Music new Mac with 8GB

[ozydave]

How do,

 

My Music department looking for new Macs.

Not asking where to get them from.

 

We have had the current crop for 10 years now and they have 8gb ram.

 

The spec he is looking at is 8GB of RAM to keep costs down, but wants to start using Logic pro.

Even without Logic Pro, I would have thought that 8GB was too low if we expect them to last 8-10 years

 

any thoughts

 

Cheers

[Davit2005]

Would you be looking at MAC Mini or Desktop?

 

The Mini might workout cheaper but obv need to factor in display, mouse and keyboard.

[ozydave]

He is looking at desktops

 

Cheers

[psydii]

 

We've got some 8Gb M1s running Logic with no problem.

 

Logic has just landed for iPads. They do not have a lot of RAM.

 

In my experience, the baseline macs seem to have 3-5 years of productive life. The cost of overspecing to extend that life, is often close to the amortized cost of just replacing them every three years.

[Face-Man]

There are lots of rumour of anew imac model coming out later this year. The main difference you will see with Apple silicon and ssd it will run a lot faster than your existing Mac even with the same amount of RAM. Don't forget you will need wired keyboard and mouse unless you have very well behaved kids.

[robintech]

Was thinking the same question but about Photoshop and also waiting for the new iMacs to arrive ,

 

£200 for an extra 8GB RAM is a ripoff either because it doesn't need it and a waste of money or it does and its severely overpriced (as well as no USB-A ports on the current base model and £30 for the Ethernet socket)

Edited May 12, 2023 by ittech2342323

[Aprice]

Our current stock are running Logic Pro, with i5s and 8GB the hard disks are really the only issue with them. We've got a week planned in this summer to swap them for SSDs.

[Smokebomb]

I agree that the RAM and storage upgrades are a rip off, but bear in mind with the M series Macs that you can’t upgrade the RAM or SSD as they are built into the chip - whatever you buy now, you’re stuck with for the life of the device.

[Mrpower]

We use mainly Mac at this school. Our teachers have a mixture of MacBook Air's and two MacBook Pro's. The RAM installed on these devices range from 2GB - 4GB - 8GB. The MacBook Airs with 2GB & 4GB struggle to run OSX Monetary OSX 12 and beachball. This is due in part to the lack of RAM and staff opening and running far too many apps at once. Even Macs with 8GB of RAM struggle and Beachball now and again, due to RAM and running too many programs at once.

Logic Pro would run, but once it loads plugins and music stems, I would guess the RAM would be full and it would start using the virtual memory (Swap RAM). Swap RAM used the SSD for memory and as SSD have a limited life span the more swap used the more the likely the SSD could fail. I stress could fail. Or run fine for years. However over time Apple will releases newer versions of their OS that will require more RAM to run and you will be left behind. If you can buy 1 less and add 16GB on all the iMacs, then I would. In fact I am looking to get machines with no less than 16GB of RAM when buying new or refurbish Macs.

[2ilent8cho]

Our Music department has a suite of M1 iMacs with 8GB RAM, Music Teacher runs Logic Pro in there no problems.

[HereIGoAgain2601]

We have suites of Mac Mini the new M2 model with 8gb RAM running logic no problem. Lightening fast

[thimon]

8-10 years life span??? Giving everything 4-5 tops nowadays.