Getting confused about Mac requirements...

[Runaway]

I want to get PTLE and an Mbox for home recording purposes. I'm going to buy a new mac for this. Yes, I know Tiger isn't supported yet, but ignore that because it will soon be - certainly by the time I buy the Mac and get set up.
The only point of my confusion is I don't know what kind of Mac to get.

Either I can spend $2000 on a G5 iMac or I could only spend $799 on a Mac Mini. Sure the iMac is a G5, but maybe it's overkill - know what I mean? Maybe the Mac Mini will work perfectly fine considering I'd never be recording more than 1 or 2 tracks at a time.
Yes, I'd want my final track counts to be around 24 at times - but a Mac Mini 1.42GHz could handle this right?

Whichever Mac I get, I'd be using an external firewire drive anyway.

So... do I really need to spend up big on a G5, or is it overkill for a home recording set-up? Please, some advice!

[dubaifox]

You would be fine until someone opens yours eyes to the world of Virtual Synths.

There are some amazing libraries out there that run within Pro Tools as plug-ins and they really suck power big time. If you stay away from these you should have no problems with your mac Mini.

[Vaphoron]

If you get the iMac G5 it doesn't mean you have to buy the most expensive one. I think 17" 2GHz that is $1500 would be a great way to go. The Mac Mini needs a keyboard, mouse and monitor which are already included with the iMac G5.

[Runaway]

I have a Roland XP-80 that I can create sounds on, so I doubt I'd be using any virtual synths. Does that make sense?

[Runaway]

If you get the iMac G5 it doesn't mean you have to buy the most expensive one. I think 17" 2GHz that is $1500 would be a great way to go. The Mac Mini needs a keyboard, mouse and monitor which are already included with the iMac G5.

Sorry, I was talking Aussie dollars. The G5 iMac 1.8 17" here is $2000.

[dubaifox]

I have a Roland XP-80 that I can create sounds on, so I doubt I'd be using any virtual synths. Does that make sense?

Makes perfect sense. If you are happy with it's sound and that is all you need you will be fine.

Depending on what type of recording you are doing however, you might want to be able to take advantage of some of the new stuff out there that is a generation or two beyond what your xp-80 can offer. Might be worth getting a G5 to take advantage of it.

[Runaway]

Yeah, that is a good point.
But, assuming I went with a Mac Mini 1.25Ghz and pumped the RAM to 1Gb, anyone care to estimate how many plugs I could manage? Maybe it's a silly question... I guess I've also heard about the G5 iMacs having bad logic boards, so that's scared me off getting one. I don't want it to be in constant repair. :P

[cheekypaul]

do a search for the DAVEC test. it's a rough guide and not comprehensive but it will give you some idea what expect. couple the search with +davec +LE +plug.

[C52382P]

Dude buy the nicest system you can afford and still eat. I dont even use virtual synths and I felt that I was limited by my 1.33ghz powerbook. Reverbs kill your processor just like those synths and being that you are a home user (like most of us LE guys) I assume that you dont have a room with good acoustics and that youll be deadening and diffusing the room. Youll want to use nice verbs to make up for the dead room. One instance of Altiverb eats half of my powerbooks CPU at 96Khz. HALF!! BUY THE G5!