Old IMac ,

[Eigenfrequenz]

Hello,

I´m windows user since the first music day. I saw a lot of Imacs for arround 100 Euro(2007 -2010)
I have no problem with 2,8 GHZ dualcore but what about Ram. Are 4GB on a Mac better in use as 4GB on a Win 7/10.
Can i use every DAW until their last version?

[BertKoor]

Mne thinks they are so cheap for good reasons. Capice??

[dellboy]

Hello,

I´m windows user since the first music day. I saw a lot of Imacs for arround 100 Euro(2007 -2010)
I have no problem with 2,8 GHZ dualcore but what about Ram. Are 4GB on a Mac better in use as 4GB on a Win 7/10.
Can i use every DAW until their last version?

There are people running the latest Logic Pro in Catalina on old 2012 Mac cheesegraters after doing a number of clever tricks, but anything older than that is probably not possible.

I have just bought a 2018 Mac Mini and it runs Logic Pro X trial ok, but I am not that much impressed with it as a DAW and probably wont purchase it when the trial ends.

Now that i have had an extended look at Mac OS I am not sure if it is for me either. In fact I have not booted the Mac Mini for a few days and am back to my windows machine.

[chk071]

I used an older iMac (9th gen, I think, from 2009) for some weeks. Biggest issue was the slow HDD, but, with the processor you won't really feel on top of the world either (to say the least... those Core2Duo's are really slow compared to what we have now).

DAW's will be a problem as well, as many DAW's require you to run the latest version of Mac OS X.

IMO, rather save up and buy a 500 € PC with Windows 10. You will have much more fun with that. BertKoor said it, they sell them for 100€ for a reason.

[telecode]

I used an older iMac (9th gen, I think, from 2009) for some weeks. Biggest issue was the slow HDD, but, with the processor you won't really feel on top of the world either (to say the least... those Core2Duo's are really slow compared to what we have now).

DAW's will be a problem as well, as many DAW's require you to run the latest version of Mac OS X.

IMO, rather save up and buy a 500 € PC with Windows 10. You will have much more fun with that. BertKoor said it, they sell them for 100€ for a reason.

Yes and no. I run High Sierra on all my x86 Mac based DAW systems more or less. Most run fine. I run Cubase Pro -- no issues and I haven't been bitten by the issues users on Catalina have been hit by.

OP, what you will find is certain plugins will really tax the system. Plugins such as NeuralDSP and even Massive X swallow up so much CPU that it becomes a problem. You can basically just run one track with that sort of plugin and then dump to wave if you want to work on a larager 20+ track project. If you place on mostly running older gen plugins, it should work fine. Upgrading the boot os drive to a SSD does help a bit, but doesn't really help with the CPU bottle neck. A plugin that uses < 10% of resources on someone with newer gen Intel processor uses 30 to 40% on mine.

FWIW.. now had Apple corp seem to have given a good indication of their new ARM based direction, I suspect the x86 stuff will start to get discounted heavily. Probably a good time to pickup a x86 based Macbook pro next year. My guess is it will be $500 to $1000 discounted.

[dellboy]

Upgrading the boot os drive to a SSD does help a bit, but doesn't really help with the CPU bottle neck.

That's one advantage of some older Macs, the hardrive can be upgraded. My new Mac Mini has a soldered on SSD and CPU so its not possible to upgrade, although it is possible to put in 64 GB of ram which voids the warranty.

[Passing Bye]

You can't use latest OS (so not most of the modern versions of DAW's) without relying on some patches and tricks, but sincerely if you aren't going to use Logic, almost every other DAW runs better on Windows, you will not experience any gain.

http://dosdude1.com/software.html

Here's the list of supported and unsupported machines:

Early-2008 or newer Mac Pro, iMac, or MacBook Pro:
MacPro3,1
MacPro4,1
MacPro5,1
iMac8,1
iMac9,1
iMac10,x
iMac11,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Catalina.)
iMac12,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Catalina.)
MacBookPro4,1
MacBookPro5,x
MacBookPro6,x
MacBookPro7,x
MacBookPro8,x

Late-2008 or newer MacBook Air or Aluminum Unibody MacBook:
MacBookAir2,1
MacBookAir3,x
MacBookAir4,x
MacBook5,1

Early-2009 or newer Mac Mini or white MacBook:
Macmini3,1
Macmini4,1
Macmini5,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Catalina.)
MacBook5,2
MacBook6,1
MacBook7,1

Early-2008 or newer Xserve:
Xserve2,1
Xserve3,1

Machines that ARE NOT supported:
2006-2007 Mac Pros, iMacs, MacBook Pros, and Mac Minis:
MacPro1,1
MacPro2,1
iMac4,1
iMac5,x
iMac6,1
iMac7,1
MacBookPro1,1
MacBookPro2,1
MacBookPro3,1
Macmini1,1
Macmini2,1

— The 2007 iMac 7,1 is compatible if the CPU is upgraded to a Penryn-based Core 2 Duo, such as a T9300.

2006-2008 MacBooks:
MacBook1,1
MacBook2,1
MacBook3,1
MacBook4,1

2008 MacBook Air (MacBookAir 1,1)

[Eigenfrequenz]

Very thanks for your replys and experience you had with systems like that
It´s better to stay on the windows side if i read right.

[revvy]

Very thanks for your replys and experience you had with systems like that
It´s better to stay on the windows side if i read right.

Or simply better not to buy 13 year told computers.

[chk071]

A 13 year old Windows PC is quite likely to still run Windows 10.

Of course it will be way too slow to run nowadays' VST's, just like a 13 year old Mac...

[revvy]

So, as I said then.

[chk071]

Well... it depends what you mean really. Unlike a Mac, you are likely to be able to run Windows 10. Apple simply doesn't support such old computers. That's the difference, and always has been. Backwards compatibility.

[revvy]

Well... it depends what you mean really. Unlike a Mac, you are likely to be able to run Windows 10. Apple simply doesn't support such old computers. That's the difference, and always has been. Backwards compatibility.

Yes, I already know as I use a Mac and have read the other posts in the thread already.

Thanks for assuming I'm stupid.

[chk071]

Thanks for assuming I'm stupid.

I didn't, but, suit yourself.