I need help picking a computer for video editing

[akenney]

Hi!

I'm currently in the market for a new imac to use premiere for my video editing. I need help in figuring out what system is going to have the smoothest playback from my canon 5d mark 2 for full length movies. I want Premiere to run smoothly as well. I appreciate any help!

 

[Fishrrman]

Will it be 1080p or 4k video?

If 4k, you'd probably want:
- 27" 5k iMac w/i7 inside
- iMac Pro
- 2018 Mini (possibly with e/GPU?)

 

[akenney]

Will it be 1080p or 4k video?

If 4k, you'd probably want:
- 27" 5k iMac w/i7 inside
- iMac Pro
- 2018 Mini (possibly with e/GPU?)

its 1080p
[doublepost=1550591198][/doublepost]

its 1080p

What would you recommend for that?

 

[Fishrrman]

For 1080p, I think almost any modern Mac will get the job done.
I like the 2017 5k 27" iMac with the 3.5ghz CPU.
MAKE SURE that you get an internal SSD (and NOT a "fusion drive").
These have to be special-ordered through Apple's online ordering.

 

[akenney]

For 1080p, I think almost any modern Mac will get the job done.
I like the 2017 5k 27" iMac with the 3.5ghz CPU.
MAKE SURE that you get an internal SSD (and NOT a "fusion drive").
These have to be special-ordered through Apple's online ordering.

thank you!

 

[BeechFlyer]

A 27" iMac with i7 processor makes a great editing machine for HD content.
I agree with Fishrrman that an internal SSD is much better than a traditional spinning or fusion drive.

One mistake I made when I bought my iMac is I maxed out the internal SSD size (2TB). Looking back that was much more than I needed, for I have an external RAID (drobo, with Tunderbolt 3) for mass storage which I use for media storage when editing. Apple's internal SSD is very fast, but also very expensive - and you can't move them to a new iMac if you buy a new computer later.

 

[Mark Holmes]

When building a system make sure you budget for robust external drives for media, preferably RAID configured. I edit multicam 4k on a mid range 2017 imac with Synology RAID and am very happy. But I’m using FCPX. I tried Premiere with this configuration and didn’t get near the performance.

 

[dandeco]

Heck, my 2012 quad-core i7 Mac Mini with the RAM maxed out to 16 GB edits 1080p in Final Cut Pro X pretty well! Though I do plan to replace the internal hard drive with a SSD next month.