Mac Mini Upgrade With Pro Tools 7 And Reason 4? Options

[j_grim14]

Hey there folks,

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with a little problem I'm having. Here's my setup:

Mac Mini 1.42 GHz with 1 GB of RAM (running Tiger 10.4.9)
Pro Tools LE 7.3.1 with an Mbox 2
Reason 4

I had a feeling this setup was going to be a bit weak, but I got the Mac at a good deal from a friend who switched to an iMac. Needless to say, it can't handle more than one or two Pro Tools plug-ins, and it struggles when Reason is slaved through rewire.

My question is will the newer 2.0 GHz Intel Mac Mini (upgraded to 2 GB RAM) be able to handle up to 24 tracks with plug-ins and run rewire without crashing? I'm living in Korea for about a year to a year and a half, so I don't want to sink any money into an iMac that's gonna cost a fortune to ship back to Canada. A new Mac Mini would be the most practical option for me, if it can handle these tasks reasonably well.

Does anyone have any experience with the Intel Mac Minis?

[gdoubleyou]

I have a 1.83GHz core duo, and a 2.2GHz black Macbook.

From the comparisons I've seen Logic is the most effecient Mac DAW, CPU drain with PTLE will be 10-15% more.

The current Minis are about 25-30% more powerful than my machine.

There is also a Mini mod movement, where people are upgrading CPUs and bringing the SATA connection outside of the box for eSATA drives.

http://www.123macmini.com/

[j_grim14]

Cool - so do you think there would be much difference between the 1.83 GHz and the 2.0 GHz minis? I'd be able to save myself $200 if the 1.83 GHz would be sufficient. Obviously the 2.0 would be quicker, but I can't record more than 2 tracks at once, so my needs are relatively simple. Thanks.