Mac users: recommendations for upgrade

[Mmichaelis]

Greetings!

My 2011 iMac is dying a slow and painful death. I am actually very lucky it has lasted this long! I'm partial to Logic Pro, so I'm looking at options for a new Mac.

Do you have recommendations on an iMac vs a MacBook Pro vs a Mac mini? If you use any of these what things do you love and hate? Also, if you use any of them, what are the specs that you recommend? From my research it appears that iMacs are generally faster, but MacBooks can have more storage. And then there are the Mac minis which I don't know what to think about.

Any advice is appreciated!

Matt

[cosmicdolphin]

and then there are the Mac minis which I don't know what to think about.

Small - Not very easy to upgrade - expensive for the spec. At least they are quiet and you can get a decent monitor from someone else for less money than the Apple tax

( it belongs to my wife ..I use a PC )

[andygabrys]

iMac vs. MBP vs. MINI - only noting the drawbacks to each. Obviously they can all work.

iMac - screen is in machine. So if screen dies, you need to fix the machine. Harder to upgrade because of the way the machine is glued together. Not really portable.

MBP - expensive for the power. Some limits placed on expandability (such as amount of ram on some models).

Mini - some eras of MINI were not powerful. 2012-2018 not a good buy.



if you are stuck with Mac:

either pony up the cash for a new one (Mac mini with some maxed options is the current price performer if you don't need portability). You will spend about $3,300 but its the most powerful cheapest "pro" option within Apples lineup right now. Message for the specs I would choose if interested. The Mini has few things you can upgrade, but strangely you can upgrade the things you need. RAM. Hard drive / SSD storage.

or

make a hackintosh - which can work well if you know what you are doing, but can also present some strange problems.

or

buy a used Mac Pro 5,1 (2012 preferred) or 6,1 on eBay or via a recognized seller like www.macsales.com

You will need to do your research on the options available and the pros and cons of buying used in general, and how to deal with issues, but you will never spend so little money on a Mac and get something powerful that lasts.

Case in point:

I have a 2010 12 core Mac Pro 5,1 bought used on eBay and its been great. Lots of drives for data and backups and SSD's on PCI cards for sample steaming. Lots of RAM and its cheap to upgrade. Caveat: without a newer video card ($480.00) I am stuck at OS X High Sierra. When I bought it I spent $2k on it. Have spent about $1k since buying on hard drives and SSDs. Compare to a newer Mac Pro and there is no contest - sure a newer Mac Pro at the time I bought it would have similar performance for twice the price, and todays Mac Pro 7,1 is UNBELIEVABLE as far as power, but you will spend about $11k on it to get a sort of upgraded base model that will be well set up for music production.

My wife has a 2011 MacBook Pro that she bought used and except for a video card issue at the end of 2019 its been flawless. Spent $500 on the machine, and the re-soldering of the video card was $200. Thats an issue with that era of MBP - but if you blow out the fans with canned air you can remove that issue. If you let the machine get really hot repeatedly you will eventually have to fix the video card. Compared to $2,500 for a new MBP its a cheap and very viable option.

Good luck!!!

[cosmicdolphin]

make a hackintosh - which can work well if you know what you are doing, but can also present some strange problems.

It's actually easier than ever to build a hackintosh right now, there's tons of guides and info around ..Youtube channels where they show builds etc

You can beat the entry level Mac Pro for less than half the Apple price if you build your own..someone even ripped off the case !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518AWHLn3ZU

[shalashaska888]

I used a 2011 iMac for a few years and have been using a MacBook Pro since 2015. The portability of the of the MBP is obviously a huge factor for me, and when I'm using it at home, I have a keyboard/mouse and external monitors plugged in, so it feels the same as a desktop.

Specs are:

2.2 GHz i7
16GB RAM
256GB SSD
OSX Mojave (since I'm still too paranoid to upgrade to Catalina)


It can handle Logic projects with 30+ tracks flawlessly and I use it for video editing as well without any issues. I believe it was $2000 when I bought it in 2015.

[GBall]

Thanks to you all - I'm going to bookmark this thread. I have a 2017 MacBook Pro that is the center of my creative life - after God, my wife, children, etc. and for which I have nightmares of its eventual demise. I baby it but its had some wear - worst was an external USB drive whose sizzling death seems to have weakened my USB bus's power system. The port it was plugged into no longer works, and the others sometimes complain of the bus pulling to much power.

[elser]

There was a guy on eBay selling new 2018 minis don't know if he still has any. I just bought a 6 core i7 3.2 ghz, 32 GB of ram, 1TB SSD drive for under $2100. It's pretty screaming'. What gets you is the cost of peripherals. But considering I paid $2000 for a 2010 used Mac Pro before this, this is a pretty great deal. This machine way out performs the Mac Pro and you don't need a dolly to move it around.

[carel11]

thanks for the walk thru guys...I have the same dilemma ... a 2011 that's waving bye bye....
I was waiting for the new macs, only to find out they really aren't, and with the new caveat that now you cannot go back to an older OSX...
I'm still running sierra. Any thoughts on Mojaves stability as I ponder my situation

Any suggestions on where to look for the mini?

thanks
carL

[ChrisEmond]

Aaargh...Why is Apple making things so complicated? I'll look into the mini but I wonder if the updates will not become a problem down the line

SSD drive is also soldered on Mini Mac Looks like I'm going to be exploring Hackintosh. The only way I could stay with Apple would be to take out a second mortgage and buy a Mac Pro

[Kolstad]

+1 what Andy said

Im on the verge of swapping out my 2012 mac mini (i7, 16ram, 2tb ssd).

I feel its a difficult time to decide on something. Apple prices are tough and machines not very upgradeable, further more they swap processors, so there is a risk old machines will drop in resell value.

Microsoft has done next to nothing with their mobile platform Windows10, which they use on everything from tablets to desktops. Its been 10 years! - whoknows if they will even develop a new (read: real) os.

I will probably go with a top spec’ed mini, but its more of a necessary evil than a bundle of joy.

I feel Im chosing in the dark, at the companies convenience. 3000$ is a pretty high stake for that.