iMac for music production

Philtheguitar

Hi all,
I need a new computer soon as my old macbook Pro is nearly dead (mid 2009 so has done me proud!). 
I'm seriously thinking about getting an iMac. 
Will be looking at used machines to save money. 
Any you would recommend or that I should avoid? 
Basically looking for some advice etc before I pull the trigger on a lemon!

Thank you 

theatreanchor

Don’t think you can go wrong with a new well specced out mac. Used to get mine here : https://store.jigsaw24.com/apple/apple-deals

Axe_meister

Going for a second hand intel based Mac mini would be false economy, how much longer will it be supported from an OS point of view.
At some point in the bearish future M2 iMac's will hit the market, so wait until then when M1 versions hit the market.
However I'd go with an apple silicon Mac mini, just make sure you specify a minimum of 16GB of memory.

hollywoodrox

I’ve got a 2015 iMac at present and previously a 2012  eBay has some deals if you’re patient and places on the net like Macfinder  I think it was Kittyfrisk who I got a lot of help from regarding affordable Mac’s and Danny1969 is a mine of information as he works on them all the time 

thermionic

The M1 iMac has been the same for 18 months or more but an M2 or M3 update is expected very soon. I recently bought a Macbook Air as a stopgap and from my research the jump in performance between M1 and M2 is hard to justify as the M1 is powerful enough. Spend the money on maxing out the RAM and SSD.

Rich31k

If your budgets can stretch, Costco have this at the moment. Seems a decent price. 

https://www.costco.co.uk/c/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Apple-M1-Pro-Chip-10-Core-CPU-16-Core-GPU-16GB-RAM-512GB-SSD-16-Inch-in-Silver-MK1E3BA/p/346525

Or this Mac Studio from Argos. 

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1958508?clickSR=slp:term:mac%20studio:1:234:1

Both expensive, but good value compared to the new price. 

I’m struggling to decide between them. 

Danny1969

I use iMacs for pretty much everything, I have 4 of them around the house. They are particularly good for music IMHO, to the extent I wouldn't bother buying the latest M models unless you are tracking huge projects or using a lot of resource hungry VI's. I did a album in 2020 to 2021 on a 2007 iMac with 6Gb ram and Protools 8  ...  and while I wouldn't recommend anyone use something like that now it might shine a light on how little processing power tracking music actually requires,  and how missguided opinions are when it comes to spec';ing machines for home project studios. 

You will find a huge different between the performance of your old core 2 2009 Macbook and a quad core Imac from 2013 onwards. If you go for something like a 2016 quad core with 16Gb ram then I doubt you will run out of power. 

A lot of iMacs have been upgraded with SSD's ... and this is a good thing is done correctly but a lot haven't been. When an SSD is fitted in place of the iMacs original drive a sensor is no longer present leading to the SMC unable to read the HD's temperature.  So after a while the fans will kick in at full pelt which is noisy and annoying when doing music production. If the upgrade was done correctly then a third party SATA adapter would have been fitted and it won't be an issue. 

Any reasonably competent person can upgrade one of these machines themselves and I have written out exactly how to do it and what parts you need in our Community Repair thread on here. 

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/192351/the-community-repair-thread/p8

You can of course just go with the fitted normal HD / Fusion drive and track to an external drive. It's not essential to have an internal SSD. 

Budget wise a used 2016 ish quad core iMac would probably be about £500 ish 

 

Philtheguitar

Wow thank you @Danny1969 for such a detailed and helpful reply.

Thanks everyone for your advice. 
I think an imac is the way for me

thermionic

One potential problem with older iMacs is that you won’t be able to upgrade to the latest OS. This causes big problems for me because I also can’t use a recent version of Logic and the version I’m stuck at doesn’t work when it comes to sending MIDI to my synths. It works perfectly as expected on my M2 Macbook Air, which runs the latest OS and Logic.

Admittedly this is an extreme example as my iMac is a mid-2011 model and you might be fine with a more recent one.

Philtheguitar

Good point @thermionic - my 2009 macbook Pro has multiple issues now given it's ancient OS

Axe_meister

Check which iMacs let you upgrade RAM. When the really slim x86 based iMacs came in, it was only the 27" models that let you upgrade RAM.

Nerine

After using a Mac Mini, and now a 27” iMac, I’d probably go Mac Studio or specced out Mac Mini. 

Philtheguitar

Nerine said:

After using a Mac Mini, and now a 27” iMac, I’d probably go Mac Studio or specced out Mac Mini. 

How come?

Snap

just a thought, but have you ruled out a PC instead of a Mac?

Stratavarious

New Mac mini with a dock.   If you already have a monitor it’s a no brainer really cost wise.

octatonic

I would currently avoid anything Intel unless you have a specific requirement for one.

Used 2021 Mac Studio is going to be the best option for most people if you can afford it.
Bags of power and you will get 5+ years out of it.

Mac Mini is always under specced in terms of ports, RAM and drive space.
Once you spec it out properly (32GB, 1TB, faster processor) you might as well buy the Studio.

Buying a new base Mini is almost always a mistake, if not now then in 2 years time when it is out of grunt/space/RAM.

