Imac for HD video editing

[cirdan]

Hi to all members.
This appears to be a really informative forum for existing and potential mac owners. I'd like to start, as a "Mac noob" by asking the following please.
Thinking seriously of getting an Imac 24" but I would like to be able to edit HD (1080) video on it down the track. Would an Imac cope with this or would a Mac Pro be better (or overkill)and which would be most efficient, the 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz or a 3.06GHz, if I went with an Imac
Video card NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 512MB or a # ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB. Having trawled through the threads, from the beginning of August(I'll go back further later), it's clear that 4 Gb of RAM is certainly enough.
Any constructive suggestions would be most appreciated please.

Thank you in anticipation,
Cirdan

 

[Jabbamk1]

yep, 4GB of ram will be enough but bear in mind that the iMac uses laptop processors so they are not the best compared to the xeons the mac pro uses. If this is for work get a mac pro. For family vids or loads of homemade/slightly pro movies get the high end iMac with a GT130 at least.

The Mac Pro is much more upgradable compared to the iMac and will run future versions of Final cut/iMovie much better.

 

[cirdan]

If this is for work get a mac pro. For family vids or loads of homemade/slightly pro movies get the high end iMac with a GT130 at least.
The Mac Pro is much more upgradable compared to the iMac and will run future versions of Final cut/iMovie much better.

Thanks for the response Jabbamk1
Primarily for for home video and CS4 editing and a little gaming when I have time. The Mac Pro is clearly better but it is comparatively expensive and I thought it could be overkill for home video albeit 1080 HD. I guess I'm leaning towards the high end Imac but is there really much difference between the 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz or a 3.06GHz, apart from the size of the hard drive and the better video card(which you can configure in the purchase of any of those three anyway)?

 

[JamesGorman]

Thanks for the response Jabbamk1
Primarily for for home video and CS4 editing and a little gaming when I have time. The Mac Pro is clearly better but it is comparatively expensive and I thought it could be overkill for home video albeit 1080 HD. I guess I'm leaning towards the high end Imac but is there really much difference between the 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz or a 3.06GHz, apart from the size of the hard drive and the better video card(which you can configure in the purchase of any of those three anyway)?

For video editing, you'll probably want to go with the 3.06GHz model.

 

[munkees]

I have an iMac 2.8 Ghz Extreme (from 2007), 256MB GVRAM with a ATI HD 2600 PRO and with 4 GB of ram, and it has not problems editing movies, non what so every, it will works fine, my mem bus is 667mhz, but a new iMac with the 1G frontside bus, 4+ gb of ram is more than enough. I edit 720p and 1080p, never had much of a performance hit.

 

[iObama]

I have the last revision iMac with 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo and 4GB RAM. This thing FLIES in Final Cut Studio as well as all of the Adobe apps. Just make sure you max it out, minus the 8GB of RAM. It's too expensive right now, so stick with 4GB until prices come down.

 

[cirdan]

Thanks everyone. Looks like the Imac is the way to go. I'm looking forward to coming over to the other side(from Windows of course).

 

[zedsdead]

Thanks everyone. Looks like the Imac is the way to go. I'm looking forward to coming over to the other side(from Windows of course).

Go with the high end 3.06 as others have said, plus the ATI Card.

 

[Sirmausalot]

What he said. The only downside to the iMac over the much more expensive Mac Pros is the relatively slow encoding times. So depending on the project, you just let it go overnight. The iMac is a great HD editing machine and 4GB of ram is plenty. Spring for the best video card they let you get though.

Also, get a second 'bin' monitor so you can use the iMac solely for time line and video. It can be a cheapo 19" or something.

I have an iMac 2.8 Ghz Extreme (from 2007), 256MB GVRAM with a ATI HD 2600 PRO and with 4 GB of ram, and it has not problems editing movies, non what so every, it will works fine, my mem bus is 667mhz, but a new iMac with the 1G frontside bus, 4+ gb of ram is more than enough. I edit 720p and 1080p, never had much of a performance hit.

 

[cirdan]

What he said. The only downside to the iMac over the much more expensive Mac Pros is the relatively slow encoding times. So depending on the project, you just let it go overnight. The iMac is a great HD editing machine and 4GB of ram is plenty. Spring for the best video card they let you get though.

Also, get a second 'bin' monitor so you can use the iMac solely for time line and video. It can be a cheapo 19" or something.

Yeah I plan to use my existing monitor(23" Viewsonic) as a bin monitor and I'd like to network in my current PC(850gig HD). I've also got a 1 terabyte external drive so should have plenty of HD space to work with.

 

[sbb155]

amazing misinformation here
the graphics card has nothing or little to do with video editing
a 3 year old mac pro (dual 2.66) for $1400 on ebay will be faster than any current imac for video editing - check out benchmarks
if you spend more money, the mac pro - used or new is the way to go

now if you are doing casual video editing, the horsepower may not be needed. But the imac is an inherent dog compared to even older mac pros for video editing.
as the same question on the mac pro forum, and see what responses and benchmarks you get