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#1
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
Model Name: Mac mini
Model Identifier: Macmini7,1 Processor Name: Intel Core i5 Processor Speed: 1.4 GHz Number of Processors: 1 Total Number of Cores: 2 L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB L3 Cache: 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. My current PC has an AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 910 Processor, 8Gig and Windows 10. I don't want to take a noticeable performance hit. How much is 4Gig going to hamper things on a Mac? 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? I understand the towers are thousands of dollars. I've never been able to bridge the gap to get to a Mac. I would miss being able to get my hands into the machine and replace/upgrade parts of it. Maybe hackintosh? What are serious Mac users using for tracking and production? Sorry for rambling. |
#2
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
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 |
#3
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
The thing that jumps out at me from all this is ......"Why ?".
geoff Why what? |
#4
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
On 4/06/2020 4:23 pm, Tobiah wrote:
The thing that jumps out at me from all this is ......"Why ?". geoff Why what? Why do you feel the need change change your computer (a downgrade in this particular model instance) that may render your current software unusable, or at least complicated to get it to work. geoff |
#5
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
Why do you feel the need change change your computer (a downgrade in
this particularÂ* model instance) that may render your current software unusable, or at least complicated to get it to work. Mostly because it's a Unix system. I'm a programmer by trade, and I spend a lot of time on the command line. I dual boot Linux and live there for anything except music. I banged my heart at Linux audio for enough years. I spent all my time configuring and none creating. Also my favorite interface is not yet supported. So I use Cygwin on Windows to get a decent shell, but it's a band-aid on a band-aid. I wanted to be on a Unix OS where I'm comfy, with real audio support. Also, a couple of fellow developers at work are Mac heads and I've seen them use them for years. I found that it looked like an attractive alternative. Now, I also wanted a seamless audio production experience. I'll take into account some of the comments that have been made here. |
#6
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
On 04/06/2020 15:53, Tobiah wrote:
Why do you feel the need change change your computer (a downgrade in this particular model instance) that may render your current software unusable, or at least complicated to get it to work. Mostly because it's a Unix system. I'm a programmer by trade, and I spend a lot of time on the command line. I dual boot Linux and live there for anything except music. I banged my heart at Linux audio for enough years. I spent all my time configuring and none creating. Also my favorite interface is not yet supported. Apple software is based on a *nix kernel. That's about as close as it gets to being a *nix system, as the UI and other stuff is pure Apple. The hardware is now mostly Intel based, so you can, in theory, use any x86 compatible operating system. Now, I also wanted a seamless audio production experience. I'll take into account some of the comments that have been made here. In my friends' experience, Macs are great as long as you want to things their way, and a nightmare if you don't. This even applies to their phones, which, for example, use a photo file format that nobody else can read. The Walled Garden approach makes them reliable within their limits, which are precisely defined. Outside that garden you are on your own... If what you want is a seamless production environment, take the hit to your wallet and get Protools. It "just works", and projects can be worked on in just about any studio or mastering suite that uses it. Alternatively, many people use the Adobe suite, where the audio and video tools work very well together. It is now "Software As A Service", though, so unless you keep subscribing, it stops working. -- Tciao for Now! John. |
#7
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
On 6/4/2020 10:53 AM, Tobiah wrote:
Why do you feel the need change change your computer Mostly because it's a Unix system.Â* I'm a programmer by trade, and I spend a lot of time on the command line.Â* I dual boot Linux and live there for anything except music. I have about 7 active computers around here, some for music, some for other stuff. Nobody has to have just one. -- For a good time, call http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com |
#8
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
On 5/06/2020 2:53 am, Tobiah wrote:
Why do you feel the need change change your computer (a downgrade in this particularÂ* model instance) that may render your current software unusable, or at least complicated to get it to work. Mostly because it's a Unix system.Â* I'm a programmer by trade, and I spend a lot of time on the command line.Â* I dual boot Linux and live there for anything except music.Â* I banged my heart at Linux audio for enough years.Â* I spent all my time configuring and none creating. Also my favorite interface is not yet supported. So I use Cygwin on Windows to get a decent shell, but it's a band-aid on a band-aid.Â* I wanted to be on a Unix OS where I'm comfy, with real audio support. Also, a couple of fellow developers at work are Mac heads and I've seen them use them for years. I found that it looked like an attractive alternative. Now, I also wanted a seamless audio production experience.Â* I'll take into account some of the comments that have been made here. Unless you want to use a command-line DAW (?!!!) then surely you are approaching everything from 100% the wrong direction ?!!! Good that you you do have an open mind though - hope whatever works out works out for the best. geoff |
