Mac Mini Quad Core i7 2.6ghz Powerful enough for Music Production?

[Pie Chips Salad]

Hey,

I wondered if any mac min fans might be able to help me. I have a 2009 imac 2.66ghz dual core 8gb ram reg hd prob 5400rpm. I was waiting to fully go nuts on a top spec BTO order Imac. But I'm slowly thinking a mini might be better for my needs. I'm wanting to use it for music production (ableton). I don't do much else on the computer but the usual. I have a few cpu, ram intensive programs/vsts like omnisphere.

I was thinking a fully specced mac min 2.6ghz, 16gb ram (added myself) and Fusion drive or even 512 ssd might serve my needs perfectly. I don't play games so intergrated graphics is fine at this point. I think I could get a mini for 1100 pounds UK with an IPS 27 inch samsung screen. That is against the 2600-2800 pounds for a new 27 imac with ssd.

My question is do you think a fully BTO mini would serve my audio needs? It should be atleast twice the speed of my current imac? Or is the imac still the best value for money?

I wondered if someone could say anything to help me decide?

Thanks in advance

 

[henchman]

As I've stated before. I would get the 2011 Mac mini server, and save yourself the money. This way you get the dual internal 7200 RPM drives.
The speedboost in the 2012 is not a big enough difference versus the 7200rpm drives, IMO.

 

[Beezer900]

I used to do full audio and midi sequencing with a stack of VSTis on a PIII 500 MHz. I think you'll be fine.

 

[propower]

Short answer, I think so.....
Long answer
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1479015/

 

[thestickman]

Been using my i7 2.3 Mini to run Pro Tools 9 & Logic without any problems. CPU usage barely gets to 25% with 50+ tracks & many plugins.

For the $$$, I've never had a finer computer to make music with.