Had to return my iMac Retina 27 today

[slideguitarguy]

After learning that PT12 will not work with El Cap for maybe 6 months or so, I called Apple Care about getting Yosemite installed on my one week old iMac.
They said it could be done only at the Apple Store since Yosemite needs an installer installed on the iMac first. So they made an appt for me to bring it in, I did, and the Genius said that was not an option.
So I just left the computer there and got a refund.
Will start shopping for a refurb i7 Mac.

Now I realize that Avid posted today that PT12 works now with El Cap, but my experience with 12.3 is no it will not. Because neither of my Avid interfaces show up, only PT Aggregate.
I have updated drivers on my 003+ and my Eleven Rack to no avail.

[Jerry.VC]

Yeah... no interface drivers yet. Like Metallica once put it, "Sad But True". I've said it before and I'll say it again, Pro Tools for me has been nothing but a wonderful experience. Only problems were with 9 and my solution for that was to smash my computer with a sledge hammer, buy a new one, PRESTO! it worked. Other than that and the drivers being no where to be found for EL Capitan everything has been cherry pie.

[DJ Hellfire]

I don't understand why people always go out to buy the newest Mac, with the newest OS, to use with the newest software and piss online about it not working?! Not saying you're pissing online; you actually have a decent attitude about it. But this happens EVERY year. I just don't see how musicians fall for it every time. The information and horror stories are out there.

[Jerry.VC]

People sometimes need to vent I guess. lol Or it could be uncharted territory for some. Some people jump in with no prior knowledge or limited knowledge based on word of mouth. If some people had the patience to do research before jumping in they wouldn't have these issues. That's just my opinion. The USA is also a very consumerist society. NEW, SHINY, I NEED (WANT) IT! mentality. That could be it. I am an Insurance manager and I can tell you, I educate my clients and that solves a lot of problems. I don't get ignorant calls with BS. BTW the reason I'm on El Capitan was that my update settings were on auto. lol But it's ok, I can afford "down time" for now. I can still Mix and Master ITB at the moment. It's all good.

[Sardi]

Originally Posted by DJ Hellfire

I don't understand why people always go out to buy the newest Mac, with the newest OS, to use with the newest software and piss online about it not working?! Not saying you're pissing online; you actually have a decent attitude about it. But this happens EVERY year. I just don't see how musicians fall for it every time. The information and horror stories are out there.

And what if their machine bites the dust? Should they only limit themselves to buying a second hand machine?

Your comment makes sense if you're already setup and thinking of upgrading, but sometimes you have to get a new machine due to failure, theft etc.

Either way, it's a moot point now as 12.3 on El Capitan has been 'blessed' by AVID. If HW isn't working, I'm sure there will be an update… wait for it… coming soon.

[ronwasserman]

Originally Posted by slideguitarguy

After learning that PT12 will not work with El Cap for maybe 6 months or so, I called Apple Care about getting Yosemite installed on my one week old iMac.
They said it could be done only at the Apple Store since Yosemite needs an installer installed on the iMac first. So they made an appt for me to bring it in, I did, and the Genius said that was not an option.
So I just left the computer there and got a refund.
Will start shopping for a refurb i7 Mac.

Now I realize that Avid posted today that PT12 works now with El Cap, but my experience with 12.3 is no it will not. Because neither of my Avid interfaces show up, only PT Aggregate.
I have updated drivers on my 003+ and my Eleven Rack to no avail.

Bummer. I'm running El Cap on 4 PT systems (3 vanilla, 1 HDX) and no problems whatsoever. Yesterday I had to (it's a long story) install Mavericks on a Retina iMac external drive to run PT10. Did the install (using a terminal command I found online) and it worked perfectly. Would have been just as easy to install Yosemite.

Refurb i7 iMac will be great. You'll find one easily and maybe save a few bucks!

[nst7]

You need to be careful with the refurbs, because sometimes the newest OS is installed on those as well.

[VRW]

Originally Posted by Sardi

And what if their machine bites the dust? Should they only limit themselves to buying a second hand machine?

From time to time you even can find still sealed, new computers from Late 2014 to Mid 2015 which you still can run Yosemite with.
In some shops or on Ebay such offers still can be found with a bit of luck which also will include guarantee etc.
Sure it´s nice to have the very latest computer nowadays as technology flies but in most cases Macs from early to mid 2015 are
still really current stuff and will last for a very long time.

Originally Posted by nst7

You need to be careful with the refurbs, because sometimes the newest OS is installed on those as well.

As long as the computer model itself once was released with a prior OS X you will be able to get it installed on this particular machine.
You only will have to find the installer of the prior OS X (in your Apple account, from a friend or from the Apple store) and you would
be fine. No matter which OS X will be installed on this particular Mac at this moment. It´s all about the OS X this model of Mac was
released with once.

[roberts]

maybe you shoudl have READ about El Capitan compatabilty before returning your iMac
because 12.3 is offcially compatible

[slideguitarguy]

The intent of my OP was to warn other users to not expect to be able to run PT12 with 10.11, IN SPITE of all the posts in this forum that say it works for them (with a few bugs). I have the newest 12.3, also the newest drivers for both of my interfaces (003+ rack and Eleven rack) and I know that the Eleven rack drivers are not yet available for 12, but PT12 does not see my 003 either.
I researched for a few weeks before taking a chance on the new iMac, fully expecting it was quite possible that it would have to be returned.
The only thing that irritates (makes me vent) is that the Apple Care support person told me it would only take under a half hour for a Genius at the Apple Store to install the Yosemite installer and then Yosemite itself on my new iMac. The Genius told me that was not an option when I brought the iMac in.
If anyone is having success with El Cap using 003 rack (or Eleven rack) I would love to hear about it.