Mac Discussion

[Noah eh]

My MacBook Air has basically the same specs except for a 1.6 GHz processor and a smaller hard drive. Definitely not ideal for video editing, but it you can still get decent performance with video nonetheless. But it's great for graphic design, Photoshop and Illustrator run great, Cinema 4D did too when I had it. As for music, great option. I use Logic Pro X for producing and recording, and it doesn't lag too often. iZotope Ozone 6 runs amazing for mastering. It would definitely be worth getting that Mini, or an Air, if your budget is slim. But, if you have some spending money, go for a Pro.

[Antwan]

Meant to say iMac, that's what I ended up gettin fo free!
Someone offered to get me one so I couldn't say no without a setup.
Helps a little bit if you disable the effects on the mac though but I was planning to edit video on a different laptop.
So's all good!

[emericaridr11]

Meant to say iMac, that's what I ended up gettin fo free!
Someone offered to get me one so I couldn't say no without a setup.
Helps a little bit if you disable the effects on the mac though but I was planning to edit video on a different laptop.
So's all good!

I assume you are on Yosemite or El Capitan, man I have to say I have tried them all and I went back to Mountain Lion

if you only have 4gb ram or lower it might be a wise idea to go back to Mountain Lion, and let me tell you why.....
everything after Mountain Lion uses your Ram differently than ML did, the new OSXs use AS MUCH RAM as possible even in idle.... now usually with newer machine with 12gb ram or more this ain't a problem and even more with that amount of ram this new Ram Allotment might work better and snappy-er

but I can assure you if you don't have 8gb ram or above you would benefit from Mountain Lion, your computer would be less stressed (even in idle it can get stressed on these new osx's)

of course I am just giving you my opinions and experiences, my brother has a 4gb Mini that runs EL Capitan and he loves it, but my dad has a imac 4gb and it keeps restarting and freezing and all kinds of goofyness... we put him back on ML and everything is running Super Smooth

you said you had to Disable the Mac Effects.... and Im sitting here like what the fuck is he talking about? then thought to myself "Oh yeah Yosemite and El Capitan have this bullshit transparency crap that just uses unnecessary ram for no good reason).... El Capitan is weak, Mavericks was the last good OS (and I personally think Mountain Lion was and still is the most stable OS I have ever used)

just a thought, if you do decide to revert back to ML, make sure you got the programs that will work with that OSx.... or just keep El Capitan and try to wait on more updates, some people like it... but I don't


and yes if you got mac GRAB LOGIC!!

[Antwan]

I was trying to figure out what it's running myself, the person who got it for me even set it up before hand.

Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 4 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT 128 MB
Software OS X 10.9 (13A603)
I took that software number to google and it says something about Maverick but the source only implied it was.
I didn't know graphics cards could have a size either? Confused about what that means haha. 128MB seems low?

[emericaridr11]

I was trying to figure out what it's running myself, the person who got it for me even set it up before hand.

Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 4 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT 128 MB
Software OS X 10.9 (13A603)
I took that software number to google and it says something about Maverick but the source only implied it was.
I didn't know graphics cards could have a size either? Confused about what that means haha. 128MB seems low?

that is a low Video Card Speed, but I wouldn't worry about that too much just yet... that's the same video card I had in my imac when I had one, and I did all kinds of editing on it with no problems other than it being a little slow
Mavericks is what you have and is actually my 2 fav OSX, so that is good news haha

I'm hoping you got a white imac honestly, I had a white one and a metal case one and the white plastic one didn't get nearly as hot as the metal one
and Mac peeps will say that is because the metal one acts like a 2nd heat sink to drive heat away from your components, and it does do this somewhat but what I have noticed is that the heat on the metal ones cause the screen to do wild things (like screen burns and discoloration) because of the location of the heat

shame, but if you need any help with the Mac and programs involved hit me up I can usually help


EDIT: grab SMCfancontrol (it is free) if you do get worried about heating

[Thick]

I'm on a 2011 iMac i7, and it's still doing good - been editing 4K music videos without too much pain. I do music music production too (Cubase/Ableton), and doesn't really take too much of a toll on the system until you preview multitrack projects with effects. Crack yourself a DAW and spit your darts!! People stress getting the right equipment for good sound, but thing is: if you have decent mic, a working sound card and recording software - you're money. Just make sure you find a space with acceptable acoustic surroundings when you do vocals. You can find someone who can mix your stuff to make it sound killer (or teach yourself if you have a good ear). All my friends make music in kind of a big way (for a small country), my main homie is an award winning artist, and we do everything out of his iMac (with similar specs to yours) with "free" (hehe) software.. voicing done behind the couch, with the TV on.. No help, no record contract, no promotion team.. go get it!!

For graphics/video though, getting a SSD/SATA combo was a quantum leap for me, paired with a gig of allocated video memory.. watching glitchy previews really kills your flow. I was working on a subpar PC before investing, and I'd spend 4-5 times as many hours completing video tasks. I have 16GB of ram now, but 8-12 is usually good enough until you start multitasking heavy stuff.

[Antwan]

Yeah update for me, got a laptop where I'm editing video with 8 gigs of ram I managed to scrounge up.

Up to this point I was experimenting with a controller and a brand new studio software in linux but my IMac is looking like it will be my recording and producing platform.
So far I really dig Ableton, real easy to jump into and start making things happen and all of my hardware so far just works when I plug it in.
Someone is sending me the Logic Program Suite down the line so I'll be messing around with that too at some point.
I guess all there is left to do now is to start building up my sound libraries.