Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

Thanks very much for the full replies to this query. I blush to think how 
little I know about the techy side of things but I'll take all the advice on 
board and cross my fingers when I come to actually choose! 

thanks again 

Andy B 

Luther Baker writes: 

> I have the $1199 aluminum iMac (20inch). 
> 
> I bought it last May and immediately maxed it out with 4B or Ram from  
> newegg ... and now I run Logic Express without any trouble. I also  
> have an RME FireFace 800 of which the standard Firewire 400 port does  
> NOT work. Apparently the new iMac's are not using the TI (Texas  
> Instruments) made Firewire 400 interface and the RME Fireface driver  
> has trouble with that. 
> 
> http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=11068 
> 
> But, fortunately, the Fireface has two Firewire 800 ports which the  
> iMac also has. I went to my neighborhood Mac Store for this cable  
> (Best Buy generally doesn't carry the Firewire 800 cables - their  
> sales kids were terrible at trying to grasp at what I was asking for). 
> 
> Anyway, I run a few of the soft synths that came with the software,  
> two MOTU MIDI interfaces, the RME fireface and Addictive Drums and the  
> CPU and Memory barely ever blip. Mind you, I'm not doing anything  
> significant ... but so far, so good. 
> 
> In other words, any of the aluminum iMacs should suite you just fine.  
> The larger the monitor, the taller you can make your faders and the  
> more tracks you'll see - but I'm doing just fine with the 20inch ...  
> and even plugged in a second monitor. Don't forget to get the  
> converter for that port. The iMacs do not have a standard DVI port (or  
> VGA for that matter). The do have goofy DVI jack of which the sell a  
> $20 adapter for several different monitor types ... of which I can  
> attest to, the standard DVI works just fine. 
> 
> If, on the other hand, you need to attach a set of Apogee converters  
> or Pro Tools interfaces and want to make sure you can install your OWN  
> firewire interface, you will likely need the Mac tower to accommodate  
> amongst other things, peripheral PCI cards, etc. 
> 
> Hope that helps. For what its worth, in Britney's 'Making of Circus'  
> mini movie, one of the producers can be seen working in ProTools on a  
> large screen iMac. I don't think you can wrong with any of the new  
> Mac's ... unless you get something like the mini which I'd avoid for  
> your purposes. One of the biggest differences between the aluminum  
> iMacs is the graphics card ... and unfortunately, I'm not sure how  
> much that really buys you. 
> 
> -Luther 
> 
>  
> 
> On Feb 11, 2009, at 11:24 AM, Andy Brook wrote: 
> 
>> I have a fairly new macbook pro which is playing up - overheating,  
>> several
>> keys have stopped working, doesn't always start up properly and even  
>> so, it
>> was my first mac and I fell in love with mac compared to a pc. I am  
>> going to
>> buy a new mac, with a budget of up to the price of a macbook pro,  
>> but I
>> don't necessarily need a laptop. 
>>
>> Could anyone suggest what I should go for within that sort of  
>> budget? Other
>> than that I don't want an absolutely huge ugly monster of a computer  
>> in my
>> living room, I want to go for whatever is best for logic pro  
>> (including
>> recording audio). 
>>
>> I love computers but haven't got a clue when it comes to deciding  
>> what to
>> get so any help would be much appreciated. 
>>
>> By the way, thank you for the help in unmuting the tracks. The live  
>> gig went
>> down a storm. 
>>
>> Andy B 
>>
>> 
>  
> 
> 
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