Bought a used iMac... did I mess up?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tomsawyer83
  • Start date Start date
T

tomsawyer83

New member
Hello folks. I'm looking for some advice. My old recording rig was a Sony Vaio laptop (2ghz centrino t5800, 3gb RAM). It worked pretty well, but I often found myself running out of RAM due (mainly) to vst instruments, and sometimes hitting the wall on the processor side of things as well... so I've been in the market for a new machine. Today I impulse-bought a used 27" imac. It's running a Core 2 Duo @3ghz, 8gb RAM. It's a beautiful machine, but I'm concerned I didn't get much of an upgrade in the processor department, and since i spent $700 I feel kinda... well, let's just say I'm experiencing buyer's remorse. Considering the processor in my old machine wasn't too much of an issue (generally the issue was RAM) did I get enough of a performance increase in that department to justify the purchase? Or should I sell it again and shoot for something with a newer processor? Appreciate any insight you can offer.
 
IME i've yet to find an iMac that doesn't piss all over windows laptops of a similar spec. i have a macbook pro i5 with 4gb ram and have never had any problems dealing with a lot of audio and virtual instruments. i seriously doubt you'll have any problems with the iMac. hell, i had a 2002 powerbook 800ghz PPC with 1gb ram that did a sterling job for years until it died.

my advice; try it for a month or so and if it doesn't meet your needs then sell it on. you can probably sell it on for what you paid for it (i think 8gb ram may be the max it can take but you may be able to get more in so that may be another avenue)
 
A core2duo @ 3ghz will be a hell of a lot better than a 2ghz centrino mobile laptop.

Give it some time. You'll see.
Plus, you won't have to take it to the doctor in three months. :)


BTW, You shouldn't need it, but a couple of places sell 16gb ram kits for MBP and imac.
Apple doesn't mention that they accept 16gb, but some of the modern ones will.
 
Thanks folks. Feeling better about it already. I've been out of the PC hardware loop for a number of years, so when I see all these machines with i5's and i7's and quadcore this-and-thats i get processor inferiority syndrome. It's going to be a while before I actually get the software in order to test the machine's capabilites, so it's nice to have the reassurance in the meantime that I didn't buy something woefully underpowered by today's standards. Regarding the suggested RAM upgrade, I believe it does handle 16gb. I have a feeling 8 will be enough. More comments welcome!
 
tbf, i upgraded from a macbook white core 2 duo with 4gb's of ram to the new macbook pro and, although there is some difference in performance, i never had any problem with the macbook white and would've kept using it if i hadn't have broken the flippin screen :facepalm: i still have it purely as a backup/extra hard drive running into a tv screen with a VGA input.

if you haven't already, have a play around with Garageband and see how hard you can push it with loops and software instruments :D
 
You can record on a computer!?!

Next you'll be telling me that all of my rack gear is not of any further use. :facepalm:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top