iMac for high school student

[B4ldypaul]

Hi. Looking for a setup for my son’s room. He’s in high school and starting to use Pro Tools (12) in Music Tech class. He also attends a half day college course in sound production.
We have a late 2015 27” iMac at home and looking at the pro tools minimum specs list, this is a compatible mode (if I upgrade to 16gb ram).

I’ve been looking at used 21.5” iMacs, but most are basic spec with 8gb ram, integrated graphics, standard HDD etc. Something like that would be fine for his other study needs, but what would be the minimum specs required for fairly light pro tools use? If he goes on to study sound production full time, I would purchase a dedicated setup. That would be three years down the line, and might not happen in any case.

I’m trying to keep costs down, something like a 2012 21.5 (basic spec) or 2012 27” (upgrading ram) are within reach. Even a new model with extra ram and a ssd Drive would be three times the price of the used options.

Are the published minimum specs for pro tools based on professional use? Would a machine that doesn’t quite hit the approved list still be suitable for the purpose, bearing in mind it will probably be fairly basic projects it will be used for?

Money definitely is a factor, but I don’t want to buy something that just isn’t up to the job from the outset. If a brand new model (specced with 16gb) would do (it’s on the list), I might be able to stretch to that, but I’d be happier with a used model if it would do the job.

Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[Darryl Ramm]

What are all the specs on the 27” iMac you have now? CPU, memory, disk etc.

A large part of audio engineering is dealing with the cruft of computers. I would strongly encourage you to let your son deal with all this, including asking questions here.

What is he going to do? a few audio tracks is one thing... a session of many heavy virtual instruments a very different thing requiring a larger computer. Does the school have advice for systems configurations to run their projects.... they really should.

Are they going to be working with video? (“Music” sounds like not, but lots of places play with some video),

Do not skimp on memory, I recommend 16 GB, and large disk caches that enables helps address many IO issues.

How will he move sessions between the school and home. An ideal way may be a Samsung T5 SSD.... which with USB 3.1 should be fast enough to run fairly large sessions on.

Is the school teaching on macs? It may be good to aim for the same OS version the school is using.

There is more than just the computer to worry about. What interface is he going to use at home? A dedicated external interface (make/model?) Audio Monitors? Headphone?

For many students, especially if they are going to work in location or around campus a MacBook Pro laptop may be ideal or even expected. That may be much more than you want to spend, but I would check what expectations/recommendations the college has for student computers/laptops.

Does he have a Pro Tools license? Can he qualify for a student/academic discount? Does he need Pro Tools Ultimate or will standard do? Hopefully Standard will be fine, but its possible the college might want students on Ultimate, say if they are playing with advanced automation features.

[B4ldypaul]

Hi. Thanks for the response. I’ll ask him to get some more information from the school & college regarding the scope of work he’ll be doing over the next year or so. Currently, it’s very much beginner stuff. In school, for his Nat 5 (Uk exams around 14/15 age group), he is producing a radio interview. Mixing speech with music etc. The college are putting together tracks with samples and recordings of instruments. All fairly basic at the moment. I’m not sure how much of this will be coming home to work on. I think he probably will have access to a student discount for Pro Tools standard. I’ve downloaded Pro Tools First, which seems to run fine but it’s not seen any heavy use. Current iMac is a late 2015. 27” 3.2ghz i5. 1tb fusion drive with 8gb ram and dedicated graphics card. It appears as compatible (supported) on the list.

As for external devices, I think that’ll be a suck it see scenario. He wants a midi controller keyboard (been looking at something like the Akai mpk249), possibly a microphone and monitor speakers as a starting point. I’m on a budget, which is the reason for trying to keep the cost of the computer down.
He can plug it all into, and use the family machine, but he needs something in his room for all his other school work. Even the basic iMac bought new when specced up a bit is out with the budget when you start adding controllers, external drives etc.

[Darryl Ramm]

I would work the current iMac and hold off trying to buy anything else until he knows what he needs/outgrows the iMac.

Fusion drives are awful, and potentially problematic with Pro Tools and other DAWs. But replacing the HDD part with a full SSD means opening up the whole iMac and may not be worth the cost/hassle. Hopefully that Fusion drive has a 7,200 rpm HDD as part of it, not the 4,800 rpm drive... which would just slow down the whole computer.

You want 16 GB or more memory, an easy upgrade in those iMacs.

You should look at look at getting an external SSD for putting audio/session files on. A Samsung T5 USB 3.1 external SSD would be my recommendation (will run at USB 3 speeds on your Mac, but that's OK). They are fast, tiny, portable and indestructible.

Your iMac will provides connectivity options to USB and Thunderbolt audio interfaces which give nice options for future. For just mixing or working with a MIDI keyboard your son can use the built-in audio in the Mac. But he'll need headphones and/or studio monitors. The speakers in an iMac really won't cut it.

If he is doing a college level course Pro Tools First may not cut it, lack of compatibility with Pro Tools sessions files is one fail there, and there are others.

You son needs to read and follow the Pro Tools installation guide and do all the optimization stuff there... thats all good learning.

[B4ldypaul]

So would an external SSD be an acceptable alternative to an internal one? He’ll need portable storage anyway. The internal ones are an expensive option on a new Mac when you consider most of it will be used up by the operating system and everything else.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by B4ldypaul

So would an external SSD be an acceptable alternative to an internal one? He’ll need portable storage anyway. The internal ones are an expensive option on a new Mac when you consider most of it will be used up by the operating system and everything else.

For your current iMac the external T5 is the way to go. If you are buying a new or used iMac there is no faster drive that you can buy than the internal NVMe SSD in those Macs... several times faster than the SATA based external drives like the T5. So fast in fact that if you are using it for Pro Tools, the best place to put the audio/session is on the OS/boot drive. And Apple know that and gouge you on those SSD prices, but I always advise folks to buy the largest Apple internal SSD they can afford... because they are not upgradeable, or effectively almost not, depending on model year. A fast boot/system drive makes the whole machine just feel snappier. Im sitting here now just doing a Mojave install on a high-end MBP and when it was booted and running off my external T5 drive (at full USB 3.1 10 Gbit/sec) speed the difference was noticeable vs. running off the internal NVMe SSD.

[B4ldypaul]

Ok. Well I’ll factor that in when it comes time to buy a new one, none of the used ones I’ve seen have them. I’ll put a Samsung SSD on the current shopping list. Prices are quite reasonable.

[JFreak]

Just make sure the model has i7 CPU (not the cheaper i5) and upgrade to 16GB memory if needed, youf son should be a happy camper even without SSD

[B4ldypaul]

I think it'll need to be an i5 with 16gb if I go for used model at the moment. The i7 is hard to find used and the prices are too high. I can pick up a late 2012 27" i5 and add the extra memory if needed for around £550ish ($700) all in.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by B4ldypaul

I think it'll need to be an i5 with 16gb if I go for used model at the moment. The i7 is hard to find used and the prices are too high. I can pick up a late 2012 27" i5 and add the extra memory if needed for around £550ish ($700) all in.

Why don't you get your son involved in this discussion here as well? You can act as the referee on costs but it's best if he gets involved here as he knows best what his school expects him to be able to use. It's like the old game of telephone - things get lost as info travels down the line.