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I am a newbie, thinking about buying a new iMac G5, for my DAW...but I am unsure about whether or not it will be powerful enough to do everything I want it to. The iMac G5 is only a single processor (as opposed to the Power Mac, which is dual). It also has a slower bus speed (600mhz vs 900).

Will the iMac be powerful enough to run Logic 6.0? Future versions of Logic? With plugins? With multiple programs open? Is Logic 6.0 designed to take advantage of a DUAL processor?

Obviously, if price wasn't a consideration, I'd go with the Power Mac. However, it looks like I can save $1,000 or so with the iMac...

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

-Jay

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maintiger Thu, 09/23/2004 - 09:04

The imac will get you up and running- I have a dual 867 G4 and it is sufficient for the projects I do- between 24 to 40 tracks with moderate use of plug-ins- the G5 imac should be comparable- If money is an issue you should also look into buying a used dual G4- an used 1GB G4 will run you about 1k, a dual 867 about 700-800 bucs.

I am planning to keep my dual 867 another year or two tops- the reason is because I've been using soft synths more and more- mach five, atmosphere, garitan personal orchestra, DFHS- and each instance does take a big chunk of processing- I've been having to print the tracks as I go and that is an extra step I could skip if I had more power, as in a dual top of the line G5

As far as recording is concerned, though, either the imac G5 or a dual G4 should be enough for moderate (24-40) track counts- the only issue is that if you get heavy into softsynths like I've been lately, you will eventually want more power and you will be breaking out your visa again in a year or two