's almost a must for even hobbyist to grab an audio interface, even if one of those cheap $100 USD ones in order to get a more fluent and serious work done (unless we're talking pure mouse and keyboard job) I think if you don't need the screen per se (i.e you already have a HDTV you can and wanna connect a Mac to) then the Mini makes for a great little unobtrusive device to play along with.
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I said 'personally', so I wasn't generalizing.
MAC MINI FOR HOME RECORDING STUDIO UPGRADE
If there is a Haswell upgrade for the Mini soon, chances are the performance gains are in the 6-8% area, just like with the MacBook Air. WillFisher, garycactus, I am thinking of going a similar route: When the Mac mini 2013 comes out, buy a refurbished 2012 model, upgrade it by myself to 16 GB RAM and 2 HDD, and do my own fusion drive. This is maybe another issue for my comparison - chances are slim that Apple redesigns the Mac mini with 4 memory slots (which would make it more easy to upgrade to 32 GB in future).
MAC MINI FOR HOME RECORDING STUDIO PRO
I saw some discussions in other forums mentioning Logic Pro X is rather memory hungry. Mayuka, thanks for the reminder regarding 16 GB of RAM. ) the performance demands rise rather quickly. I agree that not a lot of CPU power is needed these days for basic music production, but especially if you work with 3rd-party plugings (Waves, Kontakt, Reaktor, orchestra plugins. I'm still leaning towards the Mini, although I am still not clear about the differences between the Mini and the iMac beyond the CPU.