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  3. Buying Newer Mac - Recommendations?

  • Buying Newer Mac - Recommendations?

    M
    M

     Hi,

    I'm getting ready to buy a newer Mac. My old is working just fine for me but it's a PowerPC (4 x 2.5GHz G5, 7.5 gig of ram) and I need to go to the intel to keep up with support for my software.

    I'll probably go with an 8 core but I don't necessarily need a new one. Can anybody make some recommendations to me? What to look for? What to avoid? I'll be running Pro Tools and Vienna of course. I run 2 other pcs with this also and an older Mac connected by network. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
  • S
    S

     If you wanty to use MIR at its best, go for a PC from 2009 on, not the 2008 or earlier ones.
  • M
    M

     Thanks for speaking up. I probably won't be using MIR real soon though and will stick with the Mac rather than a PC.
  • A
    A

    well, midterm or longterm, MIR will be available on MAC as well. so if you don´t plan to get MIR tomorrow, it´s no big deal.

    if you´re going for a MACpro, i suggest you wait until apple releases the new models. an update for the MACpro is long overdue and will probably happen still in march, so don´t hurry on that one...
  • M
    M

    I agree that it's smartest to wait at this point, there should be new models very soon and you can either get one of those or get the discontinued model at a discount.  I'm not crazy about the current models, they seemed like a stopgap while they were waiting for the next gen of chips.
  • D
    D
    last edited
    last edited

    @mike connelly said:

    I agree that it's smartest to wait at this point, there should be new models very soon and you can either get one of those or get the discontinued model at a discount.  I'm not crazy about the current models, they seemed like a stopgap while they were waiting for the next gen of chips.

     

    I sort of agree as well. the current generation of machines are theoretically extremely good, but there are a couple of gotchas which stop them performing anywhere near their potential. However, they are still a big step up from the previous generation.

    However, when the new models come out things might change, and even if there are still performance problems, the performance might be so good that it won't matter.
  • M
    M

    One of the biggest limitations is four or eight ram slots...which makes even less sense considering it's triple channel ram.
  • M
    M

     My trouble is I don't know if I can wait for the latest model or afford it. Like I started off saying, my current Mac, a quad core PowerPC with 7.5 gig ram is working very well for me. I run ProTools on it and 1 instance of Vienna Ensemble then network to a PC with 2 instances and an older G5 with 1 instance. 

    I see I could pick up a used 8 core Intel Xeon Mac for about $2500 on Ebay and then sell my quad G5 before it looses all it's value. I'm just wondering if that would be fine for me. Or is there something I'm going to be real disappointed about with it? I can switch to Snow Leopard - right? I can use the 64 bit instead of the 32 bit - right? Is there a problem with the usage of RAM?  I don't necessarily need the latest/greatest.

  • D
    D

    Unfortunately nobody can advise you 100%, because we don't know your expectations. Whatever you buy it will be a huge step up from the machine that you're currently using. perhaps if you can give a rough idea of the number of Instruments that you want to run, plugs, soundcard buffer, etc., then you might get more useful advice.

    DG
  • M
    M

     Good point DG. I'm sure there will be a huge step up even with the Xeon which is all I need to know. BUT - Here's my 3 major concerns (which are probably due to lack of understanding) - Are all Intel Xeon Macs fully 64 bit capable hardware-wise?  If not I have to know which ones are. Will I be able to decrease my soundcard buffer? The buffer I have to use is probably the most annoying thing about my system right now. It's set at 1024 right now. And 3rd - Is there a big jump in speed from 4 core to 8 core using Pro Tools 8?
  • S
    S

     All Intel Xeon Macs are fully 64 bit capable.

    The buffer depends both on the soundcard and the processor, I'd say 75% the processor.

    In the near future if a software will not  use multi-processing is dead.
  • M
    M

    Thanks for the clarification, Sergino.

    I was checking some of the FAQs for Digidesign's latest release of Pro Tools (8.0.3) which is their first release that's fully certified with Snow Leopard.  They did say in there, "Pro Tools already employs a modern multi-threaded processing engine that is fully compatible with many-core CPUs" which I was glad to read.

    Concerning the use of 64 bit technology the FAQs said, "Pro Tools 8.0.3 is not qualified with Snow Leopard’s 64-bit kernel mode at this time." It also said, "Pro Tools 8.0.3 is a 32-bit application. We are investigating 64-bit support and have no release plans to share at this time."

    I am assuming this doesn't keep Vienna Ensemble Pro from working in 64 bit right? Can anybody verify this for me?
  • D
    D

    Hello, mahag.

    I have used VE Pro 64 with PT 8.0.3, and VE was working in 64 bit mode with PT.  However, I don't use PT anymore, so I don't know how things are going this minute.  I actually had too many issues with my Mac Pro, PT & Digidesign 002R & the 002 Mixer/Interface.
  • M
    M

     Dennis,

    Thanks for replying. Too bad about your experience with Pro Tools. I actually enjoy PT 8 very much and I use the 003 rack. I hope the kind of problems you have with it aren't something I will also have if/when I get a Mac Pro ( I use a quad core PowerPC Mac now.)
  • A
    A

    well... seems it won´t take long before the new models arrive...

    http://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/10/new-hexacore-mac-pros-next-tuesday/

    i guess i know, what i´ll do on tuesday...
  • M
    M

    And hopefully this time we'll see a real improvement in the mac pros instead of the downgrade (and price increase!) they came up with a year ago.