New iMac dual HD as complete music comp?

[earthloop]

Hi.
I am struggling with a dilemma and need advice from those of you who have more experience than I when it comes to computers for music production.

I am interested in getting a new iMac and I have considered the two HD option in the 27" quadcore i7, and this is where I need advice. I have enough money to buy this but it is a lot of money, especially when it seems that important new technologies are just around the corner: tech. like lightpeak (optical interface for peripheral devices like external hard drives, audio interfaces etc etc.)

My main question is this: would the two internal H/drives (1 or 2 Terabyte 7200 + , say, a 256 Gig SSD cover all my needs for storing and using music apps, sample libraries AND recording? This would resolve my paranoia re lack of enough fast connections for external devices etc. Could I, for instance, use the large 7200 drive for storing sample libraries AND recording to? The SSD would contain applications/ soft synths and the like. Would this work? ...or have I got this wrong?

I am currently on a mac (2009 MBP 2.66 with a 5400 rpm HD) and I am using Logic, Pro Tools (which presents its own problems) and Live, + NI Komplete etc. I also play guitar and piano and intent to record these + vocals and am looking at using sample libraries extensively for future film and TV work.

Thanks in advance

[mihai]

that would definitely be a power machine and a good investment i'd say unless you want those 8/12 cores and a monster tower in the room. technology is improving, sure, but this should last you for many years. you don't need to upgrade all of your software or hardware to the newest version every year if what you've got works well which should render your investment more time-proof.

best of luck.

[m.nash]

i7's are tight, check the bunchmarks on geekbench. I would stay focused on the limited expandability. No PCI, limited firewire etc. Not a deal breaker for many though, and plug-ins are bumpin' these days.

The other thing I've heard are complaints about long-term usage due to overheating/airflow issues. Like if you're maxing out the system/processors 8-10 hours a day making music etc., then you might find yourself running into issues over the next 1-3 years.

That's why for expandability and heavy usage the tower's are recommended.

One final thing, is it is common to buy 2006-2008 mac pro's for good prices these days. My friend and I both bought the 2006 model for cheap and then upgraded the CPU to 8-core. After the upgrade, the final cost came out to ~$2k CAD, with 12 gigs of ram, 2 HD (one 10k rpm), 8 cores of 2.4 ghz, upgraded video card, etc.

The biggest loss here is that display , but at least I can run dual if I every wanted.

[steko]

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/iMac_2010_27

[Rave]

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/iMac_2010_27

Ftw. FYI I have the latest i7 with 8gb of ram, it rox

[earthloop]

Thanks mihai and m.nash

i7's are tight, check the bunchmarks on geekbench. I would stay focused on the limited expandability. No PCI, limited firewire etc. Not a deal breaker for many though, and plug-ins are bumpin' these days.

Yeah, the 'expandability' is an issue. The reason I asked the question was all about whether the two hard drives were enough to cover everything like apps, samples and recording. The SSD will be great for O.S., soft synths, other apps etc but too small for all the sample libraries. Can you use the one drive (the larger 7200 ) for both samples AND recording?

The other thing I've heard are complaints about long-term usage due to overheating/airflow issues. Like if you're maxing out the system/processors 8-10 hours a day making music etc., then you might find yourself running into issues over the next 1-3 years.

That's why for expandability and heavy usage the tower's are recommended.

One final thing, is it is common to buy 2006-2008 mac pro's for good prices these days. My friend and I both bought the 2006 model for cheap and then upgraded the CPU to 8-core. After the upgrade, the final cost came out to ~$2k CAD, with 12 gigs of ram, 2 HD (one 10k rpm), 8 cores of 2.4 ghz, upgraded video card, etc.

We just don't get recent used Mac Pros at those prices down here in australia, unfortunately!

The biggest loss here is that display , but at least I can run dual if I every wanted.

Yeah, that is one of the big attractions of the 27" iMac. But then, dual displays would be cool!


Oh well ... decision, decisions! This is driving me nuts. It is an important decision because while I said I can afford this, it is ALL I can afford and it will have to last at least 3 years!

[earthloop]

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/iMac_2010_27

Oops...thanks steko. Hard to keep up ! But I am in Australia...are the Mac computer power supplies universal? And I can buy at cheaper than normal academic through SAE here. But having said that I like the OWC options.

