What spec iMac to get?

I

Ian_x

Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2008
Location
Manchester
Afternoon all, thinking of getting an iMac to work on Ableton for producing and was wondering what spec people would recommend pls. Pretty sure the lowest ones would be fine but has anyone used them and found they strain at all. I am really only a beginner out so not going to need to be recording full vocal tracks with loads of audio (maybe in the future!?) I could probably afford the entry level one in a month or so but would need quite a few months to get the top spec but is it worth it?

Cheers
 
I would definitely make sure you get an ssd. When ur working with a lot of audio files a normal hard drive is annoyingly slow.

also plenty of ram never hurts :)
 
The entry level iMac seems pretty good for your purposes.. getting a ssd drive is not worth it yet so I wouldn't recommend getting that...
Quad-core, 4gb+ ram, 500gb+ hdd is good enough though you could get +4gb ram for 160 extra quid

up to you really, though the entry level mac gets the job done nicely
 
I'd go for a 21,5" imac instead of a 27" , this cuts in the price and I personally think the 27" screen is not handy to work with. I would order a personalized iMac though, definitely put more ram in it (8GB), take an i7 processor and as t0rben said an ssd + a 1tb HDD. If you just take the basic model you don't have top of the line specs and will probably have to renew your iMac sooner. All of the stuff above is not essential, it would do just fine without it, but it's all a matter of whether you want to put much money in it right now or spend less money now, but upgrade over the years coming.
 
just buy a laptop or pc, for what you spend on the entry level imac you could get a good spec pc
 
Ian_x said:
Will always be a mac man, thanks Scotty
Click to expand...

but you're using ableton? theres only one word that justifies using a mac for music production, logic.

Seriously dude if you want a futureproof rig for ableton you can get something approximately twice as powerful in PC form for the same price as the cheapest iMac, I'm talking 8gb of ram, i7 and an ssd to boot
 
imacs are out of date nowadays,

if you really want to get into production you need to get one of these bad boys,
gives you the old analog warmth..


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Dom!Reavers! said:
but you're using ableton? theres only one word that justifies using a mac for music production, logic.

Seriously dude if you want a futureproof rig for ableton you can get something approximately twice as powerful in PC form for the same price as the cheapest iMac, I'm talking 8gb of ram, i7 and an ssd to boot
Click to expand...

I have used Logic a bit then started playing around with Ableton recently and found the workflow for me a lot better. I like how fast you can get sketches & ideas running and then just record an arrangement quickly, just personal preference I guess. And with the Mac thing I have used them for years and don't think I could ever change, again just personal preference. I don't mind waiting another month or so to afford the Mac over PC.

Thanks for all the replies! :)
 
I would advise you to get a pc and run OS X on it (as you're a mac man)

You can use the extra money you save on a one button mouse, some White paint and some apple decals
 
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