Best Imac for Protools 2019

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Not to mention the warm fuzzy feeling

can i get that with some tube sound

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by JFreak

can i get that with some tube sound

Nope ,, you Can get it with a tube of caviar

[larsongs]

I'm getting a new Computer. I will upgrade my BPM too.. Haven't decided which to do first though?

Everything works fine now with my existing System. I'm thinking I should keep that as is for now & complete all my current Projects.

Wait & see if there are any deals in January on new IMacs. I would like to save some money...

My Sweetwater Rep, who I've dealt with for several years, has an IMac with 16 GB Ram, Fusion Drive & Mojave. Says it runs PT2018 perfect. No issues...

32 GB Ram is $400 more than 16GB Ram on the new IMac. A SSD is more expensive too. Is a Fusion Drive upgradeable to SSD later?

Another issue will be making my PreSonus 16.4.2 Interface compatible.....

Thanks,

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by larsongs

32 GB Ram is $400 more than 16GB Ram on the new IMac. A SSD is more expensive too. Is a Fusion Drive upgradeable to SSD later?
!

People have shot themselves in the head and lived. What does that tell you about the advisability of doing that?

You are back to going around in circles asking random people for advice and coming back here to check on that when we've all already covered the same topic. Fusion drives are a really bad idea. You've been told that here multiple times.

Get the biggest SSD you can afford when you buy the iMac from Apple, thats superfast PCIe SSD as has all been explained already here before. Multiple times.

What exactly do you want to do with the iMac Fusion drive upgrade? You might be able to replace the spinner HDD with a faster but still slow SATA SSD. I'm not sure anybody has made a compatible M.2 like NVMe SSD that works in the latest iMacs. It's so uninteresting given the PITA of upgrading these iMacs. You are having problems getting started with other simple upgrades, this type of upgrade not something for you to be wasting time thinking about.

If you need to expand the iMac storage in future you will do that externally. If you want superfast PCIe SDD you will have Thunderbolt 3 choices like the Samsung X5 or Sonnet Fusion SSD. Or slower USB SSD drives like the Samsung T5.

If you want to save some money, get the smallest memory you can in a **27" iMac** because it's easy to upgrade yourself. Mentioned multiple times already here. Jack even explained the OWC memory buy back to you.

Do you actually have CCC yet and have you used it to make a backups and tested they work?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by larsongs

I'm getting a new Computer. I will upgrade my BPM too.. Haven't decided which to do first though?

Everything works fine now with my existing System. I'm thinking I should keep that as is for now & complete all my current Projects.

Wait & see if there are any deals in January on new IMacs. I would like to save some money...

My Sweetwater Rep, who I've dealt with for several years, has an IMac with 16 GB Ram, Fusion Drive & Mojave. Says it runs PT2018 perfect. No issues...

32 GB Ram is $400 more than 16GB Ram on the new IMac. A SSD is more expensive too. Is a Fusion Drive upgradeable to SSD later?

Another issue will be making my PreSonus 16.4.2 Interface compatible.....

Thanks,

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Why do you keep insisting in buying Apple ram and wasting money? Assuming you're looking at an 18,3 27 inch 2017 iMac with Retina display 32 gig ram (2 x 16 gig) will cost you $274.88 from OWC and a full 64 gig (4 x 16 gig) runs $525.77 from same source. Doing what you're doing will NOT save you money but just waste it.

[larsongs]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Why do you keep insisting in buying Apple ram and wasting money? Assuming you're looking at an 18,3 27 inch 2017 iMac with Retina display 32 gig ram (2 x 16 gig) will cost you $274.88 from OWC and a full 64 gig (4 x 16 gig) runs $525.77 from same source. Doing what you're doing will NOT save you money but just waste it.

Maybe I didn't word that properly...

I'm thinking of getting the IMac with 16 GB Ram & less expensive HD.. Then upgrading both later with OWC, if possible, as needed..

Maybe it would be better to get 16 GB Ram & upgrade later with OWC Parts but get the SSD initially?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by larsongs

Maybe I didn't word that properly...

I'm thinking of getting the IMac with 16 GB Ram & less expensive HD.. Then upgrading both later with OWC, if possible, as needed..

Maybe it would be better to get 16 GB Ram & upgrade later with OWC Parts but get the SSD initially?

If you're going to get an iMac with 16 gig ram why did you quote an inaccurate price for 32 gig ram?

Haven't you read anything that Darryl has written about it being not that easy to upgrade these new iMacs (other than ram)? Get the minimum ram possible and as big an ssd as you can afford. And absolutely NO Fusion drive EVER!

I think I'm not the only one losing patience with you. You've had things explained to you so many times by very knowledgeable people it's become an exercise in futility.

[larsongs]

My apologies.. True there has been much information.. Some of it for me is confusing.. I just want to make the best decision & have the least hassle. If I can save some $$$ that would be great too...

