starting from scratch - macbook pro or imac 27

[jancivil]

to me a maybe good idea would be to have an M1 Mini as master to a machine like mine as slave using VE Pro

[jancivil]

27" imac with the strongest intel CPU available and 64gb ram, it comes out roughly same price as a macbook pro with similar upgrades. Main difference appears to be:

2.4Ghz 8-core i9 (macbook pro)

vs

3.6Ghz 10-core 10th gen i9

If same price, the 2 more cores isn't going to hurt you, but if it costs, it's about something imagined in the future unless you're doing something beyond music that can use it. Last time I checked during playback, the project having the system use 22-24 GB, it was tapping maybe 6 cores. 8 physical cores = 16 logical cores, I doubt I'm going to max this out anytime soon. Same price, 50% faster clock, depends on form factor to me, I don't want a desktop anymore. that aside, obvious is obvious

[glokraw]

If I were to buy a new music computer today I'd go for the 13"...

You're absolutely hip deep in the bat guano
A 13" anything...for music production?

(I'm sure you're good to go, yourself, but have a little mercy on someone just starting out

[EnGee]

Apple with M1 devices, is not that luxury anymore! If I want to buy a similar AMD Ryzen laptop, it would cost almost the same.

If I don’t play games and already my PC/PS5/Xbox/Switch hooked to my monitor, I would buy an iMac with 16GB/512GB (blue colour :p ) why? Because it is already a complete package! I don’t do orchestral work, so 16GB is more than enough for me.

Anyway, I went with Air 16/512 GB and I feel it’s the right decision. I’m migrating all my music making from my pc to Air. I’m only using Logic now with some of the M1 native plugins and I don’t feel the need to anything else really!

I use my iPad mini as a book reader most of the times as it sync beautifully with the Air. I have removed GB from my iPad months ago as it’s useless to me.

[kovacs]

If I were to buy a new music computer today I'd go for the 13"...

You're absolutely hip deep in the bat guano
A 13" anything...for music production?

(I'm sure you're good to go, yourself, but have a little mercy on someone just starting out

You win the prize for the most intelligent answer of the day.

[glokraw]

Synthmasters default size is 15", Diva's is around 16", as are Kontakt and SampleTank.
U-he Twangstrom and ColourCopy are 13".

I can't recall seeing a 13" anything in a trade-show or product advertisement video
since the days Amiga's were in vogue. The OP isn't talking about ipads/tablets, but real and expensive computers. Starting from scratch, a guy could get a modeling amp, guitar, midi controller, daw license, Komplete Ulltimate, a used i7 box, a 27" monitor, and still take his squeeze out for a deluxe dinner...or get a 13" mac, and try scrunching multiple plugins around.
Cheers

[cryophonik]

ideally would like to get new mac for production in the next few months (mostly in the box, one track at a time (acoustic guitar, vocals)).

That’s a pretty basic need that shouldn’t require a very powerful computer by today’s standards. An M1 is way more than capable of handling it.

If I go and build the 27" imac with the strongest intel CPU available and 64gb ram, it comes out roughly same price as a macbook pro with similar upgrades. Main difference appears to be:

2.4Ghz 8-core i9 (macbook pro)

vs

3.6Ghz 10-core 10th gen i9

Just trying to hear from more experienced peeps if you'd go one direction over another above, or if my understanding of the M1 performance is wrong. (Ableton, Logic, FL user)

My 2019 27-inch i7 iMac handles anything I throw at it, which includes several CPU-hungry synths and effects running while I’m recording vocals in Logic Pro X, so I’d say the specs you’re providing are overkill for your needs. I agree with the earlier comment - make your decision based on whether you want a desktop or laptop.

[EnGee]

Synthmasters default size is 15", Diva's is around 16", as are Kontakt and SampleTank.
U-he Twangstrom and ColourCopy are 13".

I can't recall seeing a 13" anything in a trade-show or product advertisement video
since the days Amiga's were in vogue. The OP isn't talking about ipads/tablets, but real and expensive computers. Starting from scratch, a guy could get a modeling amp, guitar, midi controller, daw license, Komplete Ulltimate, a used i7 box, a 27" monitor, and still take his squeeze out for a deluxe dinner...or get a 13" mac, and try scrunching multiple plugins around.
Cheers

Man! At least check some videos before you post what you "imagine" is true! Here I've made it for you (this is the base model 8/256 GB with 8/7 cores and months old video, i.e. things are better now) :



and ...

[jancivil]

as to Kontakt having a base in 16" displays, I used it one hell of a lot on a 13" and on several 15" MBPs with it taking up significantly less than the whole screen with no kind of graphical issue at all. Here on 16" the default sizing takes up roughly half my screen, and I can't stretch it out to fill all of it. I mean I can imagine there being an abstract reason in development, but real world usage belies it. Kontakt '6' is slightly larger in default than 5.

so this 13" consideration is going to bother some more than others, some in the abstract. I'd wait, I got by, somewhat irritatedly but I'm glad they went to 16 in 2019.

[jancivil]

When one or the other of the duopoly operating systems have undone themselves at various times, the Mac user can opt to get fully stung, by buying the latest apple iteration, or pick up a cheap wintel device.

lame propaganda, and why?

i'm about to update to Big Sur. I'm going to know what to expect.
So the argument there is one will be "stung by buying the latest apple iteration", per se, since there is no qualifier of any kind in the construction. I have never been 'fully stung' by an update.

I bought what was the latest 'apple iteration' 11 mos ago. Every single thing I use traveled from the previous iteration.
There's no reason for it not to have. Now, before that, ~2 yrs, I bought that latest iteration, when it was a brand new machine, which came with an OS that doesn't do 32-bit. I let two things go I hadn't used in years.

Got to call bullshit here. Feel free to buy based in price, sometimes one pays for more than that quite happily. Some may like sirloin rather than the absolute cheapest cut, you know.
Here it's a 1200 dollar purchase and it's going to perform better, by a lot. Not that I 'like Apple', in fact not so much, but I can know from facts.

[kovacs]

My 13» 2012 Macbook Air is still in use as my 18yo daughter’s main computer. I paid about $1000 for it back in the day.

My 13» 2013 Macbook Pro (which was bought for about $1200 for money made from some consulting work I did) is still in daily use as a music server, music archive and backup workhorse. I used it for audio work for years.

My 15» 2016 Macbook Pro belongs to my employer. I have used it for audio production for a while now since my 13» was getting too slow for some of my projects. It is a great audio workstation but the size makes it heavy. A 13» would be more portable for me. I don’t really like to mix work and personal use so I’m looking to buy a new machine.

A new 13» MBP would have a wonderful retina screen and would work great with Logic Pro X and Ableton. (A 14» would probably be perfect for me).

If you add an external monitor it also does not really matter how large your laptop screen is.

[EnGee]

If you add an external monitor it also does not really matter how large your laptop screen is.

Exactly!

I thought first to buy a mini Mac, but then I thought to myself that I might need a portable solution as I might need to take my music making with me when travelling to the living room

So, I bought an Apple adapter that output HDMI, USB A and USB C. I use the usb c for charging while I plug everything (mouse, keyboard, audio device, MODX, ...etc) to USB A and the HDMI is for the big monitor.

The nice I like a lot about this computer is while it has its resolution, it supports a different resolution on the external monitor. This I couldn't do with Windows and my nVidia card.

Anyway, I have my PC, so I ended buying a nice switch that supports up to 4 computers (it is with 4 USB ports as well). So, I use the same lot with both the Air and my PC