PC owner thinking of switching to imac for video editing.

[digger2640]

Hey all. Very new here as I'm a PC owner looking for a new machine.

I've been doing video editing as a hobby and part time business for the past 5 years (just doing short films, music videos, corporate gigs, and the occassional television commercial). I've been pretty happy with my PC setup and have never had an issue. Now it's time for an upgrade (PC is five years old) and I've been hearing good things about macs. I had to come to Sydney for business and visited the Apple store in the city. Staff there were very helpful. They showed me a few things and said that a MacPro would be good for what I'm doing. Now I would love one however they are pretty pricey (more than $10,000). I checked out the iMac and they said that they run FCP without any issues, etc. I don't do a lot of compositing an it's usually just cutting, colour corrections, and audio work I'd be doing.

Even though the staff were very helpful, I had a couple of questions.

1) Is an iMac going to allow me to capture in HD?
2) Can I simply plug in some external drives and run/edit my video projects off those?
3) Will my PC wireless modem/router be able to link up with an iMac, ie, use the same internet connection (not a big deal if it doesn't)

I'd like to get a Mac, however cannot afford to get a MacPro and just wondering if the iMac is going to be OK for an entry level video editing system.

 

[iShater]

1) Yes you can edit in HD.
2) You can use external drives.
3) If your wireless modem/router is any of the standard brand names, it should care about what computer you use to connect to it.

To help us help you, can you provide more info about what you do? what software do you use today? what is your current hardware setup?

 

[digger2640]

Thanks for the reply.

My current PC setup is:

• Pentium 2.8
• 2gb ram
• 256mb video card
• 3 x 400gb internal drives
• Windows XP
• Matrox video capture card

I use Adobe PremierePro, AfterEffects, Photoshop, Audition, and Encore. I play around with maya (just the learning edition).

As far as what I do, it's mostly short films and music videos for my hobby and a few jobs for clients for a little extra cash. It's not a full time business yet however we are building a client base and getting more work coming in.

I don't do a lot of compositing however that's not to say I won't do a little bit soon. I guess I'm looking at getting something that is going to last at least 2 years before I lash out and buy something with more horsepower.

 

[wheezy]

The consumer line of Macs have actually been in the HD market for a few years when they released iMovie HD in... 2006 or so? The current iMacs could handle HD quite nicely, and Final Cut Express would probably be exactly what you're looking for.

Just be sure to opt for the 24" as the monitor supports full 1080P resolution.

I don't know about the currency exchange rate, but I was able to build my MacPro in the last 2 weeks for $3,300 US. That includes:

Refurb 2.8 Quad x 2 MP ($2399)
4GB Additional RAM (6 Total, $130)
1 500GB WD Green Hard Drive ($70)
2 1TB Samsung F1 Drives ($117 x 2)
Second Dell 20" 2005FPW Used off eBay (2 Total, $190)
Aperture 2.0 ($199)

You would replace Final Cut Express in for Aperture at the same cost. Sadly, I'm guessing Australian prices are probably more than American, but I'm sure you can build a system like this for much less than $10,000.