Mac Mini Budget Studio...soon

BloodNess · Post by **BloodNess** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 11:48 am

My personal favorite: Small ones :

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

also i have a tight budget, see, im an aspiring artist/producer and im looking for the cheapest-yet-suitable to my nees computer and i've had my eye on the mac mini for a while now...since it has a mst interesting software, garageband, it's also another reason for me to get it, its a start for my "music studio" and since soon i'll be getting a job, ill continue building my studio. who knows, maybe with the help of a ps1 screen ill build a mac mini laptop to take up even less space... any mac/apple computer u guys can recommend?

philly · Post by **philly** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:33 pm

If you want a mac for audio production, you need to go for the very best you can possibly afford! I'd suggestgoing secondhand- get a decent specc'd G4 and if you're lucky you might be able to pick up a version of Logic... it's so much better than garageband!
Also if you're going to use the computer as a basis for a studio, the macmini probably won't be able to cope. Once you've got plugins running plus a decent number of tracks, it may start to fumble. The macmini really is the basic entrylevel machine, and as such isn't suitable for processor-intensive operations like audio. Plus of course you need as big a harddrive as you can get... Go for an older second hand G4- that way you can upgrade it- another harddrive, more memory, maybe even get a second screen, which really helps, bigtime!

Just my 2 cents from my own experience and experiences of other people's studios!

Reploid Ayla · Post by **Reploid Ayla** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:34 pm

yeah I wouldn't reccomend using GarageBand as your main source of recording software. It is more of a game than a real useful program...

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:39 pm

Intel iMac!

Post by **Sparkfist** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:30 pm

Yeah really if you can hold off on buying a new computer for the next 6 months do it. If you need a new computer right now and you have a budget go for the Mac Mini.

Another thing is that well OS X is great for stuff you'll want at minimum 256MB, they say to have it run smoothly 512MB and really let the horses out have at least a Gig of ram.

daleighan · Post by **daleighan** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 5:41 pm

If you are looking to get a cheap, fast (enough) computer, don't get a mac mini. Get a used powermac g4 tower.

Harshboy · Post by **Harshboy** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 7:18 pm

wouldnt if they release the intel mac wouldnt u be able to somehow copy the software and run it on an x86 pc? That'd be cool........but i would wait for the intel macs! Whow! only 500 bucks for a mac mini, holy cow! Im buyin one with my birthday money...just have to wait a month...lol

philly · Post by **philly** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 4:24 am

Yup, thats pretty much right, Harshboy! The code for the intel OSX was leaked- didnt take long for someone to figure out how to get it up and running on a wintel! imagine- dual booting windows vista and osx... mmm...

forrest · Post by **forrest** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:54 am

The Mac mini will run Garageband but it's not a very good choice because the the computer contains a laptop hard drive (running at 4200 or 5400 RPM) and OSX and applications access the hard drive all the time. A used PowerMac G4 running at least 1 GHz with 512 MB of RAM, a 7200 RPM hard drive and a 17 inch LCD would be a good setup. A better setup at a good price would be the recently discontinued G5 iMac that has a 1.8 GHz, 64 bit G5 processor with 1 GB of RAM - you should be able to find one for just over $1000. For the best prices, check out www.dealmac.com

Post by **Sparkfist** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:25 am

philly wrote:Yup, thats pretty much right, Harshboy! The code for the intel OSX was leaked- didnt take long for someone to figure out how to get it up and running on a wintel! imagine- dual booting windows vista and osx... mmm...

Keeping in mind that they patched the OS X files so that it wasn't looking for a security feature. So if you're planning to install OS X on a custom built machine... you're not getting the offical release.

Forrest. You're aware that a laptop hard drive doesn't have to spin as fast as a desktop hard drive on the fact it's smaller. Also a Mac Mini runs at 1.2 or 1.4 GHz, and you can install at most 2GB ram (note it only has one ram slot). Really the Mac Mini is a nice little thing to have. It doesn't off the expantablity of the other Macs but hey for $500 I'd take it.

Post by **Black Six** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:54 am

I agree with the recommendation of an old iMac G5, unliike the mini it has built in digital audio in/out, while the mini doesn't have any sort of input. That wouldn't be too great if you're doing audio. Also, as was said the mini lacks the power to do serious audio editing. My choice would be either the iMac G5, if you can afford it an old Powermac G5 (like an older single 1.6 or 1.

or a high end old Powermac G4.

stuartjmoore · Post by **stuartjmoore** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 2:08 pm

I have a Mac mini right now (can't wait to get a Macbook pro next year) and it runs great. You can always get an iMic for audio input. I'm sure any program you need would work fine on it, I use Final Cut Pro 5 a lot, although it's kinda slow.

A Mac mini may not be the most professional for a studio, but it'd be a start.

BloodNess · Post by **BloodNess** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 2:22 pm

thats what i mean, i mean , i want my own computer, so i can stuff it with all the junk tha my momma doesn't want in this computer, music ,videos and whatever...but the main reason that i want the mac mini is to start recording a decent demo, i'll try to convince my mom to buy it for my b-day cuz she wants me to buy some tennis shoes for an upcoming tournament that i'll be playing in. so whatever i just need inexpensive yet usefull and the mac mini has those.

usbcd36 · Post by **usbcd36** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 4:04 pm

If you really want to use a mini for GarageBand, you should definitely hack it to use an external 3.5" hard drive (Mini Maxi or Purple mini). Seriously, those things are dirt cheap compared to laptop drives, plus you can run more tracks in GarageBand. You could even get a standard 5.25" DVD burner instead of spending big bucks on a sleek (but slow) slimline one. Also, if you want to actually record anything on a mini, you'll need to purchase a sound input device. It doesn't have a mic port or a line-level audio-in, so you'll need a Griffin iMic or similar device.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 4:05 pm

Well if you want a lowend G5 powermac, I was on ebay earlier and the cheapest I saw them for was $810. If you want a G4 tower, macofalltrades.com is a good place to look.

As for the audio needing a digital input... You can always look into buying a USB headset/mic. They run at cheapest $40, you might want to invest about $100 for a really good one.

Really I don't think your going to find a deal for an under warrenty Mac better then the Mac Mini.