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Mac mini for home studio setup - How much Mac to buy?

#22
Based on some recommendations I just purchased a used MacBookPro 13" M1 with 16GB for $1200 (primarily for running Logic) Invalid Link Removed. It seemed that 16GB and M1 processor was the sweet spot regarding price vs. what I want to use it for and future compatibility. I didn't see any DDR5 options anywhere near that price range, fwiw.
 
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#23
31HZ said:
Based on some recommendations I just purchased a used MacBookPro 13" M1 with 16GB for $1200 (primarily for running Logic) Invalid Link Removed. It seemed that 16GB and M1 processor was the sweet spot regarding price vs. what I want to use it for and future compatibility. I didn't see any DDR5 options anywhere near that price range, fwiw.
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Thanks. Compared to the abacus I’m replacing I know a current Mac is a big upgrade. Just wondered where I need to hedge and where I can worry less.
 
#24
Go for Apple Silicon, 16 GB min. If laptop, get the nicest screen and largest internal storage available. NONE of it is upgradable later.
And see whether or not a USB C iPad Pro or two could do the job for the same price.
 
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#25
Bob_Ross said:
Something that was very recently brought to my attention by another engineer who's helping me archive/digitize some ancient multitrack tapes is that older Macs have a hell of a time handling long multitrack audio files, regardless of how much RAM is installed and how big/fast the drive is.

Now, "old" may be relative, I don't know of any clever way to correlate processor speed (or type) with track count & track length. And "long" is also relatve; if you're just talking about individual 4-minute tunes, there may be nothing to worry about. But when we briefly considered archiving my 40-minute ADAT tapes as 16 single contiguous WAV files, he asked me what Mac I was using and noted that his current top-of-the-line Mac Pro tower would have a hard time with files of that size. We wisely decided to chop up the files into individual takes.
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4Mal said:
@Bob_Ross That file length limitation might be the DAW and the way it manages memory. I've been using Studio One Pro for years - got it free with my first digital board a Presonus 16.4.2. Upgraded that version to Pro and I've been upgrading every couple of years. Simply no issues with long files for me though in general I'm only doing 16 to 20 tracks.

My old ProTools (Pro Tolls) rig was crash city if I glanced at it wrong...
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Something is wrong if 16 tracks of 40 minutes will break his DAW. That is nothing.

I have movie mix sessions with over 170 tracks ran on a 2004 Mac. Granted there is an expansion chassis and six accel cards. My PT rig now is still old, 2012 Mac Pro with ProTools HD Native can suck in ADATs all day long.

Weird.

I have a few Mac Mini M1's and haven't done anything with them audio wise in worry of over heating. A Mac Mini Studio has better cooling? Maybe?
 
#26
Why would you worry about overheating??

You don’t think Apple designed the cooling system to handle whatever you throw at the machine?
 
#27
ctmullins said:
Why would you worry about overheating??

You don’t think Apple designed the cooling system to handle whatever you throw at the machine?
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I have extensive experience with Apple over a 25 year period in studios and post production video bays and GFX suites. I have seen many fail with overheating, memory holes, etc from demanding use. These were very well maintained on a strict engineering schedule.

I cooked older models, before Apple Silicone, so I am hesitant to test out a M1 or M2 mini on my own financial risk. I have to buy my own gear these days.

I very well could be wrong but it is debatable with folks that use them now as DAW.

By the way, I don't trust anybody or business. I have a saying that goes "everybody lies, everybody bulls**ts." I 'm cynical by nature though.
 
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#30
Apple silicon consumes much less power, and therefore runs cooler, than the Intel chips.

But I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know….

Cleaning periodically will be important, as is the case with nearly anything.

Not sure how to help you with your chronic cynicism.
 
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#31
ctmullins said:
Why would you worry about overheating??

You don’t think Apple designed the cooling system to handle whatever you throw at the machine?
Click to expand...

Macbook Airs are passively cooled and are known to choke/throttle under particularly heavy loads. However, in all fairness, they are not really intended as heavy processing systems. Fan/active cooled Macs have far fewer issues with that. Apple makes nice machines for sure, but they are not immune to basic mechanical operating limits.
 
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#33
pfschim said:
Macbook Airs are passively cooled and are known to choke/throttle under particularly heavy loads. However, in all fairness, they are not really intended as heavy processing systems. Fan/active cooled Macs have far fewer issues with that. Apple makes nice machines for sure, but they are not immune to basic mechanical operating limits.
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Yep. Hopefully everyone here understands that the design compromises inherent in laptops make them categorically unsuitable for the highest possible performance. I’ll take my laptop to capture raw tracks “in the field”, but then transfer them to my desktop machine for actual mixing.
 
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#34
ctmullins said:
Yep. Hopefully everyone here understands that the design compromises inherent in laptops make them categorically unsuitable for the highest possible performance. I’ll take my laptop to capture raw tracks “in the field”, but then transfer them to my desktop machine for actual mixing.
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Yep, especially the thin/light ultrabook type laptops like the Macbook Air. But I'd be confident in the power/processing capability of a Macbook Pro with its active cooling (fans) and enough system memory, to handle pretty much any media workload without throttling. As we see in tech reviews, they are VERY capable machines for sure.
 
#35
claudel said:
I wound up installing a better fan and Macs Fan Control on my ancient 2012 Mini when it started to run hot.

Seems to work. It runs much cooler and spins the fan faster when it gets warm.

Also, occasionally opening it up and blowing the dust out seems to help...
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And it died.

New M4 Mini releasing Nov 8 and inbound…

Old one got a lot of use.

Hopefully I can save my data
 
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#36
claudel said:
And it died.

New M4 Mini releasing Nov 8 and inbound…

Old one got a lot of use.

Hopefully I can save my data
Click to expand...

Well, if anyone's still following.

New mini arrived and it's a jewel

Had to pull the SSD from the old mini and put it in an external case, but I saved my environment, mostly.

Screen is noticeably sharper, runs much cooler with the fan not working too hard.

Few things to fix, old keyboard wouldn't pair, but overall seems to be an improvement

Have to buy a few updated software licenses

This is more of a file server and general use machine for me. Music happens on iPad.

Hope I get 10 years out of this one too.
 
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