Quote:
Originally Posted by EGS
However, the above part of your comment is more about running out of CPU juice. Upgrading to an SSD (& also adding RAM) will help system performance overall, but it won't make the CPU any stronger. Try a higher buffer size? AudioSuite or freeze or commit some plugs?
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Excellent advice from EGS.
My advice is:
If you just need lots more space, then buy a used big Firewire 800 external drive and plug it in. They should be very cheap now. Just use it for storage and backup.
Blackmagic Disk Speed Test is a free little app that's easy to use, use it to determine on what disk you should put sessions.
Or:
If you want to try to get a little more performance out of the old imac, get a cost estimate from an authorized mac repair shop to: swap the internal spinner for an SSD. It will help the overall performance; faster startup, app launches, sessions opening, plugin loading. But, as EGS said, it will not make a difference to the pure processing power of the CPU.
Remember; an SSD in the internal SATA slot will be several times faster than a SSD on any of the external ports.
(While you're at it, get the price for a RAM upgrade too. 16gb is good, 8gb is minimum, I'd say. Also, ask about replacing the superdrive with a SSD. That'd make it possible for you to have two internal disks on the fast SATA bus! If you don't use CDs/DVDs, that is.)