Internal SSD strongly recommended over any fusion. PS - 16GB Ram absolutely! 32 better but very pricey (I have 32G + 8G standard in mine - cost $240). 256 can work for OS only with USB external SSD for sessions and samples. 512 is good - 1TB better (price for speed is cheaper than virtually all external SSD solutions).

What I really like about the 27' i5 is that you can run Logic all the way to Max load and never get above the idle fan speed. All that said - the i7 in the 21.5 looks like a very interesting chip but I have no idea how hot it runs (or how hot any i5 runs in the 21.5). But - for all the home musicians - if you are not consistently loading your i7 past 50% CPU load - an i5 would do the same work. I have owned many Macs starting with the PowerMac 9600 in 98. It is always an option to simply freeze any number of high CPU tracks to free up resources.įolks who need an i7 are (IMO) are big VI users - orchestrators - and people averaging 100 to 200 tracks with tons of plugins. I have done a test of 4 LogicProX drummers - 100 Audio tracks - 300 standard Logic plugins (comp, EQ, Delay on every track) + a CPU hungry convolution Reverb - 50% CPU load on the base 3.4GHz i5 27'. IMO all of the 2017 i5 machines will do what you are looking for and accomodate much larger sessions as well.

I recently got the 27' i5 3.8 but also tried the 3.4 and the i7.

Imac music studio