I tinkered with Cars when I was a Kid for a bit. Wasn't my thing. It gave me a general knowledge though. I Love my Cars & enjoy driving them but I don't work on them. I take them to Licensed qualified Service Dept's. at Franchise Dealers. I have little or no problems & my Vehicles give me excellent Performance & Service... Almost never have had problems over many many years.. When I do I get them resolved. I honestly have no interest in becoming a Mechanic..

Is wantng the same level of Service & Performance from my Computers, Interface, Software, Plugins & my workflow any different? I don't think so. Seems like not getting all the information possible to do what I ultimately think is best for me & my situation would be stupid.

Tinkering with my MBP at some point would make sense.. Could be beneficial. Although I'm not sure how much is learned doing R & R's. It may even be fun but at this point would interupt my Workflow..

The Forum is here. I ask questions. I appreciate the feedback.. It is helpful to me.. Hopefully it's making me knowledgeable.. But, if it inconveniences you, upsets you or pisses you off you don't have to respond...

Thank you,

L

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by larsongs

The Forum is here. I ask questions. I appreciate the feedback..

There is also search functionality available. Many of the questions are asked and answered already in this thread alone, let alone in others before

[Righty27]

Originally Posted by larsongs

I tinkered with Cars when I was a Kid for a bit. Wasn't my thing. It gave me a general knowledge though. I Love my Cars & enjoy driving them but I don't work on them. I take them to Licensed qualified Service Dept's. at Franchise Dealers. I have little or no problems & my Vehicles give me excellent Performance & Service... Almost never have had problems over many many years.. When I do I get them resolved. I honestly have no interest in becoming a Mechanic..

Is wantng the same level of Service & Performance from my Computers, Interface, Software, Plugins & my workflow any different? I don't think so. Seems like not getting all the information possible to do what I ultimately think is best for me & my situation would be stupid.
L

Lars - I think we know where you are coming from and the advice you've been receiving here has factored-in your obvious aversion to what you appear to believe is unnecessary tinkering 'under the hoods' of computers. Much of what you present each time you veer away from the unanimous recommendations (e.g. simply to start with a clone backup using CCC) tends to take you deeper into the very issues you are trying to minimise.

For example, you've been advised to avoid a Fusion drive simply to help you avoid problems with Pro Tools down the line. That's not to say that it's not possible to use a Fusion drive (like your Sweetwater rep - there might be performance limitations, or this could be configured to perform as two separate drives i.e. one small SSD + a 'spinner' ... an even more advanced matter) but it would be better to specify an SSD from the outset.

Buying an iMac now (whatever the specification or route taken to save/waste $$$ on different included amounts of RAM/SSD e.g. minimum RAM for later/cheaper/simple OWC upgrade + biggest SSD you can afford, although you can also add external storage over Thunderbolt 3 [of different speeds] later) would still require the clone/backup, future OS upgrades, keeping your Presonus interface driver up-to-date, same with plugins and Pro Tools, etc.

However, I feel you appear to be ignoring a key element regarding the use of computers in any application, whether you're using Photoshop, Excel, ... whatever ... or just e-mail and a web browser: this is the continuing administration of your computer system, and by using a Mac, in theory at least, you have the easiest platform for a non-computing enthusiast to manage.

So, continuing your car analogy ...

Apart from installing the proposed SSD/RAM upgrades (simple - akin to changing spark plugs following a step-by-step video based on your actual car make and model), everything else is expected of 'users', like driving yourself to a gas station and putting fuel in your own car.

What you need to implement now with your backups, OSX/MacOS upgrades, Waves plugins, etc., and your suggestion that you're the type of person who leaves this to their official dealer, is no different to the majority of computer users nowadays and, I suspect, also the majority here on DUC (myself included).

Whilst I suppose it might be possible to find someone at the local BMW dealership to collect your car once a week to top it up with petrol for you (subsequently returning it to your driveway, leaving it ready for the next school run), this would soon become ridiculously expensive. The same applies to translating your music production ideas when working with Pro Tools (probably more complex than basic Mac admin) - you could work it out/learn yourself ... or pay an engineer to sit alongside you to manage/control your sessions. However, all of this would defeat the point of using your own computer to produce your music.

The missing link (that I think we might all agree on) is that this is a great opportunity for you to start learning these very basic Mac admin skills, regardless if you end up continuing with your MacBook or upgrade to a new iMac. Thus, we have recommended that you start off with a new external hard drive and CCC in the first instance - these are skills and hardware/software/costs that will be required/used in either case and intended to initiate an ESSENTIAL first step in your personal computing and Pro Tools 'journey'.

BTW, calling some of these 'skills' is making them sound far too advanced - once you know your way around routine backups, a MacOS upgrade involves clicking 'OK' a few times ... and updating a plugin or driver usually involves logging-in to an online account, downloading/double-clicking a disk image file, followed by a few more 'OK' clicks (we've just been trying to break all of this down into more easily digestible chunks for you). However, this becomes much easier when mostly up-to-date and you just have to deal with the inevitable admin say once a week ... like putting gas in your car :)