If you just want something to record audio and aren't interested in virtual instruments, video editing or being current then pretty much any Mac from the last 10 years will do it. 

You can buy yourself a lot of time by learning how to backup, format and reinstall.
A fresh OS with the data put back is often the best way to get another year or so out of an old machine.
More people should do it.

Placidcasual79

Hey @Philtheguitar - I hope you don't mind if I ask a slightly different question..... I have a MacBook Pro. I've had it nearly 3 years.  I bought it with the intention of transitioning from my old digital 8 track to Logic Pro or garage band. I am ashamed i have been too lazy to make the transition and continue to stick with the familiar though restrictive 8 track.....

Anyway what I wanted to ask was why you said your Mac is on the way out..... how can you tell?  Can you fight it?
thanks 

Philtheguitar

octatonic said:

I would currently avoid anything Intel unless you have a specific requirement for one.

Used 2021 Mac Studio is going to be the best option for most people if you can afford it.
Bags of power and you will get 5+ years out of it.

Mac Mini is always under specced in terms of ports, RAM and drive space.
Once you spec it out properly (32GB, 1TB, faster processor) you might as well buy the Studio.

Buying a new base Mini is almost always a mistake, if not now then in 2 years time when it is out of grunt/space/RAM.

If you just want something to record audio and aren't interested in virtual instruments, video editing or being current then pretty much any Mac from the last 10 years will do it. 

You can buy yourself a lot of time by learning how to backup, format and reinstall.
A fresh OS with the data put back is often the best way to get another year or so out of an old machine.
More people should do it.

Thank you for taking the time to write this. I'll look into the options - I seem to do better when I'm dealing with audio, so don;t need oodles of power for libraries etc - I like to play in my stuff from hardware.

Philtheguitar

Placidcasual79 said:

Hey @Philtheguitar - I hope you don't mind if I ask a slightly different question..... I have a MacBook Pro. I've had it nearly 3 years.  I bought it with the intention of transitioning from my old digital 8 track to Logic Pro or garage band. I am ashamed i have been too lazy to make the transition and continue to stick with the familiar though restrictive 8 track.....

Anyway what I wanted to ask was why you said your Mac is on the way out..... how can you tell?  Can you fight it?
thanks 

Hey @Placidcasual79 - great question.
Those that know me will know that I am the kind of person to keep hold of things until the TRULY need replacing - I'm not the guy who has to have the latest phone, latest computer etc.
My MacBook has served me very well for the almost 15 years I've had it. However, the OS is no longer supported in many regards, so I can;t update certain apps, resulting in sluggish internet browsing, unable to update to later versions of my DAW etc etc.

I've had a SSD fitted (500GB) whuch has kept it in the game, so I'm still happily able to produce music, but the limitations of my machine are very apparent when I use it.

Placidcasual79

Philtheguitar said:

Placidcasual79 said:

Hey @Philtheguitar - I hope you don't mind if I ask a slightly different question..... I have a MacBook Pro. I've had it nearly 3 years.  I bought it with the intention of transitioning from my old digital 8 track to Logic Pro or garage band. I am ashamed i have been too lazy to make the transition and continue to stick with the familiar though restrictive 8 track.....

Anyway what I wanted to ask was why you said your Mac is on the way out..... how can you tell?  Can you fight it?
thanks 

Hey @Placidcasual79 - great question.
Those that know me will know that I am the kind of person to keep hold of things until the TRULY need replacing - I'm not the guy who has to have the latest phone, latest computer etc.
My MacBook has served me very well for the almost 15 years I've had it. However, the OS is no longer supported in many regards, so I can;t update certain apps, resulting in sluggish internet browsing, unable to update to later versions of my DAW etc etc.

I've had a SSD fitted (500GB) whuch has kept it in the game, so I'm still happily able to produce music, but the limitations of my machine are very apparent when I use it.

Thats really interesting - thanks @Philtheguitar - I very much appreciate your keep it until it can't go on stance. The disposable culture of today is harmful and unsustainable...... it's the sort of context that makes it hard to dismiss claims that some products have built in obsoletion (though I am not smart enough to really determine these things)

So your Mac was notably slower and unable to accommodate or comply with updates? Did you feel fitting the SSD was helpful? Sounds like a good move..... would you mind telling me roughly how much something like that might cost?

swiller

Lots depends on what you are doing. 
Own a M1 pro 14 inch 16gb/512ssd base model. - Loads more than i need using lots of tracks/plugins etc.
Also M2 Air base model - holds up surprisingly well vs the pro and loads handles everything i do on the pro. With lots more hours use, its battery life remains at 100%, wheras the pro is 85%. Both similar age. So longevity, with no fans, less to go wrong i suspect ill get another 10yrs+ out of mine.

I would deffo go M chip whatever you do. M1 air base 2020 is sweet spot imho as has 2 sticks of SSD meaning very quick disk speeds and 849 brand new today at currys, so second hand values represent good bargains for what you get.
Similarly M2 air or M1 pro 14 inch also very good second hand bargains imho. Both way more than you need imho, the screen on the m1 pro is truly stunning. 

With both , a cheap s/h monitor will do the job if you prefer a seperate bigger screen.