Will 8gb ram last for running programmes like Logic Pro X and Mainstage?

I would go for as much memory as you can afford. There should not be a problem with 8GB though unless you plan on running many application at the same time.

I would consider 8GB the bare minimum. As long as you restart your machine and only launch Logic (no other unnecessary stuff in the background), then the time factor (for the next couple of years) down the road is not an issue. Don't run Safari, Mail or others while using Logic!

Only if Logic itself requires more resources with future updates. Unlike other apps, however, Logic seems to run pretty "lean" and they might continue to do so.

But, there is no guarantee.

Hope that helps

Edgar Rothermich - LogicProGEM.com

(Author of the "Graphically Enhanced Manuals")

http://DingDingMusic.com/Manuals/

'I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.'

There is one other possible problem... a 128gb hard drive is -very- small, the full Logic install is 50gb, if you're going to spend money on anything spend it on a larger hard drive. Logic will not let you Install it on a second drive, it has to be installed on the system drive. Logic itself is not large but all the loops and libraries are, moving them to an external drive is a major chore and not for the faint of heart. Considering how large the operating system is a 128gb drive is not going to cut it.... (in my opinion)

Yes, that will work... but to install Logic it first downloads everything then installs so you practically need double the room... also, remember that OSX writes large swap files and needs lot of free hard drive space.

Yes, you may be able to make it work but you will be limited by that small a hard drive. All those "other things" you wish to use the computer for also require hard drive space.

lberry98 wrote:

okay. Would a 2.7ghz 8gb ram and 256gb hard drive be a better choice? Would this suffice?

Absolutely, but you should let some others chime in with their advice.

Bump-

lberry98 wrote:

So, you're saying that I shouldn't run other programs at the same time as logic?

What is the issue in doing this? (Just so I understand! 🙂)

There are two things to keep in mind.

No 1

Every program that you launch will store some data in RAM. The more apps you have open at any time the more they have to fight for the available RAM (especially if you have little RAM available). If there is not enough RAM, then the data will be "outsourced" to the hard drive. This has one terrible side effect. Data that needs to be written and read from the RAM is fast, but hard drive is slow, which means in the case of Logic, some real time data (like audio) will not be available fast enough and might cause clicks or overload messages.

No 2.

Even if you close all the apps that you had open before starting to work with Logic might not do the trick. OSX keeps data of an app in the RAM even if you close that app, in case you re-open the app and then OSX has that data available. If you open and close apps and then start with Logic, the state of you RAM is what's called "fragmented". OSX has to decide which data to keep which one to throw away, which one to prioritize for Logic, etc. If you restart your computer, your RAM is wiped out and in a clean state. Now you start Logic and work on it. Even if you open and close different Logic Projects during the course of the day, it might be a good idea to restart your computer to get rid of some "left-overs".

Hope that helps

Edgar Rothermich - LogicProGEM.com

(Author of the "Graphically Enhanced Manuals")

http://DingDingMusic.com/Manuals/

'I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.'

FWIW I frequently mix 20+ track projects in Logic on a 2009 MacBook Pro 13 with 8GB of RAM with few issues. The issues that DO happen are about my older Core 2 Duo processor, not lack of RAM. You should be quite ok with a newer 8GB setup, especially with an SSD.