You can always upgrade the ram later and for a cheaper price. Ram is a user servicable part and will not invalidate your warranty. But of course the decision is completely yours! I haven't come across the Audiogram 6, but I use the Duet a fair amount and it is one of my favourite interfaces. The Mic inputs are very very high quality and the interface just works really nicely with GB, Logic, FCP and STP. Many factors make a difference when it comes to recording and production. Audio interface is very important as are the microphones, cables, monitors and headphones and one that is often forgotten, the room you are recording and monitoring in. Placement of monitors also makes a huge difference. Hope that helps :) Rounik

Oh my God... So, I just went ahead and ordered the 27" iMac with an i7 processor. I'm going to upgrade the RAM later on, as I see on OWC.com that the 16GB is falling in price almost daily. It should be here by March 9th is the word. I'll keep you all posted! I did get the AppleCare immediately with the purchase, and since it was with an educational discount, I extended my MobileMe account as well. I did make the decision to get the keyboard WITH the numerical pad, because the wireless one I currently have, albeit fun and convenient, does make Logic difficult with regards to key commands. The Magic Mouse will be awesome. I can't STAND my current scroll ball. It really makes me want to run berserk through the streets with nothing but shoes. Jamie

Hey Jamie! Great news. Would be interesting to do a "Logic benchmark test" on your current setup and then one on the new machine... What do you think? Perhaps I can rig something up to do a real-world test. I had the pleasure of using the Magic Mouse recently at some training sessions. Very smooth and effortless indeed! Cheers Rounik

Sounds great, Rounik! What did you have in mind? My first test is going to be an offline bounce. I want to see how effective the processing is during that event, especially with a good number of synths that are known to be CPU-heavy. I had a chance to fool around with the magic mouse at Best Buy the other day. It really is going to make it much easier to move around. The zoom function is going to be great, especially in logic. If you'd like to do a test, I can run a screen capture in Quicktime and post it for those here who are interested in viewing the results! Just let me know what I have to do! I might actually be able to run the tests on my current machine, the i7 with 4GB, and then after when I upgrade to the 16GB. I know the 16 won't be fully utilized, but it'd definitely be interesting to see. Jamie

Hi Jamie, I was thinking of something more like this: Posting a Logic project that anyone using Logic 8/9/9.1 can open and play and see how many tracks they can playback fully before getting the 'System Overload' alert. I'll post this in a new thread to keep it simple and post a link to that thread here: [url]http://www.macprovideo.com/forum/logic/logic-pro-express&id=24140[/url] I used my lowly 2008 MBP with 2GB ram which was closest to hand :) Rounik

Guys this is fascinating. I'm in an identical position. My computer guy who has been advising me is saying this... Yes. The iMac's are getting very good performance reviews, but can't hold a candle to an 8 Core Mac Pro. Remember a standard iMac has 2 Cores and these top spec units are Quad Core, but up until now we have been talking 8 Core (2 x Quad Core) Mac Pro's. With Hyper Threading you get double the number of Core's giving you 8 virtual Cores on the top iMac and a massive 16 virtual Cores on an 8 Core Mac Pro. This shouldn't stop you from looking at an iMac, but they are totally different units. Also the iMac can only have 1 internal hard drive and only have 1 additional screen attached. The problem is I need to get a mac, one or two screens, all the peripherals and have change from £5k - but I've been looking at a macpro until now. I use lots of VSL orchestral stuff, the vienna imperial piano, the spectrasonics full set, EWSO and the symphonic choirs as well as SDII - from EW. Do you think that an i7 with 16 gig of RAM in its top spec would handle that lot happily, or do i need to go the whole hog and get a macpro. The ipad will have to wait another month methinks... What are your thoughts? Best David T

David, You're using a whole bunch of hefty instrument packages, but from what I understand, Logic can't (as yet) actually access all the RAM or processing power on ANY of the machines we are discussing. As far as expandability, it looks like your screen requirements are going to be the deciding factor, and until Logic actually uses the hyperthreading capabilities of the multi-core machines, we're stuck with way more than we need. I'm thinking it's much better to be way ahead of the game and hope that Logic is ramped up to take advantage of the processing technology that has emerged here. That way, I have already prepared for any "updates." The only thing that does concern me about the iMac I just bought is the fact that it has only one FW800 port. If I wanted to use anything else besides my Duet, I'd have to figure out a way to get the most out of one port. Jamie

Jamie. So are you saying that Logic can't access hyperthreading? I didn't know that! I don't really need more than two screens - but do you think that the imac is good enough in comparison to the macpro... or would you sell your 2nd kidney and go for the pro option? I notice you've plumped for the imac. The one FW port is annoying, but all can be daisy-chained, so it's not the end of the world... Mond you, I use a motu 828mkII interface, so I'd have to check that it will work with that i guess! What do you think? David

Hi David! As far as I've read online and on the apple boards, Logic does not have the ability to do that yet. Reading some of the accounts over there, I remember reading that someone had assessed Logic as using only 25% of the cores total capability on 64-bit before hitting the ceiling. Not exactly optimized yet, but like I've said, I'm buying now for the future. I guess the decision between the iMac and the MP is really boiling down to preference. I myself like the ease, look, and the "one cord" aspect of the iMac. If you would rather look at expandability and the FW ports you get on the MP, then that would probably be the best choice. As far as Logic is concerned right now, it seems that the consensus is that BOTH machines are way more than would be needed to run Logic at maximum. If I had the choice of either machine and money wasn't so much of an option, I'd probably go with a MP linked to an HD projector, ridding myself of the need for a screen at all. But it'd be a hard decision because the iMac, for what I want and need to do, is just as capable. (And it just seems so much sexier on my desk...) Jamie

Mmmm... I know what you mean about the sexy desk. The issue for me is really this: I am making music using intensive sound sources. I have an unexpected windfall with a job that's come in - I have about 8k to update the studio. But with that money, I want to update sound sources, maybe get a control surface, and update the computer. If an imac will do the biz in terms of running the sound sources i need - I have no other reason for a macpro. It's not down to having more than two screens... It's not down to graphics capability - it's just, will it run LA scoring strings with a trilian an omnisphere and a symphonic choir etc.... If the consensus is that a 16 gig imac can handle that - then why buy the macpro.... but if it's possible that it'll just need more juice than it can give, then I'll have to look at the other option. I'll talk to the guys on the VSL forums and maybe even the Quantum Leap East west forum as well - but the imac seems like such a good option if it's powerful enough! Thanks for your input and if you have any further thoughts, let me know! David