I am going to buy a top of the line 24" imac 3.06 GHz NVIDIA GeForce 8800 graphics card w/ 4GB RAM and a 750 GB hard drive. I will be running aperture 2 and final cut studio 2. My sole purpose is for photography and professional HD editing. I know that this setup will run these programs just fine, but my question is this: I will edit in 1080i, but plan to switch to 1080p in the near future. How good will this mac be for excellent quality 1080i or 1080p real time editing? I don't want to pay the extra money for a mac pro. I also am not interested in animation, but how well would motion 2 work with this setup and graphics card? I just don't want to make any mistakes before purchasing. I plan on doing some serious pro quality production stuff. I know a mac pro is best for pro quality software and applications, but its not really an option right now. Thanks.
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imac professional editing capabilities?
- Thread starter kcutnt
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Well, what's a good monitor for you?
And size and res? Because they become cheaper everyday. I agree with the above post. A quad makes final cut fly.
Edit: motion works best with 512MB vram, so you need the 8800 just for the vram. Otherwise even a 2400xt would do.
And size and res? Because they become cheaper everyday. I agree with the above post. A quad makes final cut fly.
Edit: motion works best with 512MB vram, so you need the 8800 just for the vram. Otherwise even a 2400xt would do.
Can you wait till next year?
If you can I'm thinking we will see Quad Core iMacs, with 8GB of RAM in 2009.
In addition to that Snow Leopard will be out by then too.
If you can I'm thinking we will see Quad Core iMacs, with 8GB of RAM in 2009.
In addition to that Snow Leopard will be out by then too.
Well, I actually will wait until December. I need it for a documentary I am making, so I can't wait any longer than that. As far as monitors go, the 24" imac screen would be great. Later I would put money into a great quality 2nd screen for editing playback. (maybe somewhere around 24" to 30" 1920 by 1200 res. minimum) The monitor doesn't have to be apple. Thanks for the feedback. I would plug my film and site, but there are probably enough final cut dudes on this site as is.
Was there...
I had the same thoughts; really wanted a pro, but had to be real. Currently I use my iMac to edit a sports highlight show, a game of the week football game replay, commercials, promos, and it works great.
I have the 2.8/4 ... instead of going over 4, go buy a Western Digital Terabit My Book external hard-drive. It will be cheaper and give you more storage and working capability. Does slow you down touch, but it is small.
Use the difference saved to buy the second monitor!!!
I had the same thoughts; really wanted a pro, but had to be real. Currently I use my iMac to edit a sports highlight show, a game of the week football game replay, commercials, promos, and it works great.
I have the 2.8/4 ... instead of going over 4, go buy a Western Digital Terabit My Book external hard-drive. It will be cheaper and give you more storage and working capability. Does slow you down touch, but it is small.
Use the difference saved to buy the second monitor!!!
Where would I look for a refurbished mac pro? Also, I have a 500GB external drive already. I may get another, but memory is cheap so not a big deal. Thanks for the feedback. I guess an imac will produce good 1080i/p from what I've heard. Its just a speed issue. I can deal with that.
Here you go. It might take a few days for the right refurbished model to be back in stock though.
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You can get a used quad core Mac Pro for around $1600 on ebay. Some still have applecare warranty. You can get a new quad core Mac Pro for $1949 at macmall.com.
Aftermarket Mac Pro RAM will run you $150 for 2x2GB. An aftermarket hard drive will run you just $200 for a 1TB. Apple upgrades like hard drives and memory don't make sense, buy aftermarket and install yourself with ease.
Once the new iMacs are announced (possibly in 3 weeks), the current iMacs will fall in price.
Aftermarket Mac Pro RAM will run you $150 for 2x2GB. An aftermarket hard drive will run you just $200 for a 1TB. Apple upgrades like hard drives and memory don't make sense, buy aftermarket and install yourself with ease.
Once the new iMacs are announced (possibly in 3 weeks), the current iMacs will fall in price.
I recommend waiting until the next revision before buying.
If you really need an iMac now then buy a refurb, which you can then sell for the new model. The next model will almost certainly offer quad core, and upto 8gb RAM, both of which are definitely worth waiting for in your scenario. At this stage in the product cycle it would be foolish to dump that amount of money on it.
Also do not bother with the Nvidia graphics card. They are piss poor for pro apps thanks to their stodgy OS X drivers. ATI's drivers are much more mature. Only buy the Nvidia card if you intend on gaming.
May I recommend this? http://store.apple.com/us/product/FA878LL/A
24" screen, bump the RAM up to 4gb for $50, reasonably fast processor.
Will certainly tide you over for a while.
How about a refurb Mac Pro? http://store.apple.com/us/product/FA356LL/A
Add some more RAM, and a decent screen, and its only a couple hundred dollars more than the 3.06 iMac.
If you really need an iMac now then buy a refurb, which you can then sell for the new model. The next model will almost certainly offer quad core, and upto 8gb RAM, both of which are definitely worth waiting for in your scenario. At this stage in the product cycle it would be foolish to dump that amount of money on it.
