The Dreaded Upgrade - advice?

[rightintheface]

Gang,
Thinking of (finally) updating my system, and I'm wondering what the brains trust reckons. Bear in mind that I'm not running a pro studio by any means, just a home setup and therefore "home quality" gear/software. That said, keeping up to date is important to stay compatible with other artists work with.

I recently purchased a 2nd hand MBP for live/location work that is running Yosemite, whereas my old iMac is running Snow Leopard still. Seeing as I'm upgrading phones, devices etc etc I essentially have to update the iMac to keep my whole entourage of devices compatible. Problem is, it then throws Pro Tools in the bin (PT8 doesn't work with osx 10.6 as far as I can see).

Here's the iMac setup:

2009 iMac - 3.06 GHz, 4GB DDR3
OSX 10.6.8
Pro Tools M powered 8
Maschine 1.8
Interface: M-Audio Profire 2626

One of the main reasons for upgrading is to achieve cross-compatibility with the MBP and iMac, and I'm pretty much stuck on UP-grading (rather than downgrading the MBP to snow leopard) as I really need to upgrade to Maschine v2 which isn't compatible on Snow Leopard.
My main concern is what to do Pro Tools-wise: to crossgrade up to PT12 I'm looking at $199 (+ switchiing from iLok 1 to iLok 2), but I wonder if this is the best option, or if I should jump over to Reaper or other DAW? I'm pretty comfortable with PT and it works for me, I don't have bundles of 3rd party plugs so that's not a big issue. I downloaded Reaper a while back but never really gave it much time as I missed all my PT shortcuts and Hotkeys - plus losing PT skills needed for working in most commercial studios.

Has anybody done a big leap (i.e. PT8 to 12)? What was your experience? Any other options I should consider?
Thanks in advance lads.

PS let's not drop into an anti-Avid debate, we all know well how rubbish they are as a company

[gigpiglet]

hi mate
we recently went from OS10.7 and PT 10 (which ran well for years) to all new HDX, OS 10.10 and PT11 (which so far seems fine)

PT 10 is a LOT cheaper to get to than 11 (as technically its "old"

but for "most" intents and purposes it is "current" in that its still a PTX file and can open current/ save current sessions. we never had any issues being on 10. the reason for upgrading was less the software and more the hardware.

10.7 still seems pretty current and similar to following OS as well (its certainly a big step up in the family from 10.6)

so putting everything on 10.7 and running PT10 could be a good stepping stone... plenty of places are still on PT10..

bear in mind the 4GB of ram in you mac will likely start to be pushed running OS10.10 and PT12 (the newer OS systems really go hard on the ram)

if you DO decide to go all the way, id still consider going to 10.10 and PT11.
many people running that around the world pretty bug free (and with lots of support on google if you do run into problems)
jumping to PT12 seems risky to me (and for no real gains)

thats my advice from a many mac/ many pro tools systems guy (im currently at 10 macs, 7 of them with some form of PT on them)

[rightintheface]

Hey Gareth
Mate, that was the exact advice I needed - much appreciated mate! Will look into the jump to PT10 instead of to 12, and I think I'll be looking at upgrading my RAM while I'm at it...
Cheers Mate!