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H wants an iMac for mixing music with FL Studio.
(Back story: school is a battle but to quote the teacher he is "exceptional" with music technology, and I would really like to support him in the one thing he enjoys in addition to skate boarding).
FL Studio looks to be bonkers resource intensive and I know nothing about iMacs.
Am currently looking at a 2015 Imac with I7, 3.3GHZ 16GB 512GB etc.
Is there anything else I need to think about? Is this enough ?
Anyone have any tips for home use ?
Mac is certainly my preferred choice for music production.
Probably the best thing to do would be to check the software site for minimum requirements and just be mindful of OS compatibility - it may be possible that your machine is on the latest version and the software hasn't caught up yet.
How much is that one you are looking at? 2015 is pretty old now.
The new ones with M1 processors make the i7 processors look like something from the dark ages.
clearly Macs are superior in every way but - looking at the Wiki page for FL Studio (never heard of it before!) - there is also a Windows version, which presumably (like Photoshop etc) is totally compatible with the Mac version... so maybe he doesn't actually [I]need[/I] a Mac...
this is very true... what the kid really wants is an M1 Mac Studio with dual monitors, etc... I guess though that as OP is looking at 2015 iMacs there probably isn't the budget for it!!The new ones with M1 processors make the i7 processors look like something from the dark ages.
Although actually, even an M1/M2 laptop with a 2nd monitor would probably be a better bet!
MacBook air M1?
I replaced my 2012 i7 iMac (maxed out everything) with a base level M1 MacBook air, and it's better and faster for music production on every level.
Running a second monitor, and bought a decent external SSD.
You'll also probably need to budget for an external soundcard and headphones. Monitors are a good idea, but quite expensive and mixing on headphones is less annoying for everyone else!
I've been recording bands, upto 20-30 tracks per session, running Ableton and logic, loads of vsts, etc. No problems at all.
Also with a 2015ish age Mac you're going to run into OS upgrade issues quite soon.
Thanks everyone.
I think the problem is that the school use iMacs (with i5 processors from what I can gather) and so that's what H wants.
H - "I hate Windows ! " which suggests his Linux-loving Dad has taught him well (that's me!)
The iMac I was looking at is £380.
If he's still doing this in a year or so's time he can buy himself a new one 🙂
A 2018 Mac Mini with 6 core i5s, 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD can be had for less than £500. That’ll be much faster than the 2015 iMac i5.
I have one for doing music stuff on and it’s fast, stable and just awesome.
Use any HDMI monitor and any usb (or Bluetooth) keyboard and mouse. I have the Apple keyboard and mouse but just use a DELL monitor.