Mini Mac - I Really Need Your Help Options

[pinnocio]

hellllo...
i'm very very new to mac, infact i don't know anything about them, only that i want one...
now i've been using PC all my life and i want to move into mac. This MAC mini sounds nice, and can fit to my budget, i can't afford much... now, so far i've been using sonar (which means now i'll be moving into D. Performer woohooo!) for film scoring and mainly MIDI productions, not dealing with audio that much.
ok sorry for saying that much, the question is -
i can afford the MAC mini 1.42, i'll add a pc2700 1 GB and a 160GB 7200 (8 cache) FIREWIRE hdd...
which means it'll be (in here) about - 1395$ more or less...
is it worth it? will it be strong enough for, lets say - loading a full orchestra (heavy samples) into kontakt?
well you get my point... it's worth it? i havn't got a clue in mac, none! hehehe
please... any1 thanks, Yoav

[lepetitmartien]

If you want to use heavy virtual synth (sampler in this case) you'll need RAM, and when I write RAM it's at least 1,5-2 GB. Mini is limited at 1GB, it can be enough for low end users, small set up, but for something serious…

Also Samplers are heavy jobs, the mini may not be the right direction. I'd look after some bipro G4 or upgradable mono G4 into bipro. You can pour RAM in them.

Jobs in midi, most plug-ins can do in the 1 GB limit, the power will limit you but it's in the league of ibooks, there are people out there using ibooks for audio. Check the threads on ibooks to have an idea of what is possible.

Also, if you plan using DP, Machfive may be a better choice.

I'm sure other users will give their opinion, I'm rather conservative on these issues.

[pinnocio]

well... first thanks for the reply

second, that all depends on what we take as serious, i mean, i don't sample stuff (instruments etc.)
i use AKAI and GIGA samples which loads with kontakt and that's it, plus plugins for fx and compression etc (which can be quite a few sometimes - but not THAT much), my VST instruments use is not massive, trilogy sometimes... few moogs (all the plugins and VST instruments are all software - vsts i mean, nothing is external except for the controller and the mixer).
so since i havn't got much money, and the whole thing as i said should cost me around 1200-1300$ in here (look at the first post), is it worth it? -> MAC mini 1.42 + 160GB FIREWIRE + 1GB RAM?
for MIDI based productions - AKAI and GIGA samples?
well, on my current PC, i run with 1GB of ram and i get good results, but still... i want more, and i heard mac can make more out of the CPU and the MEMORY... so what i'm asking (again) is, is it worth "upgrading" or moving into mac mini with the features i mentiond from my P4 2.4, 1GB RAM?
thanks again, waiting for reply

[Bossnikon]

Hey,

just my .02$.....I just recieved my Mac Mini yesterday (i preordered it 2 wks before it came out) any way ....I got the Mac Mini.,..1.4ghz, 512 ram and the 80g hard drive.....I also purchased the M-Audio firewire410.......In all honesty after having a countless # of windoze computers and using almost every audio app there is....this system is by far incredible....now being is I NEVER had a mac before I was a little nervous but after I loaded up Abelton Live....My fears were put to rest......I make hip hop music and can easily have 10 tracks (min) of just vocals and I did a quick recording yesterday and not one drop out or ANYTHING...Im still amazed!!!! I Officially will NEVER buy another windows compuer EVER AGAIN!!! I have now been converted!!!

[lepetitmartien]

pinnocio, maybe you'll stress the bounce option

RAM need is proportional to the banks used, if you're a light user, it could make the trick.

Is it me or Bossnikon is rather happy?
Welcome on board!

[shaneblyth]

I did the same but with a powerbook about 6 months ago
I totally agree.
you will find that an external firewire fast drive would be a great addition in the future.
I have a 200gig that I left formated at FAT32 so windows and mac can share it and also my Motif ES Keyboard can use it to store it's samples and song files etc on.
The MiniMac has a 4200rpm drive as my Powerbook does and this is probably the bottleneck in the system well at least for me anyway.
So consider the external drive for your audio sometime later down the track and it will speed things up significantly if or when you need it

[pinnocio]

thanks alot guys
now i'm just sitting and waiting for it to arrive (we didn't even get - the stores)

[sebalto]

I bought my mac-mini this morning and changed the drive by a hitachi 60g 7200 rpm (159 euros) and bougnt a no-name 1024 MO ddr 3200. Everything is going rather OK till now:) The latency is the best than i never had (64 samples under DP) and it is SO CUTE and SILENT (lower than the water circulating in my flat central heating system). I love it, though it took me 2 hours, 8 stores and documentation (see "macbidouille site) to change the two elements. I council good screwdrivers and much care:)

[mpcmaniac]

I have to agree the mac mini is a great deal.. I got mine about 2 weeks ago. I am running Protools LE with a Digi 002R
and my mac mini is the 1.43Ghz with 512 mb of ram. And I have not had one problem. A lot of people doubt it just because it is small and it has a cheap price tag but it is by far the best deal out there right now. Even though it does add up with the ram the keyboard and a good firewire hard drive it is still worth it. I have loaded up some old files on it of mixes that i had done a long time ago with about 20 tracks of audio and a lot of plug ins running and it was great. Apple hit it on the head with this one. so trust me if you are doing a lot of midi work and some sampling this machine with do the job.

[Bossnikon]

I would have to agree....see my post as well..ive had nothing but great expieriences with the mac mini and the digi 002 r


http://www.macmusic.org/agora/forums/index...=ST&f=5&t=18930