$1299 here for a Macbook Air 13" M1 (2020). So maybe $899 for you guys in the States?
jeff
I spend considrably more than that but usually only 6-8 years apart. And some have service life much longer than that. One of my regular use Macs is a 2005 PowerMac. 17 years old and still going. My others are from 2008, 2012, and 2015 (just the ones i am using).
dave
dave
I use one of our older ipads, it has a screen and I like iTunes. I keep it on airplane mode and have deleted as many apps as I can. I don’t need processing power to just run itunes. I only update or transfer music through a laptop.
I second taking a wintel or winamd machine and drop linux on it. I usually get the 17" el cheapo hp's when costco runs a sale. The current one I have I think was 549 a couple years ago. 8 cpu, 12g, 17" screen, 1TB hdd, cd/dvd wired/wireless ethernet. I usually get a new one every 4-5 years if they run a sale on a noticeably better model.
The main problem with laptops is that you can not use an external liner power supply to power them up.
Definitely consider a NUC. Then build a nice low-noise liner power supply for it. NUCs usually accept anything between 12 and 24V DC, for additional flexibility.
I tried various laptops... but they were all vastly inferior (sound-wise and processing power-wise) to my current NUC11 with an i7-1185 processor. You also get a proper unthrottled turbo-boost capability right from the NUCs BIOS settings, i.e. I can run HQPlayer's very demanding ASDM7ECv2 DSD modulator at 256DSD:
.... not to mention the size difference... the little NUC is only 11 x 11 x 3 cm.
All my wireless devices connect to it via Remote Desktop, so I have full control from all other PCs/laptops/mobiles.
Definitely consider a NUC. Then build a nice low-noise liner power supply for it. NUCs usually accept anything between 12 and 24V DC, for additional flexibility.
I tried various laptops... but they were all vastly inferior (sound-wise and processing power-wise) to my current NUC11 with an i7-1185 processor. You also get a proper unthrottled turbo-boost capability right from the NUCs BIOS settings, i.e. I can run HQPlayer's very demanding ASDM7ECv2 DSD modulator at 256DSD:
.... not to mention the size difference... the little NUC is only 11 x 11 x 3 cm.
All my wireless devices connect to it via Remote Desktop, so I have full control from all other PCs/laptops/mobiles.
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And because it is my primary work tool. No more expensive than a good table saw for instance.
dave
I know this is more than double the budget, but maybe you could find a used one. Seems ideal for an audio machine as there's no fan, and Thinkpad is still basically as good as when it was IBM. (not the rest of Lenovo though LOL)
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/lapt...hinkpad-x13s-(13-inch-snapdragon)/len101t0019
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/lapt...hinkpad-x13s-(13-inch-snapdragon)/len101t0019
In recent years I've had good experience with Mac (Airbook) and Lenovo (T14s with AMD chip), and poor experience with Dell (multiple models, including XPS 13).
I think the NUC suggestion above is worth considering. Quite a few laptops these days optimise for thickness of device over cooling performance, and for a home music server I wouldn't be fussed about a few extra mm of thickness in order to get better cooling.
I think the NUC suggestion above is worth considering. Quite a few laptops these days optimise for thickness of device over cooling performance, and for a home music server I wouldn't be fussed about a few extra mm of thickness in order to get better cooling.
I don’t know why u would spend $ on a new Mac as a music server, a $100-200 eBay laptop running elementary OS (Linux but meant to have an osx look) if u squint you’ll think it’s OSX
From one old Mac user to another: Stay with Mac! Windoze is pure torture.
On Louis Rossmann's advice in early 2020 I bought a used maxed-out mid-2014 13inch MBP for $600, but prices should be much lower now almost 3 years later for this one (which works great!). Later Macs until a year ago have only USB-C connectors which is too limiting. But now the new laptops with the M2 blow everything else away (and have the right sockets), so in a couple of years once I get my 10-12 years from this old Mac I'll look for one.
On Louis Rossmann's advice in early 2020 I bought a used maxed-out mid-2014 13inch MBP for $600, but prices should be much lower now almost 3 years later for this one (which works great!). Later Macs until a year ago have only USB-C connectors which is too limiting. But now the new laptops with the M2 blow everything else away (and have the right sockets), so in a couple of years once I get my 10-12 years from this old Mac I'll look for one.
You don't say how you intend to use the "music server" or what players you have.
Whilst you are deciding, why not load LogiteMediaServer on the Mac. I have the same device (Catalina OS) with LMS installed.
The Local Player (Squeezelite) Plugin can be configured to use the Optical SPDIF output or USB into a dac.
Just a thought 😉
ronnie
My macmini has been great. I did install a ssd and maxed out the RAM. Running Sierra and using jRiver. But I really want something more portable. If I had wifi this would not be an issue. Where I live wifi is very expensive and I can’t justify that just now
I do have an old thinkpad that sits unused with a corrupted os. I’ve thought about resurrecting it but it’s just to old. Since then I’ve gotten away from windows and do like osx better.