This Is A Confusing Time To Buy A Mac..., this is a confusing time to buy a mac... Options

[seoul_revolution]

Or is it just me?

I'm a musician who has been planning for a while to buy a mac, but the whole Intel switch thing has me really confused. I joined this site hoping someone could give me some guidance.

I had been planning to spend big $ on a dual G5, but now I'm not so sure ... as I guess all the software is going to be moving to Intel eventually, or will run faster on the Intel macs... So now what I'm thinking is ... buy the Mac mini Intel core duo and max out the RAM at 2 gigs, add the Lacie or some other external drive for storage. Total price would come to $1300 or so.

What I'm looking to do is digital audio recording, with midi. The ability to sample and use virtual instruments would also be nice. Would I be able to do that with this setup?

Thanks in advance for anyone who can offer their thoughts.

best
Ian

[yellowbeak]

Hi there,

I think you're on the right path. I bought the new intel iMac, and I love it. While it is taking some time for a lot of the vendors to come around, serious releases are right on the horizon (betas abound) and drivers are there as well (even though some companies tended to drag their heels; m-audio for example).

That being said, with Intel being the chip of choice and the direction Apple is looking to move towards, it would probably be wise to invest the money as you had said. The new iMac, for example, is rockin' - and from what I have seen of product betas (which I cannot comment on in specifics due to NDAs) it is definitely worth the switch.

Hope that helps!!

[emgcarra]

Hi everyone,
Though a little late, I would like to follow this line. I am also trying to do a decent migration from G4 800 dual, LP 6.4, Digi 001 PT 6, to the new stars.
I have to admit that I don´t have the muscle to renew everything on a year to year basis...too expensive, but planning to move has become a hard task.
If I go to G5 wich is not a cheap movement, I will loose my audio interface because of the PCI-e platform, but even so, PT Digi 002 (another $ 795) is not compatible with Tiger 10.4 wich is needed to run LP 7.2. Tha pushes me to buy a new interface to get audio in the mac, but not for use my PT files....
It seems to me like a no ending story...I guess we are goin to have to sit and wait for a while...I mean, even those who buy a G5 2 x 2.5 and were running PT LE.... Please forget my english and my worries, but it is a headache stuff.
At least for me.
Thanks for your time.

[rat47]

PT Digi 002 (another $ 795) is not compatible with Tiger 10.4

i belive it's a typo, but the digi 002 runs fine on tiger

no way to install the 001 on tiger (I even tried to have 2 bootable systems ona mac, panther and tiger, and installing 001 on the panther was not possible - it kept "seeing" the tiger somewhere...)

[emgcarra]

Sorry !!
rat47 quote is correct. PT 7.1 runs on OS 10.4
But I am still confused. I´ve been reading too much forums...
Thanks.

[lepetitmartien]

The supported platforms are always (with a little delay) on Digidesign compato page