New Mac Mini maybe the only new Mac @ March event

[KevWind]

While it is still speculation ...
According to the latest article over on the MacRumors the new upper level Mac Mini ,may be the only new Mac product released at the Apple March 8 event along with some new upgraded mobile products.
And it is predicted to offer the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips , which will be a fairly affordable Audio/Video production powerhouse............

There was prediction that a new 27 inch iMac might be announced in March but according to a "Display" analyst Ross Young the new mini LED displays will not be ready until summer .

https://www.macrumors.com/guide/2022-mac-mini/

[sdelsolray]

I had been planning on waiting until later this year to get an Apple Silicon Mac since freezing my system in 2020. My recording computer is a 2011 iMac, i5 4 core, 16 Gb, without metal graphics and which cannot be upgraded past OS 10.13.6 (High Sierra). Pro Tools 2020.12 and Studio One 5.5 run on it just fine, along with Waves 11 (no higher due to lack of metal graphics), and current versions of all Liquidsonics reverbs, Altiverb, Izotope, about 10 different Plugin Alliance plugins, among others, run just fine as well.

Late last year, Avid offered a reinstatement for lapsed perpetual licenses so I decided to get that instead of purchasing a new perp license later this year (I had let my Pro Tools support plan lapse on purpose in 2020). To my surprise, Pro Tools 2021.12 also runs very well on the old iMac. For what I do (just 2 to 4 tracks of audio), the iMac rarely gets above 50% CPU usage even with some CPU hog plugins in either Pro Tools or Studio One.

My home iMac is a bit older (stuck on OS 10.11.6 (El Capitan, 8Gb) and some of the older web and internet apps on it are getting a little squirrelly, but I have found work arounds (e,g,m using Firefox instead of Safari). Ans I have a 2019 loaded iMac at my office if needed.

So I trying to decide if I should repurpose the 2011 iMac to replace of 2009 one for light duty as a home computer and get an Apple Silicon computer now for the studio. I'm thinking of a new Mac Mini with an M1 Max CPU, 16 Gb and 1 TB SSD, with an Apple keyboard and mouse and a quality third party 4K 27" computer monitor. I have a spare 1TB external HD I can use for backup. Shouldn't be much over $2k. The only software I need to upgrade is to WUP my Waves plugins for $230 to version 13.

On the other hand, I am quite content (and frankly quite surprised) that the 11 year old iMac is handling (for the most part) current recording software. I could probably just run it as is (i.e., frozen) for many years to come.

Decisions decisions.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by sdelsolray

I had been planning on waiting until later this year to get an Apple Silicon Mac since freezing my system in 2020. My recording computer is a 2011 iMac, i5 4 core, 16 Gb, without metal graphics and which cannot be upgraded past OS 10.13.6 (High Sierra). Pro Tools 2020.12 and Studio One 5.5 run on it just fine, along with Waves 11 (no higher due to lack of metal graphics), and current versions of Liqudisonics, Izotope, about 10 different Plugin Alliance plugins among others run just fine as well.

Late last year, Avid offered a reinstatement for lapsed perpetual licenses at $249 so I decided to get that instead of purchasing a new perp license later this year (I had let my Pro Tools support plan lapse on purpose in 2020). To my surprise, Pro Tools 2021.12 also runs very well on the old iMac. For what I do (just 2 to 4 tracks of audio), the iMac rarely gets above 50% CPU usage even with some CPU hog plugins in either Pro Tools or Studio One.

My home iMac is a bit older (stuck on OS 10.11.6 (El Capitan, 8Gb) and some of the older web and internet apps on it are getting a little squirrelly.

So I trying to decide if I should repurpose the 2011 iMac to replace of 2009 one for light duty as a home computer and get an Apple Silicon computer now for the studio. I'm thinking of a new Mac Mini with an M1 Max CPU, 16 Gb and 1 TB SSD, with an Apple keyboard and mouse and a quality third party 4K 27" computer monitor. I have a spare 1TB external HD I can use for backing up. Shouldn't be much over $2k. The only software I need to upgrade is to WUP my Waves plugins for $230 to version 13.

On the other hand, I am quite content (and frankly quite surprised) that the 11 year old iMac is handling (for the most part) current recording software. I could probably just run it as is (i.e., frozen) for years to come.

Decisions decisions.

Yes a bit of quandary ? if you were doing video as well as audio (or perhaps contemplating it) I would say take a serious look at a new Mini.

But if only doing audio it is amazing how well older Macs are doing
The Guy I took lead guitar lessons from who has a dedicated basement studio for his band and few friends (as of 3 years ago ) was still running PT LE 8 on an old G4 tower.

The predicted base price for the new Mini (probably the binned 8 core M1 Pro chip) and is guestimated -- to start @ $1200 to $1300 Also I if you are not doing much video Then that base M1 Pro, or the next upgrade the 10 core will likely be more machine that you will need. Although I read somewhere that you do want to get at least the 1 TB SSD because it is faster than the 512

Here is Max Tech's latest video about it

[jim1960]

I suspected as much. The news on the 27" iMac keeps evolving and that makes me think some details are still being worked out.

The updated mini being released first may save some people a nice chunk of change if the update is suitable for their studio needs. For myself, if the ram ceiling gets to 32gb, the mini becomes a viable contender assuming there will also be a processor upgrade from the base M1.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I suspected as much. The news on the 27" iMac keeps evolving and that makes me think some details are still being worked out.

The updated mini being released first may save some people a nice chunk of change if the update is suitable for their studio needs. For myself, if the ram ceiling gets to 32gb, the mini becomes a viable contender assuming there will also be a processor upgrade from the base M1.

If as predicted, Apple uses the same chip options for the Mini that is currently offered in the MBP 's it will be configurable up to the 64 GB RAM M1 Max, given there will certainly be as much or more physical room for the chips and cooling in the Mini

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by KevWind

If as predicted, Apple uses the same chip options for the Mini that is currently offered in the MBP 's it will be configurable up to the 64 GB RAM M1 Max, given there will certainly be as much or more physical room for the chips and cooling in the Mini

That would be nice. It would likely put the cost of a very nice studio computer at under $2K.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by jim1960

That would be nice. It would likely put the cost of a very nice studio computer at under $2K.

Indeed, and honestly unlike what was my SOP with Intel based Mac where I would try get the max spec's I could afford. I think with this new Apple silicon with it's greatly improved RAM efficiency (i.e much more performance per GB) and the increased SSD speed, that even a project project type studio, can look at all the spec options with a fair amount of confidence

What I have been threatening to do is use my new MBP (second tier M1 Pro chip) in my studio system with PT and Studio One and see what kind of sessions I can run .

[dcn]

I'm using a MBP 16" M1 Max, 64GB of RAM, with an Apogee Symphony Desktop and Logic. Not a big virtual instruments user, but even with heavy plug-ins on a 12 track session, for example, lots of headroom.