Mac mini

[Gloomy]

Hi guys,

Since I'm using Cubase sx3 for some weeks now on my intel laptop, I've been looking for a better solution. A laptop is a pain in the ass for recording, and btw, it's my only computer I have (so I'm doing internet things as well with it).

So time for a second machine. As Mac is very popular in the music producing world, I've been looking around for a while but facing that MACs are quite expensive. Untill I discovered the 'Mac Mini'. That small box contains a powerbook G4 1,25 Ghz or 1,42 Ghz processor, so it seems like it is powerfull enough to handle music production (if you realize that guys as Pole Folder made tracks like 'dust' with a G4 733 Mhz).

Do some of you guys have experience with the Mac Mini? Are there major drawbacks I should know about? Is it worth buying, or is this box just a commercial stunt?

Greetz,

Gloomy

[Caley Martin]

or you can get the intel versions, core solo 1.5 or core duo 1.67, optical audio I/O, serial ata hard disk, etc...

[jeffrey collins]

get yourself an Imac g5 version, you can buy them for 7-900$ on ebay and they usually always come with more ram than you get in it's basic form. That computer should last you quite a while in your productions.

[khilla]

i dunno man.. but i wouldn't go that way. If ur gonna buy a mac then go G5.

it looks nice and all but not my cup of tea. I like big solid cases with soundproofing and good airflow/silentfans. if something breaks i just open the case get the broken part out, etc ... same when i want to upgrade my ram or something else ...
i don't think thats possible with a mini mac.

[Caley Martin]

The Mac mini core duo shits all over the iMac G5... and depending what generation iMac G5 you have, it's not that easy to get into to swap parts out. The only version that was easy was the first generation, once they released the iMac G5s with iSights built in, opening the case was a fucking nightmare... the only user accessible slot was the memory. The Mac mini may be smaller but it is a hell of a lot easier to open up and work with than the iMac G5s of yesteryear. Even the Intel iMacs are still a bitch to service.

If you are looking to get a mac at a good price, but performance value, the core duo Mac mini may be the option for you. You get up to 2GBs of RAM, 80 GB serial ATA hard disk, optical/analog audio I/O, dual layer DVD burning, and not to mention dual processing all for $799 and even less if you are educator/student...

The only drawbacks you may encounter are if you want to add PCI cards... you can't since it's a small closed system... there are four USB 2.0 ports and a FireWire port for expansion however, and nowadays most PCI cards have USB/FireWire equivalents in functionality.

Hate to sound like a damn commercial here, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents on the matter.

[groffhibbitz]

hey Gloomy, check out this review:

[Only registered and activated users can see links]-1189

also this site in general has good info.

It seems that the mac mini would be a good choice for music produciton/ ableton live use. I know they just came out with a version of Live for the Intel Mac.

Also, I heard Apple are soon releasing a new Macbook (cheaper version of macbook pro) you might want to keep your eyes out for that.

[Caley Martin]

the MacBook is now out...

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[miketpoto]

I'd go macbook if I were you. Plus it's Shiny!

[jeffrey collins]

and aparently you can get it in black too.

I still wanna get a g5imac

[miketpoto]

and aparently you can get it in black too.

I still wanna get a g5imac


Jeffrey.... go with a portable for the love of god... don't anchor yourself down... being able to work on music in almost any setting (let alone being able to bring it to gigs for added musical enjoyment etc.) is such a creatively empowering thing I really must encourage you to look at the specs for the macbooks and decide why you would want to go with a now outdated processor that is quite a champ but pales in comparison to the speed of this macbook pro that is on my lap.

I would actually prefer a man on my lap, or to be the lapdog of satan... one of those... yeah.

[Caley Martin]

Not to mention all the new systems being released, except for one version, are dual core. That alone shits over the single core iMac G5.

[miketpoto]

What he said

[jeffrey collins]

yeah but with a laptop i can only get 4500 rpm HDD and with a imac i get 7200RMP HDD so that helps better with production. Maybe if they made a mac with a 7200HDD i'd get one. plus I've almost got the money to buy a brand new imac g5 that my friends dad has and we're gonna stick the 2 gig's of ram in it....well. i may go buy the new imac but i wanna make sure my programs will run with it.

[NewSc2]

yeah but with a laptop i can only get 4500 rpm HDD and with a imac i get 7200RMP HDD so that helps better with production. Maybe if they made a mac with a 7200HDD i'd get one. plus I've almost got the money to buy a brand new imac g5 that my friends dad has and we're gonna stick the 2 gig's of ram in it....well. i may go buy the new imac but i wanna make sure my programs will run with it.

You can swap out the MacBook's hard drive for a 7200rpm one, and regardless, most pro producers use an external hard drive for recording anyways, and they're pretty cheap.

Honestly though, if you go to anywhere with benchmarks, like Ableton's forum or Logic's forum (ableton.com or support.apple.com/logic) you will see that the Duo Core is really gangster.

The MacBook Pro is basically comparable with the Dual G5 PowerMac for Logic, and for Ableton Live the Core Duo is *faster* than the Dual G5.

[Caley Martin]

^^ what he said

[jeffrey collins]

i would not use an external HD for recording. Only for the finished product to keep on an extra HD and not use up all the available space on my main HD. You use THAT space for the actual recording.

