new imac and drives questions

[petrusa]

im planning to buy a new imac i5 27"
but i need to know impressions of users
do i need to get an external drive to run PT?
can i use a FW drive?

pls help
4mb of ram are ok?

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by petrusa

do i need to get an external drive to run PT?

You should. Just because you can use the Macintosh HD for your sessions does not mean you should.

Originally Posted by petrusa

can i use a FW drive?

Yes.

Originally Posted by petrusa

pls help

I tried.

Originally Posted by petrusa

4mb of ram are ok?

Surely you mean 4GB. Yes, this will be OK.

[Bill Denton]

Just because you can use the Macintosh HD for your sessions does not mean you should.

Since the 27" iMac offers a "two-drive" option, why couldn't you use an SSD for your OS and programs and the "spinning" hard drive for audio? The internal "spinning" drive should be much faster than a Firewire drive. NOTE: SSD's are not yet approved for any purpose by Avid.

While 4GB is the maximum amount of memory that can be utilized by the current 32-bit version of Pro Tools, it might be worth going to 8GB if you can afford it.

There are various "work arounds" that can take advantage of additional memory for virtual instruments, and many observers (myself included) believe 64-bit Pro Tools will be out in the next year...

[chrisdee]

Originally Posted by Bill Denton

Since the 27" iMac offers a "two-drive" option, why couldn't you use an SSD for your OS and programs and the "spinning" hard drive for audio? The internal "spinning" drive should be much faster than a Firewire drive.

My thoughts aswell. I would definitley go for a internal two disk solution if shopping a imac today.