Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

punger

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 10, 2017
9
3
England
Hi all. I've been writing and producing music on and off the past 4-6 months but especially recently as It's coming together much more. I've been doing this all in Garageband on iOS. I've not hit too many major limits but so far some things I want to do need major work arounds which take much more time than what it seems it would take in Logic. I would like to learn Logic Pro someday as I've had a great intrest in music for years. But I do have a few questions about hardware/software for those that have used it...

1. I do have a PowerMac G5 which has some version of Logic on it. I realise this is old and I probably wont get plugins for it but would it be of any use to try learn the basics using this version for when I get Logic Pro X in the future or is this version far too different from the current software?

2. I have a Mid 2010 Macbook with a Core 2 Duo P8600, 3GB DDR2 1067MHz RAM, GeForce 320M graphics and a HDD. It's running High Sierra. It is a bit slow if I multitask. I think for about £50 I could replace the battery, put an SSD in and upgrade the RAM to 4GB. Would this in any way run Logic Pro X at acceptable speed?

3. If 2 doesn't work, would a base model 2020 Mac Mini handle Logic Pro X? If so I'll be aiming for one of these eventually. If not, what's a decent Mac around this price that would?

For what I plan to do in Logic, I will be recording a few things such as vocals, possibly drums but I will be doing a lot of built-in stuff
 

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,674
2,427
Baltimore, Maryland
1. It's quite a bit different and better now.
2. I would say no.
3. Base model probably doesn't have enough SSD space or RAM.

DAWs need a lot of RAM and the more the better. You can run it on a Mini with a 500GB SSD but you're going to need some extra space somewhere soon…and fast drive speed and throughput are desirable.

I'm running it on a Hackintosh that I built six years ago. It's perfect for that as upgrades and additional drives are easy to add. Too bad Apple doesn't sell something that, to me, seems like a great model. A lot of people are still rocking the old tower Mac Pro for Logic Pro X for the same reasons. The new, super-costly Mac Pro is great and probably necessary for professional video work but it seems like overkill for audio unless a user is "pushing the edge".

You probably know Apple's running a 90-day trial of Logic Pro X right now.
 

punger

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 10, 2017
9
3
England
1. It's quite a bit different and better now.
2. I would say no.
3. Base model probably doesn't have enough SSD space or RAM.

DAWs need a lot of RAM and the more the better. You can run it on a Mini with a 500GB SSD but you're going to need some extra space somewhere soon…and fast drive speed and throughput are desirable.

I'm running it on a Hackintosh that I built six years ago. It's perfect for that as upgrades and additional drives are easy to add. Too bad Apple doesn't sell something that, to me, seems like a great model. A lot of people are still rocking the old tower Mac Pro for Logic Pro X for the same reasons. The new, super-costly Mac Pro is great and probably necessary for professional video work but it seems like overkill for audio unless a user is "pushing the edge".

You probably know Apple's running a 90-day trial of Logic Pro X right now.

Thanks, seems I'll look into a Mac Pro 5,1 as it seems the most cost effective and shguld still have a lot of life. I tried the Logic Pro trial last night and it ran about as well as I would have guessed. It does some things, but loads of slowdown just clicking between tracks and souinds etc.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.