[Caley Martin]

I record on my 12 in. PowerBook (4200 rpm HD) using Soundtrack Pro, and the recordings are flawless each time... but I would want a faster drive in the case of rendering and editing the waveform.

[jeffrey collins]

i've never heard of that program. i wouldn't mind getting a macbookpro, but right now i think i don't wanna have to spend that much just yet on a laptop.

[miketpoto]

i would not use an external HD for recording. Only for the finished product to keep on an extra HD and not use up all the available space on my main HD. You use THAT space for the actual recording.

Actually kids, you want to minimize any high bitrate realtime capturing and recording to your system drive (main hard drive with OS on it). If you keep your free space at 35% or more of the total drive size you should be ok to do this with audio (but video needs more room).

Reason being this, as your HD gets fuller the files get more fragmented and if you keep it pretty full all the time, you are going to get more and more corrupted files, and eventually (this does happen kinda often) you will begin to have files written over important system files because there's not big enough empty spaces left to capture live.... and then your OS is fucked and you can't boot. This is a bad thing.

[Caley Martin]

its like trying to pass a kidney stone through your urethra

[Gloomy]

Hey guys, thanks for all your replies. In the meanwhile, I haven't bought a new comp yet, but I've become wiser by reading stuff on the steinberg website and a lot of CPU comparison sites. Conclusion: MAC isn't the one and only machine anymore for music production. Dual Core CPU's for PC seem to pay off. Ok, there's the competition between intel and amd, but when it comes to dual cores, amd seem to be the best of the two. With the the 4400 X2, you get best bang for your bucks. So I think I've finally made up my decision.

So my next salary over a few weeks is already reserved ;)

[jeffrey collins]

whatever goes down, at least you're beginning your wonderful journey of being a dance music composer. and great for you. it truly is the real only way to get known these days. you just can't be a killer dj anymore.

[Caley Martin]

hmmm, not to stir much shit, but Intel's Core 2 shits all over AMD's offerrings... and you can expect to see those in upcoming Apple products.

[Gloomy]

whatever goes down, at least you're beginning your wonderful journey of being a dance music composer. and great for you. it truly is the real only way to get known these days. you just can't be a killer dj anymore.

well I have been composing dance music for a longer time, but only recently, I opened my mind for software. I have been a hardware addict for far too long, untill a friend of me (frontman of 'heyaeb'), told me that I was crazy not to use music production software. Since then, I can't do without anymore. Here's one of my first tracks I made with my laptop (my temporary production solution):

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

it's a cheesy trance remix of Gabriel & Dresden - tracking treasure down. Yes cheezy trance, I'm sorry hehe.

hmmm, not to stir much shit, but Intel's Core 2 shits all over AMD's offerrings... and you can expect to see those in upcoming Apple products.

The reason why apple choose for intel dual cores is power consumption ... the weak point of amd processors, but essential for mobile applications (still a growing market). As I will be using a desktop, power consumption is not my first matter (as long as I don't have interference with other devices). I choose for amd because different comparison tests on dual cores proved amd to give the best performance.

Oh well, the fact that there are some much discussions about this topic, means that both intel and amd must have decent stuff in store? :)

[Caley Martin]

The reason why apple choose for intel dual cores is power consumption ... the weak point of amd processors, but essential for mobile applications (still a growing market). As I will be using a desktop, power consumption is not my first matter (as long as I don't have interference with other devices). I choose for amd because different comparison tests on dual cores proved amd to give the best performance.

Hmmm. Power consumption yes, but the Core 2 comes in a variety of flavors though. There is a Core 2 for the mobile environment (Merom), the desktop environment (Conroe) and the server environment (Woodcrest). Regardless of power consumption, the Core 2 still gets more performance when pitted against AMD. Have you checked out the stats on the Conroe and Woodcrest chips? From the tests I have seen, they blow even OC'd AMD chips completely out of the water. And one test was even optimized for the AMD chip and not the Core 2... :shock:

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

AMD has some fierce competition if they wish to expand that, what, 17% marketshare? There was a time when AMD chips shat all over Intel's offerings, but times are changing pretty fast IMO. :!:

And I still think there is more value in going with purchasing an Apple computer. It's not overrated or cliche to be into dance music production and having an Apple. There is a reason for that. Just wait until products ship with the Core 2 chip and see what they are like. coughaugustorsoonercoughcough...

[jeffrey collins]

Well i think there's a money issue into it also. Don't let Apple think they did all this just for computing power.

[Caley Martin]

Well I am sure there is profit involved, if that is what you are referencing, but it's up and up for Apple to use the Intel chips... the PPC was stagnating and dead in the water. So if you make money as a result of a better chip resulting in a better product for the consumer, so be it! That's business.

[jeffrey collins]

IBM is working right now on a chip that is supposed to be a hell of a lot faster than what Intel has out there right now. I read about it in some magazine...can't remember right now.

[Caley Martin]

A little too late. Hah, they hedged their bets with the Cell processing for the game consoles. Fuck 'em.

[jeffrey collins]

Oh well. Screw IBM anyway. They have been in the dark ages of tech for so long now.

BTW. I am in the process of saving up my money to buy a 20" Imac. And I'm looking forward to working with it. Then I think i'm gonna get that new MOTU half rack soundcard to go with it.