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Thank you all very much for all your advice.
The screen I have recently acquired is of pretty good quality and is HDMI 21”. I’m currently using it with an Acer SFF PC which itself is pretty old. Owing to financial restraints, I think I would have to looking at a late 2012 Mac Mini. The pension doesn’t go very far these days!

Thanks again

Ian

Ian Miller wrote:Thank you all very much for all your advice.
The screen I have recently acquired is of pretty good quality and is HDMI 21”. I’m currently using it with an Acer SFF PC which itself is pretty old. Owing to financial restraints, I think I would have to looking at a late 2012 Mac Mini. The pension doesn’t go very far these days!

Thanks again

Ian

Well I'd love the latest stuff but I still use a 2011 Mac Mini with Logic Pro X and it does everything I'd ever need as a pro musician and sound recordist.
For under £300 you should find something to do the job and the monitor will work fine.

Hank2k wrote:Although it’s only 8gb and 16gb of ram it is blowing away machines that are running 64gb of ram. The m1 chip is a real game changer.

The only thought I have is that the chip and the RAM do different jobs. The chip governs the processing and the RAM determines how big a project you can be tackling before (slower) swap/page files are needed. I think that’s right but I’m happy to be corrected by someone more up to date than I am.

Iain Purdon wrote:

Hank2k wrote:Although it’s only 8gb and 16gb of ram it is blowing away machines that are running 64gb of ram. The m1 chip is a real game changer.

The only thought I have is that the chip and the RAM do different jobs. The chip governs the processing and the RAM determines how big a project you can be tackling before (slower) swap/page files are needed. I think that’s right but I’m happy to be corrected by someone more up to date than I am.

From what i understand the M1 chip is all in one with the ram etc and they work together better this way. It is certainly substantially more power efficient and runs a lot cooler

I don't pretend to understand it all but im very impressed with the performance compared to other systems certainly for what i do with video editing and logic with VST plugins etc.

Hi Ian,

If you could perhaps set out what your objectives are, i.e. - playing along to your own backing tracks, obtaining your favourite guitar sound, with a view to returning to playing live again, you may receive advice more relevant to your physical needs and aspirations.

I am now aged 74, so I have to consider things in the light of - do I need this? - and will I have use of it? - and for how much longer? I (and perhaps you, depending on your personal situation) really miss the old person to person, face to face question and answer sessions, along with hands-on demonstration of the hardware!

Some of the younger and more able folks have put up some very helpful visual advice on the internet. Pending any eventual return of access to the Shadows Clubs and re-opening of the guitar shops, we may have to go with what we have for a while.

Never give up trying.
With best wishes and kindest regards,
Christopher

Hi Christopher,

Thank you for reply.
Basically I want to get back into doing a bit of recording whether it be guitar to backing track or keyboard etc. A couple of friends use GarageBand very successfully and having had a look at how things are done with GB, I think it will suit me very well. My initial thoughts were which way should I do this, hence my question iMac or Mac Mini.
In these difficult times, and with advancing years (76 in few weeks), I think it’s important to keep the mind active and still having enthusiasm to play music. So with that in mind, I’ll have a crack at it as long as it’s within my means! I had a go yesterday at using my iPad mirrored to my monitor. The mirroring worked ok but there were other problems such as latency & sound which really makes it a no go! All good fun just the same though. So in due course I’ll be looking out for a Mac Mini and give that a go.

Thanks again for your interest Christopher.

All the best & Happy New Year

Ian