is the Mac Mini powerful enough for basic video editing

[Superfly611]

I was wondering if anyone uses their Mac mini to do some basic video editing and mess with photos? My friend is notorious for shooting video and making DVDs of her video. I'm looking for her since she will be new to a Mac. She will basically be doing cutting and pasting of video, adding photos and music in the video, and such things like that. She will not be doing real intense graphics, maybe just having some effects that the video software provides. So if anyone can help me with the question I have asked whether the Mac mini would be powerful enough for her needs it would be greatly appreciated. Would final cut be able to run on it in case she decides to get more into it?

 

[bearcatrp]

For basic editing, shouldn't be a problem. The 2010 mini memory goes up to 8gb which helps. Use a scratch disk too. The time consuming comes from rendering depending on length of the edited film. Not sure how final cut will do though.

 

[danimal99]

I use Final Cut Pro 7 on my 13" MacBook with 4GB without a problem, so it should run fine on the Mini. They're essentially the same thing. It will be a little slower than a similarly spec'd iMac because of it being a mobile CPU instead of a full Core2Duo chip, but otherwise it's good.

 

[jaysmith]

I've got a 2010 mac mini server and its more than enough for editing. I work in post production and for the past year I've done all my work on a 2.4ghz c2d imac. I run FCP7 and after effects cs4 with no problems other than a bit of waiting time.

at home the mac mini does just fine when i need to take work home. upgrade the ram to 8gb and raid the two internal drives and you'll be flying.

 

[QuantumLo0p]

I just upgraded to 8GB and a 500GB Momentus XT. We haven't done video editing but iPhoto seems to run great. Mine gets hot when gaming so you may want to keep an eye on temps. I found the basic configuration, 2GB and standard hdd, to be quite limiting. Almost everyone was telling me the new Mini can run circles around my old dual 2.7 PowerMac but, in real world use, it could not. Memory swapping and the slow hdd made it painfully slow for many tasks. Even graphic lag was common.

I would add a 4GB stick for 5 total. Later, if you feel you need more, you can always throw in another 4 for 8GB total.

 

[ActionableMango]

A new Mac Mini would be fine. She'll even get iLife '11 which might suit her needs without ponying up for Final Cut.

My 4-year old Mac Mini (and its 2GB memory limit) really struggles with HD content.