iMac Pro iMac for video editing

[jaredbs]

Hey, my names Jared. I'm really big into video editing and want to upgrade from my current late 2015 MacBook.
I edit using premiere (sometimes FCPX, that's why I wanna stay w/ apple). I want to learn more on AE, but my computer always crashes when I try to do anything w/ it. I've been getting more editing/ videography jobs recently and I'd like a more powerful and reliable computer.
I was thinking of these specs w/ the 5K iMac-

• 4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz
• 32GB 2400MHz DDR4
• 1TB Fusion Drive
• Radeon Pro 575 with 4GB video memory

But I'm not sure if I could tell a big difference w/ the 575 vs the 580. Also I'm going to be using external hard drives so I don't think the fusion drive will be bad. Bc I've heard its not as good as SSD.

 

[tele-fragd]

I was thinking of these specs w/ the 5K iMac-

• 4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz
• 32GB 2400MHz DDR4
• 1TB Fusion Drive
• Radeon Pro 575 with 4GB video memory

But I'm not sure if I could tell a big difference w/ the 575 vs the 580. Also I'm going to be using external hard drives so I don't think the fusion drive will be bad. Bc I've heard its not as good as SSD.

What's your budget?

I'd be hesitant to buy an iMac now purely because it's depressingly outdated spec-wise. The i7-7700k works well for AE since it favours high frequency CPUs rather than many cores, although Premiere on the other hand does like having more cores. If Apple updated the iMac with a non-K equivalent of the i9-9900k, then it'd be a great all-rounder, but sounds like you really need the computer right now since it's impacting your work. I'm sort of in the same situation, but I have the luxury of being able to wait for an update whereas you don't.

If you already have a good monitor to use, the new Mac Mini could also be an option you could consider with the i7-8700 processor upgrade. That gives you 2 more cores than the i7-7700k iMac and higher all-round performance for single-thread and multi-thread tasks. The lack of discrete GPU kind of sucks, so you'd have to take into account buying an RX570/580 GPU + eGPU box (here's some options - eGPU review link) but the upside is better performance than the iMac.

With either option, I would get 64GB RAM. AE eats RAM for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you're looking to make use of Dynamic Linking (very handy feature) then you'll want plenty of RAM to run Premiere and AE concurrently.

1TB Fusion Drive - I'd get 512GB flash storage instead. I'd imagine you'd be using external mass storage for all your video footage anyway, so I'd prioritise to get a faster internal SSD over the Fusion Drive.

 

[jday7757]

Hey, my names Jared. I'm really big into video editing and want to upgrade from my current late 2015 MacBook.
I edit using premiere (sometimes FCPX, that's why I wanna stay w/ apple). I want to learn more on AE, but my computer always crashes when I try to do anything w/ it. I've been getting more editing/ videography jobs recently and I'd like a more powerful and reliable computer.
I was thinking of these specs w/ the 5K iMac-

• 4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz
• 32GB 2400MHz DDR4
• 1TB Fusion Drive
• Radeon Pro 575 with 4GB video memory

But I'm not sure if I could tell a big difference w/ the 575 vs the 580. Also I'm going to be using external hard drives so I don't think the fusion drive will be bad. Bc I've heard its not as good as SSD.

I use the Adobe CC suite of apps on my late-2014 27" Retina iMac (4GHz i&, 32GB RAM, AMD Radeon R9 M295X). My primary use is Premiere Pro, but do use AE every so often when needed. Premiere runs great (realtime) on HD footage which is the majority of what I edit. AE does run a little slow, but is usable and doesn't crash. That said, the 2017 iMac you are contemplating is 3 years newer with a much better processor and better graphics card. I would think that you shouldn't have any problems running Premiere or AE as long as you don't intend to edit anything greater than 4K. The one suggestion I would give you would be to go with an SSD instead pf the Fusion drive. Even a 256GB SSD would be big enough for just the OS and applications. I have a 512GB SSD and use less than half of it. When using Premiere and AE you do NOT want to have your source files and scratch disc files on the same drive as the program files anyway so you don't really need the 1TB fusion. A fast external hard drive or SSD will work just great. The bottom line is that iMac you describe above (with the exception of the fusion drive) will work just fine for Premiere and AE as long as you are using 4K and below footage. That said, if you can wait 4-6 months I do expect to see a refreshed iMac that will be even better (although no one knows for sure).