Keep the Mac or eBay it?
Am 04.06.2020 um 06:14 schrieb geoff:
On 4/06/2020 3:08 pm, Tobiah wrote:
Model Name:Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* Mac mini
Model Identifier:Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* Macmini7,1
Processor Name:Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* Intel Core i5
Processor Speed:Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* 1.4 GHz
Number of Processors:Â*Â* 1
Total Number of Cores:Â* 2
L2 Cache (per Core):Â*Â*Â* 256 KB
L3 Cache:Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
It has a 5400RPM hard drive which can be upgraded
with about an hour's effort and some luck.
The RAM is soldered in and can not be upgraded, at
least not by me.
I've wanted to switch to Mac for a long time, but
I have never owned one before now.Â* My current PC
has an AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 910 Processor, 8Gig
and Windows 10.Â* I don't want to take a noticeable
performance hit.Â* How much is 4Gig going to hamper
things on a Mac?Â* I do use some large Kontakt libraries.
I also need to upgrade the monitor since only the
HDMI output will drive the resolution I'm after.
I wanted to do that anyway, but that's another $350.
I can get about $300 for this thing on eBay.
If I were to upgrade, are the Mini's the way to
go?Â* I understand the towers are thousands of
dollars.
I've never been able to bridge the gap to get to
a Mac.Â* I would miss being able to get my hands
into the machine and replace/upgrade parts of it.
Maybe hackintosh?Â* What are serious Mac users using
for tracking and production?
Sorry for rambling.
The thing that jumps out at me from all this is ......"Why ?".
geoff
Probably because of the popular misbelief, that one "needs" to use a
Mac, if you want to make music with a computer. Personally, I think that
is rather all about an expensive status symbol for snobs, but nothing else.
Having used friends´ Macs during recording and mixing sessions with them
many times for years, I have learned, that the grass is *not* greener on
either side - Macs are just more expensive and introduce at least the
same amount of everyday computer problems than a Windows-based system.
Besides that, think of the problems introduced by Apple changing
something for audio about every year, which leads to problems with audio
interface drivers, plug-ins, ... if one happens to use an audio
interface, which does not get annual driver updates (=most models by
most manufacturers) to keep up with Apple´s latest changes, you can also
collect a pile of interfaces because of that, because old drivers won´t
work anymore usually.
In my opinion, that is pretty contrary to having a system, that "just
works", so you can keep making music and not need to worry about keeping
the system running - which is pretty much the myth, that most Mac buyers
want to believe.
For example, my Windows-based system still uses the same M-Audio PCI
Delta Audio interface as in the last 17 years with the latest drivers
for Windows Vista/7 still working on Windows 10 nowadays. Yes, I know,
that´s rather luck than anything else, but my Mac friends need to spend
a few hundred EUR every 3-4 years because of lacking drivers for the
latest MacOS, which they need to upgrade to to run other programs.
So, either sell or keep that Mac mini, but if you invest any money, it´s
better spent on upgrades for your Windows-based system, which is a lot
more flexible for upgrading single aspects like RAM, CPU, drives.
Phil
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