Also do not bother with the Nvidia graphics card. They are piss poor for pro apps thanks to their stodgy OS X drivers. ATI's drivers are much more mature. Only buy the Nvidia card if you intend on gaming.
May I recommend this? http://store.apple.com/us/product/FA878LL/A
24" screen, bump the RAM up to 4gb for $50, reasonably fast processor.
Will certainly tide you over for a while.
How about a refurb Mac Pro? http://store.apple.com/us/product/FA356LL/A
Add some more RAM, and a decent screen, and its only a couple hundred dollars more than the 3.06 iMac.
what about color correcting / grading on the iMac considering it has a glossy screen? That's what makes hesitant about getting a iMac over a mac pro. plus the pro has the ability to use HDMI capture / output cards. I'm sure you could use a MXO to get over this but i seriously think you should consider a refurb mac pro instead of a iMac. Though a iMac can run those pro apps just fine (I cut HD footage in final cut and also do some work in aperture 2 on my MBP, and it runs fine)
I purchased a 24 inch imac to do video editing (standard definition). Nice machine. Decided to snag a refurb mac pro (2ghz) 6 months later. It took 1 hour to do this one clip I was working on. Did the same clip on the pro to compare the times. The pro did it in 40 minutes. Added more ram in the pro dropped it even more.
My point is you would definately benefit on a mac pro. If time is money, grab a refurb mac pro. 8 core will last you a long time but 4 core will do.
Now if the new iMacs go quad and 8gb max ram, then its decision time as to what you want. good luck on your decision.
My point is you would definately benefit on a mac pro. If time is money, grab a refurb mac pro. 8 core will last you a long time but 4 core will do.
Now if the new iMacs go quad and 8gb max ram, then its decision time as to what you want. good luck on your decision.
Thanks for all the info. I think I'm leaning towards a refurb mac pro now. Money is still an issue, but we'll see. I sure won't go for the NVIDIA card now either way. I had figured it would mostly benefit gaming. Is it easy to sell or trade an imac or mac pro? (I assume so) Also, how much does the mac glossy screens effect color correction? Man, these forums are already saving me money.
The stock HD 2600XT while two generations old now is a fine entry level card for gaming and GPU capable media work.
Keep in mind that I said entry level. It runs for ~$50 retail now. Here's to hoping for the 4670 in the next Mac Pro.
The refurbished discount is greater then the education one. At least in the US it is.
You cannot color correct video on an iMac's screen. It will not be accurate (no matter what you do). The only way to get an accurate signal is to go out to a broadcast monitor. For an iMac, the only option is to get an Apple 23" display with a Matrox MXO (about $2000 total). There are more options for a Mac Pro, but nothing that you'd call inexpensive.
i'm in this same boat. doing a project for a friends company and the deal is i just keep the stuff i buy to do it. it will be great as i don't have any of the equiptment myself. currently on a g5imac which is fine for day to day.
i'm going to use fce4, whatever the largest imac out is and a canon hf-11. should work out well.
fce is fine for most normal work on this type scale. this canon is suppose to be a great little camera. not the most serious thing but all things considered including the little price tag (1200$ i think?) will be perfect. as far as the imac for editing, it's not ideal when there are mac pro's in the world, but for a personal computer that will also be used for editing i think it will be great. pleanty of power for normal editing. if there were a lot of effects etc. i might re-think that. in college a few years back i used a big (at the time) mac pro with twin 30" 's. but i was working on tv shows and a feature length movie.
i'm really hoping for better processors, blu-ray burner, more ram, and 1tb standard on the big one. i think that is all due soon
maybe to replace the "top of the line imac"...
3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
4gb ram
1TB Serial ATA Drive
Blu-ray Burner
along with anything else that falls in line with this
i'm going to use fce4, whatever the largest imac out is and a canon hf-11. should work out well.
fce is fine for most normal work on this type scale. this canon is suppose to be a great little camera. not the most serious thing but all things considered including the little price tag (1200$ i think?) will be perfect. as far as the imac for editing, it's not ideal when there are mac pro's in the world, but for a personal computer that will also be used for editing i think it will be great. pleanty of power for normal editing. if there were a lot of effects etc. i might re-think that. in college a few years back i used a big (at the time) mac pro with twin 30" 's. but i was working on tv shows and a feature length movie.
i'm really hoping for better processors, blu-ray burner, more ram, and 1tb standard on the big one. i think that is all due soon
maybe to replace the "top of the line imac"...
3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
4gb ram
1TB Serial ATA Drive
Blu-ray Burner
along with anything else that falls in line with this
If you have some knowledge and spare time you can always try a Hackintosh if the iMac is not an option and the refurb mac pro stills expensive
Isn't is possible to open up the 24" iMac and swap out the Core 2 Duo for a Core 2 Quad, like the Q6600? Or is it still socket P?