LabRat Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 Seeking people smarter than me. I'm going to replace my iMac and per usual I'm weighing up which options are going to work out best for what I need. Last night, a mate told me he's got a few of these laying around and if I wanted one he'll give me one. I know these are still in demand so I said I was keen to grab one. It got me thinking that, in theory, I should be able to overbuild something for a similar cost of getting one brand new but I need to know a few things first. I don't really know where to look, or what to do, but is it possible to build one of these up to spec of a new iMac or iMac pro? I'm talking 6 core i5 or 8 core i9 (whatever is it), all the wireless fruit, usb c, stacks of ram, graphics card for the 5k goodness and so on. considering this is basically just a box it should possible right? OR, is it worth just buying a brand new iMac and call it done?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 You're basically limited by the processor and main board that comes in that model. The new CPUs these days are far more efficient at same/slower clock speeds as the older models. I personally just use a USB-C docking station connected to the MacBook these days. Single cable to charge & connect everything up, single laptop to keep up to date etc.. just depends if you got your laptop with enough spec in it. New Mac Pro's are also coming out in the next few months & they have gone back to the old tower style build (rather than that horrible cylinder) - will be interesting to see what these cost. https://www.macfixit.com.au/docks/docking-stations/thunderbolt/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabRat Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 I’ve been looking at a few videos and it doesn’t seem worth the effort. I may as well spect out an iMac or get a base model iMac pro or something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatLeSS Posted July 23, 2019 Share Posted July 23, 2019 Windows.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabRat Posted July 24, 2019 Author Share Posted July 24, 2019 2 hours ago, BeatLeSS said: Windows.... don't be like that ps- I use windows to run my vinyl cutter. there's nothing on it apart from the software and drivers purely to run the cutter and I've had more issues with that then I've ever had in the 14 years I've been using a Mac OxyKon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 You could always go the hackintosh route. You'd save yourself a ton on parts but not sure how well they work with production shit that requires low latency + having to learn the ins and outs of OS/software/drivers setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabRat Posted July 24, 2019 Author Share Posted July 24, 2019 3 hours ago, Scottie said: You could always go the hackintosh route. You'd save yourself a ton on parts but not sure how well they work with production shit that requires low latency + having to learn the ins and outs of OS/software/drivers setup Yeah it's always possible. My iMac has always been a bit of a slug when you load it up with midi tracks and certain plugins like serum or sample based stuff. I'm trying to avoid it crashing. Most people are telling me the new gen stuff is pretty good and can have a fair bit thrown at it. Is it worth spending the money on memory or the processor? The new gen iMacs have a 6 core i5 or something but you can upgrade it at near the same cost as 32gb ram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 18 hours ago, LabRat said: Yeah it's always possible. My iMac has always been a bit of a slug when you load it up with midi tracks and certain plugins like serum or sample based stuff. I'm trying to avoid it crashing. Most people are telling me the new gen stuff is pretty good and can have a fair bit thrown at it. Is it worth spending the money on memory or the processor? The new gen iMacs have a 6 core i5 or something but you can upgrade it at near the same cost as 32gb ram Both are important, however CPU limit is typically hit before RAM. I just personally bought the 13" MBP with top spec CPU and 16GB RAM. Doubt RAM will ever be an issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabRat Posted July 25, 2019 Author Share Posted July 25, 2019 13 hours ago, Mitch said: Both are important, however CPU limit is typically hit before RAM. I just personally bought the 13" MBP with top spec CPU and 16GB RAM. Doubt RAM will ever be an issue I got screwed when I bought mine. The guy told me the new 8gb ram operates the same as the old 16gb ram. I haven't tried it for music but I've just finished up a few posters and it's having a sweat with some of the bigger images. I knew better which is the worst part but it is what it is. The SSD helps a bit. I gotta figure it out. For design it'll be fine and realistically, the plugins I use eventually have a fit but I'm sure the updates operate better now than the first versions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 On 26/07/2019 at 12:29 AM, LabRat said: I got screwed when I bought mine. The guy told me the new 8gb ram operates the same as the old 16gb ram. I haven't tried it for music but I've just finished up a few posters and it's having a sweat with some of the bigger images. I knew better which is the worst part but it is what it is. The SSD helps a bit. I gotta figure it out. For design it'll be fine and realistically, the plugins I use eventually have a fit but I'm sure the updates operate better now than the first versions Yeah it's really circumstantial I guess.. I try and keep things that run in the background to a minimum so it runs clean - that helps a fair bit too. Just look forward to paying for all the software upgrades for everything to work on the latest Mac OS (still haven't done most of mine yet $$) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabRat Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 3 hours ago, Mitch said: Just look forward to paying for all the software upgrades for everything to work on the latest Mac OS (still haven't done most of mine yet $$) Yup - It sucks when you gotta start all this again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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