What specs to look for in a used Mac?

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GooberNumber9
tinnitus
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Post by GooberNumber9 » Wed Sep 19, 2012 10:53 am

I have a 2007 iMac and it's still going strong, ran Pro Tools LE at max track counts like a champ, plug-ins, etc. Now it runs Reaper and I've yet to get it to blink at all. I would not buy it used at this point, because early 2007 iMacs can not upgrade to Mountain Lion.

That's what I would look at - the specs are almost always going to be nice. Right now we are in a world where processors are so fast that even 100% native DAW work is starting to become not a concern. And in the Mac side, OSX is so nice to both RAM and hard drive space that while having a lot of RAM is still helpful, it's not as critical as it is on the Windows side, and RAM can be upgraded (not counting the new retina MBP or MacBook Air).

So, get the most recent Mac you can afford because the specs are not as big an issue as being able to run the later versions of OSX as they are released, which goes along with running the later versions of whatever your DAW is and plug-ins and so on.

Oh yeah, and as Jeff said the ports are very important for us audio people. Maybe you can get away with not using Firewire in your setup, but if you're not sure, best get the best Firewire and USB ports you can afford.
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fedexnman
gimme a little kick & snare
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Post by fedexnman » Sat Sep 22, 2012 3:57 pm

I do have a white macbook so im unbiased . But why MAC though ? Logic9 ?? VIRUSES ? For a $1000 bucks you could build a killer i7 PC desktop and have Windows7 and dual boot Ubuntu or LinuxMint for the internet if thats your hang up . I like OSX , but Windows7 and LinuxMint ( poor mans mac like OS ) is plenty fine for me . If you do decide to build, get you a Gigabyte brand mobo and make sure its got a firewire port if thats what your needing . Oh and if i were to get a laptop again it'd have to be a mac clone like a samsung or those dell xps z or another id get another macbook . Apple makes a hell of a laptop still , just pricey .
is it beer 30 yet?????
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fedexnman
gimme a little kick & snare
Posts: 98
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 7:23 am
Location: mobile al

Post by fedexnman » Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:09 pm

Just seen you want to run Logic9 , so id get an imac over the mini , you get more for your money cpu wise over the mini and a nice monitor too .
is it beer 30 yet?????
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