#9
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
Tobiah wrote:
Why do you feel the need change change your computer (a downgrade in this particularÂ* model instance) that may render your current software unusable, or at least complicated to get it to work. Mostly because it's a Unix system.Â* I'm a programmer by trade, and I spend a lot of time on the command line.Â* I dual boot Linux and live there for anything except music.Â* I banged my heart at Linux audio for enough years.Â* I spent all my time configuring and none creating. Also my favorite interface is not yet supported. So I use Cygwin on Windows to get a decent shell, but it's a band-aid on a band-aid.Â* I wanted to be on a Unix OS where I'm comfy, with real audio support. Well, it's emerging. I use UinxUtils and Mingw on a Windows box my own self; it's good enough. At work, I too use cygwin and it's definitely good enough. Also, a couple of fellow developers at work are Mac heads and I've seen them use them for years. I found that it looked like an attractive alternative. The bang for buck is still strongly with Wintel. I can't tell if Mac is truly more seamless for audio. For say, $1200 you can build a machine that's nearly too much machine. And you can knock that down and still have a respectable machine. Hang out on PcPartPicker a bit. And there's always Hackintosh. I do see people on the Reaper Reddit using Reaper on Mac. At that point, why bother? Now, I also wanted a seamless audio production experience.Â* I'll take into account some of the comments that have been made here. -- Les Cargill |
#10
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
Try it. It won't cost you anything to try it since you already have it.
You might like it. I do; I think the bash command language is a whole hell of a lot nicer than Powershell, and it makes it very easy to do operations like batch normalizing and batch resampling files when you're trying to get large projects done, or ship out a lot of slightly different demos of a project. If you don't like it, by all means sell it. The Apple thing is that it's a closed platform, so you pay more money, but you know the hardware will meet at least some basic minimal standard and if something goes wrong the hardware and software people can't point fingers at one another because they are one and the same. I like the Apple OS a lot more than Windows, but then I spend most of my time on the command line. Your mileage may differ, and it won't cost you any money to find out. At the very least trying it out will let you get some basic operating skill so that when you're in some studio with an Apple you won't be at a loss. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#11
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
Scott Dorsey wrote:
Try it. It won't cost you anything to try it since you already have it. You might like it. I do; I think the bash command language is a whole hell of a lot nicer than Powershell, and it makes it very easy to do operations like batch normalizing and batch resampling files when you're trying to get large projects done, or ship out a lot of slightly different demos of a project. If you don't like it, by all means sell it. The Apple thing is that it's a closed platform, so you pay more money, but you know the hardware will meet at least some basic minimal standard and if something goes wrong the hardware and software people can't point fingers at one another because they are one and the same. I like the Apple OS a lot more than Windows, but then I spend most of my time on the command line. Your mileage may differ, and it won't cost you any money to find out. Have you tried Cygwin on Windows at all? It's not 100% but it's close. At the very least trying it out will let you get some basic operating skill so that when you're in some studio with an Apple you won't be at a loss. --scott -- Les Cargill |
#12
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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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 |
#13
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
On 04/06/2020 06:33, Phil W wrote:
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. Many years ago, when they introduced Vista, Microsloshed introduced the Windows Driver Model, which gave all drivers a stable, documented way to interact with the operating system. Any WDM compatible driver will work with any version later than XP. The only problem is that Windows 10 likes to see a "signed" driver, which early ones are no, but this is easily circumvented. I'm not going to admit to using a couple of XP drivers for obscure Windows 98 stuff which just happened to work under Vista, because I got rid of that interface a while ago. I am still running a PC which was originally delivered with XP installed, then updated to Vista, and when I finally installed Windows 10, and told it to accept unsigned drivers, all the Vista ones worked, even the fingerprint sensor. Nor am I going to brag about finding a way to run some games that were originally written to run under Windows 3.0. 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. This. You also won't have to learn how to work a computer all over again. -- Tciao for Now! John. |
#14
Posted to rec.audio.pro
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Keep the Mac or eBay it?
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 I just went through an upgrade. Wintel, not Mac. The critical things a SSD and lots of RAM. 8GB RAM is respectable; 16 GB is better. Not all SSD are now created equal - I got a Samsung EVO 970, which uses a NVMe PCIe M.2 interface, so it's 30 times faster than SATA. This is a massive upgrade. Had I gone AMD instead of Intel, I probably could have save a couple hundred on it. It's now a quiet enough machine to track acoustic in the same space. A new Mac Mini is around a respectable $800. Not ... too bad, but as the usual, you can get twice the hardware with Windows. -- Les Cargill |
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