Ableton Forum

I need to upgrade my powerbook but cannot afford the new powerbooks. I was looking at the imacs. they look pretty powerful and good price. i know that upgrading is limited but I have never upgraded a computer and all my hardware - audio midi hard drives are external.
So my question. Is the imac suitable for music use with Ableton and I also use Reaktor and NI stuff.
any experiences.
ta
z

zenke wrote:I need to upgrade my powerbook but cannot afford the new powerbooks. I was looking at the imacs. they look pretty powerful and good price. i know that upgrading is limited but I have never upgraded a computer and all my hardware - audio midi hard drives are external.
So my question. Is the imac suitable for music use with Ableton and I also use Reaktor and NI stuff.
any experiences.
ta
z

If don't need mobility it's a good choice. Beware that as Leopard goes out iMac line could be renewed.

- Best
-Pasha

Not sure if its a good time to buy.
Go to http://www.macrumors.com/
They have a really good buying guide.
You dont want to end up with last years technology only 2 or 3 months after youve bought it.

Yup, all indications are that the iMac line will be updated in July or August. I think it's a really good choice price/performance-wise if:

1. Mobility is not an issue (even that could be debated).
2. You don't need PCI expansion slots.

I think the other possible option here is to pick up a close-out deal on the current line of iMacs when or just before the new ones are released. You'll just have to keep a close eye on the situation to see if the new design/features outweigh price cuts on the current line.

Thats very interesting. I will wait then. It sounds like this may be the path for me. I will keep my present powerbook which I can use if portable use is needed and look at the new imacs when they appear.
cheers guys
z

Well, due IMAC line its renewed soon, its tipical you found really low prices on current IMAC models 24" and 20"

I dont think they launch radical changes on new IMAC.

New changes on new IMACS:

NEW ANODIZED METALIC CASE LIKE MACBOOKS PRO
(i prefer plastic white case)

THE NEW CASE ITS SLIMED compared with current case.
New imac no have CHAIN, anyway on current models 24" the chain its ok
New Keyboard designed for IMAC.

IMPROVED WI-FI
(this change really not take a big adventage of wi-fi technology)
Just new Graphic Card NVIDIA
(if you work with 3d, video, card, you really take adventage of this new change or if plain install VISTA for the new games with DirectX 10 support, the new cards support DirectX 10)

The major improvent is, CPU, new imacs come with INTEL SANTAROSA 2.4 ghz or possible better speed.
Anyway that CPU change not is a big improvement compared with core 2 duo 2.33ghz.......
I not think they launch imac cuad core yet...... but can be possible !!

My sugestion is, just pickup new IMAC 24 with 2.33ghz at low price right now

If you plain buy your imac, for sell, after some months of usage...........you should wait for buy the new model launched in 3 weeks.

I really not think, they launch radical CHANGE on imac, ........if they do, i think they prepare more suspense situation, anyway...its apple...................so all its possible !!........but if you check the history of apple anuncements, when they plain introduce radical changes or really new product they make a lot of noise, and this time they saty under normal silence......

The Imacs are quite fine for Live, all the relevant points have already been touched on...

zenke wrote:I need to upgrade my powerbook but cannot afford the new powerbooks. I was looking at the imacs. they look pretty powerful and good price. i know that upgrading is limited but I have never upgraded a computer and all my hardware - audio midi hard drives are external.
So my question. Is the imac suitable for music use with Ableton and I also use Reaktor and NI stuff.
any experiences.
ta
z

If it matters, I have found the Macbook to work just fine and is pretty much right in the lower range of the iMac.

Mobility is really nice

20' and 24' are perfects for Live... but don't pay extra money for a 2.33ghz when 2.16 works great... except if you'll do some hard video editing or 3D animation. Instead max out RAM. that's what I've done 2 month ago= iMac 20' 2.16ghz 250Gb 3G Ram... and it's a bomb... no matter what I do in Live, it never touches 50% of cpu usage!!! And I use reaktor, a few reverbs, abl pro and all the stuff that before even with just one instance of it I had to freeze everytime!...
But, no portability, no slot for pci.
But hey, if there's another iMac coming up you could at least wait and see... I wouldn't buy a first generation iMac (if they change processor or something like that), but that's me except a quad one

Cheers


G.

and they are mobile. I lugged a 17" and a 20" around (at seperate times of course) for 3 years. to and from work. to and from friends. using an iLugger bag. those computers smoke. i am sure macbooks are ok but fuck that, get an imac. more power, more screen, better graphics, more hd, etc. they are great computers.

Dango have 100% reason!

I sell my IMAC 24" with the ilugger, buy MACBOOK PRO, and now plain sell my MACBOOK PRO and back to imac 24" or 20"

I really not like the macbook pro........
I travell a lot, and macbook pro the only one good point its the size, the rest i really love the IMAC.