[earthloop]

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/iMac_2010_27

Ftw. FYI I have the latest i7 with 8gb of ram, it rox

Thanks Rave!

[White_Rabbit]

I've been looking at the new MBP and doing some research on different options which might be relevant to you. OSX doesn't currently support TRIM commands for SSD which means disks that rely on it to maintain write performance require a 'recondition' command via something like DiskTester http://diglloydtools.com/disktester.html. One SSD that dooesn't rely on the TRIM command apparently is OWC Mercury Extreme Pro http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20 ... /SSDMX240/.

Two articles that were interesting about SSDs in Macs are http://www.barefeats.com/imac10d.html and http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld.html

Personally I would buy the imac with 2TB and get the SSD separate to install myself because SSD is really about performance to me so I want the best within reason and also Apple tend to charge a premium for extras eg ram.
Also check out refurbished store to see if they have the config u want http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/s ... s/mac/imac Might be cheaper than edu discount

In terms of deciding how much hdd space you use for different things, WhatSize http://www.id-design.com/software/whatsize/ is helpful for seeing what u currently use and I'm sure u can find the full version if u know where to look, if not Finder-Get Info works. Always expect to use more than expected. Bill Gates once said "640K ought to be enough for anybody."

[Saxer]

recording and samples libraries on one drive: depends on what you do.

if you do big orchestral arrangements with lot of streaming or using the big natives 60s-drums, grand pianos etc. the drive can become too slow when you want to record a lot of audiotracks at the same time. and the need of streaming depends on ram in the mac. but you can solve the problem in adding an extra external drive for recording and songs.
you need external drives for backups anyway.

if you do just midi with au-instruments, one drive is enough. if you just load "normal sized" sample instruments of a few hundered mb, it´s fast enough anyway.

[v0ins315]

I have enough money to buy this

What's your address?

[earthloop]

recording and samples libraries on one drive: depends on what you do.

if you do big orchestral arrangements with lot of streaming or using the big natives 60s-drums, grand pianos etc. the drive can become too slow when you want to record a lot of audiotracks at the same time. and the need of streaming depends on ram in the mac. but you can solve the problem in adding an extra external drive for recording and songs.
you need external drives for backups anyway.

if you do just midi with au-instruments, one drive is enough. if you just load "normal sized" sample instruments of a few hundered mb, it´s fast enough anyway.

Thanks Saxer! That is the issue I was asking about.

What about putting sample libraries, etc on the same internal drive as the O.S. and applications, then using an external hard drive to record to? This would simplify the setup as the issue with the iMac is only one fast I/O port. (FW 800) for the audio interface and the ext. HD (daisychained ?)

At the moment I have Logic and Pro Tools 8 LE plus N.I Komplete 6, Live Suite 8, N.I. Maschine (ver. 1.5), and I will probably add an orchestral library of some sort later. I don't need any more than that really. The rest is recording guitar, piano and vocals. I want to process and mix ITB.

[earthloop]

I have enough money to buy this

What's your address?

LOL! If you are a girl and good looking I might tell you!

[RoCi]

get those super computers daft punk has

[chimee]

i7's are tight, check the bunchmarks on geekbench. I would stay focused on the limited expandability. No PCI, limited firewire etc. Not a deal breaker for many though, and plug-ins are bumpin' these days.

The other thing I've heard are complaints about long-term usage due to overheating/airflow issues. Like if you're maxing out the system/processors 8-10 hours a day making music etc., then you might find yourself running into issues over the next 1-3 years.

That's why for expandability and heavy usage the tower's are recommended.

One final thing, is it is common to buy 2006-2008 mac pro's for good prices these days. My friend and I both bought the 2006 model for cheap and then upgraded the CPU to 8-core. After the upgrade, the final cost came out to ~$2k CAD, with 12 gigs of ram, 2 HD (one 10k rpm), 8 cores of 2.4 ghz, upgraded video card, etc.

The biggest loss here is that display , but at least I can run dual if I every wanted.

Just curious. Can I do the Mac Pro upgrade by way of DIY (do-it-yourself)? I just got a 2008 Macbook Pro I would want to upgrade to i7 and will seriously need some help. I've been fixing computers for a living since 1998 but not Macs. I do music stuff on the side.

Thanks a bundle.
OGB