hey guys, so far i been workin with an iMac 27" (late 2009) Quad-Core i7, 16GB RAM and 1TB HD with Logic Pro X. I assume the graphic card died yesterday after trying to cut a video in iMovie. The computer froze and I had green pixels all over the screen and now when i turn it on, i have pink stripes from top to bottom and the system doesn't boot anymore. I got it to work one more time and luckily managed to start time machine to run the back up. So here I am now, in desperate need of a new Mac and looking for the right one to buy. Options for me are following: Mac Pro 2012 6-Core, 32GB RAM and 2TB HD Mac Pro 2012 12-Core, 32GB RAM and 2TB HD brand-new iMac 4-Core i7, 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD The old Mac Pro's are actually much cheaper than a new iMac with 1TB Flash Drive, despite the fact i would need two Screens on top of that. At the moment i only work with Software Instruments, such as Native Instruments Kontakt, NI Massive but most of the time Omnisphere 2. I also use lots of 3rd party Audio FX on single tracks such as Waves, FabFilter & Sonalksis. I definitely had a little trouble in the past with opening and operating in bigger projects on my iMac, so i definitely need an upgrade here, RAM and CPU wise. but in the future i'm also only planning to upgrade my studio with analog gear. Would be awesome if anyone could help me choose the next Mac. Thanks in advance.
Apple and most other companies design their products to fail, so beware of closed systems, especially ones that you cannot fix yourself or have repaired cheaply. Message for 9000k: Thanks for the Dislike. Planned obsolescence is a standard business practice across all industries. Last edited: Feb 21, 2016
Since you are relying on DSP power for your VSTi's and you're working with LP X, I'd say go with Mac Pro 2012 12-Core, 32GB RAM and 2TB HD Edit: Oh, and check the drive speed as well. If you have multiple instances of Kontakt, you'll definitely need a HD with 7200 RPM or faster Cheers
Ahoi! All machines are real beasts and the price-tag doesn't seem to be a problem As you wrote "video editing", I would take the Mac Pro as this machine can be upgraded (well ... within Apple's narrow boundaries) and has the better cooling-system. Downside with Mac Pros: you never know when Apple pulls the plug and discontinues the model (I have "old", Xeon-based Mac Pros and they are truly the shit!) iMac with 4k-display I installed recently for a friend. Excellent machine, sweet display .... but ... thin like a leaf. That may be aesthetically pleasing but if you are doing video-editing with maybe lotsa CUDA/OpenCL cycles then you will have a heat issue (like you have now with your old iMac). Thin looks sweet, but you just can't fool the laws of physics
just one question: the Graphic Card broke... and the entire PC is now broken?? I mean, isn't it possible to switch graphic card??? I'm not sarcastic, I'm sincerely trying to understand how do Macs work
GPU-replacement is possible on some iMacs, but I think a wee bit more meat under the hood is also of the essence in <musicislife's> conundrum.
i actually don't do video editing, only little stuff like still-picture videos to upload music to youtube (only my own ;)) all i really do is music production. i make house music, which means i work a lot with filter rides, automation and so on. with let's say 50+ tracks in a project, each equipped with a few AU's, such as EQ's, compressors and stuff, my iMac had problems here and then. In the future i want my system to run stable of course and there's actually no way around a Mac Pro but the new iMac would fit perfectly in my studio but i have the feeling it's too expensive compared to the 12-core Mac Pro from 2012. Btw, the new iMac comes with a 5K screen.
well, i'm pretty sure u can switch the graphic card, although it's a little tricky because you have to replace the screen first and not every graphic card fits in that thin thing... why the computer freezes, i really have no idea. i can only assume the defective graphic card is sending signals to the motherboard so it freezes... i'm no expert as u can tell... lol
I was watching a documentary about it the other day. They have builtin planned obsolescence by using specific components that will fail prematurely. I would never buy any product where I could not replace individual components myself. Last edited: Feb 18, 2016
so are u suggesting to buy a Hackintosh? Well, I actually have noone to build it for me and i would want somebody who really knows his shit and i don't want to have anything to do with Windows (not sure if it's even need to build a Hackintosh)...
Stick with Apple if you can factor in the continuous upgrade cycle. That is their business model, and the reason why they are the richest company on the planet. Personally, I would at least investigate a Hackintosh BTW I do have a MacBook Pro here, so I am not telling you to avoid Apple, just pointing out what the game is regarding failed components and unrepairable machines This is a great video about planned obsolescence in general And some lowdown on Apple business practices Last edited: Feb 18, 2016
What you describe sounds like a typical heat issue, allthemore as the card "came back" after it first fritzed out. => https://www.google.at/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=iMac+heat+issue
Personnaly i've got my Mac pro since 2010. It's still working more than well and still surpassing most of PC configs in term of stability and speed.
well, it was turned off all night, so it's really cooled off now, i just turned it on and nope, i'm afraid it's more than a heat problem ,don't u think? after this screen, it turns white and freezes.
Mac Pro seems to be a bit tougher that their consumer stuff, which makes sense as it is their flagship product used by industry professionals. The sales of these machines are fairly modest, but they are a good advertising tool.
your stripes are the result of the GPU melting down ... it's really a way too common issue with iMacs => https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4711078?start=0&tstart=0 EDIT: to clearify: the damage was already done yesterday when it first went haywire. whatever you experience now is highly unpredictable. As you can read in the above thread: either the gfx card overheats or the hot GPU damages other components in its vicinity. Whatever it is: for a production environment your iMac most probably is a goner, unless you have it repaired. Last edited: Feb 18, 2016
