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the Quad Core imacs - perfect ballance between Mac Pro and Core duo iMacs?

Mr.Bullitt

Mr.Bullitt

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 15, 2009
173
2
After having become a Mac convert this summer and buying the top of the line 17" MBP, I am planning to get an iMac in 2010.

I first thought that the MBP could replace my desktop, but having to pull it out of the bag every time and connect in to my 24" Dell, is a b*tch.


As I have for years been an avid photographer, and not looking to get into shooting video, I think that the choice of quad cores now could be the thing I am looking for over the Mac Pro - I am not pro and I would prefer the small footprint of the iMac.

:apple:


What do you guys think of the top-of-the-line quad iMac vs. a standart single quad Mac Pro - or even a dual Quad Mac Pro????

I am also wondering if there is a way that the iMac and the MBP could share a single external storage?
 
Mr.Bullitt said:
After having become a Mac convert this summer and buying the top of the line 17" MBP, I am planning to get an iMac in 2010.

I first thought that the MBP could replace my desktop, but having to pull it out of the bag every time and connect in to my 24" Dell, is a b*tch.


As I have for years been an avid photographer, and not looking to get into shooting video, I think that the choice of quad cores now could be the thing I am looking for over the Mac Pro - I am not pro and I would prefer the small footprint of the iMac.

:apple:


What do you guys think of the top-of-the-line quad iMac vs. a standart single quad Mac Pro - or even a dual Quad Mac Pro????

I am also wondering if there is a way that the iMac and the MBP could share a single external storage?
Click to expand...

The quad iMacs will satisfy you in my opinion. I am an avid Final Cut user and I have a early 2007 MBP 15" Core 2 Duo machine with 4 gigs of RAM. Editing HDV tapes in Final Cut is like butter but with no problems (I recommend an extenal HD for a scratch disk), but encoding of a 1 hour edit can take a few hours. This where the quad cores will benefit you if you want to cut your encoding times in half.

I have tried editing AVCHD and encoutered no problems at all with my set-up, but I admit it's a tad slower than editing HDV. Will the quad cores help out in this regard? I'll find out once I get my 27" iMac in December.
 
Hi!

I was a bit worried about AVCHD - but you make it sound lighter than it is.

I assume a Firewire 800 external disk is the way to go....


I will of cause first try out my MBP and see how it will handler 1080i footage at 16MBPS

Until I get a hang of it - I will use iMovie09 - and later movie to Final Cut Express.


It looks like that Adobe is letting down Mac users with Premier elements :mad:


BTW - does the MBP operate at full speed (3,06GHz) is running on battery when I ask it to analyse video, encode etc. in iMovie09?
 
Mr.Bullitt said:
Hi!

I was a bit worried about AVCHD - but you make it sound lighter than it is.

I assume a Firewire 800 external disk is the way to go....


I will of cause first try out my MBP and see how it will handler 1080i footage at 16MBPS

Until I get a hang of it - I will use iMovie09 - and later movie to Final Cut Express.


It looks like that Adobe is letting down Mac users with Premier elements :mad:


BTW - does the MBP operate at full speed (3,06GHz) is running on battery when I ask it to analyse video, encode etc. in iMovie09?
Click to expand...


I agree, AVCHD is a hog, CPUwise and memorywise but it handles OK in my system. I just notice about millisecond lag compared to HDV. I normally export from my Canon HV30 HDV camcorder in full HD, then encode it to 'Apple Intermediate Codec' or .mov in 1080i. I like the 60i framerate for my documentaries so 1080i retains the 60 frames per second.

I always edit with my MBP plugged in or else it will be slow.

I hoope this helps. :)
 
My short and sweet advice if you want to engage in video editing with iMovie or Final Cut Express. I suggest a minimum of 4gigs RAM and the 27" screen iMac:

If you choose the:

Core 2 Duo:
Pros:
-Cheaper
-Will be able to edit fast on iMovie 09 and Final Cut Express 4 (HDV or AVCHD)
Cons:
-Will still take a long time to do your final encode as opposed to cutting it in half with the quads.
-If iMovie and Final Cut Express gets updated to take advantage of the 4 cores, then you will wish you got the quads. These apps are due for an update with Final Cut Express more likely to be updated very soon.


Quad Core i5:
Pros:
-Will be able to edit fast on iMovie 09 and Final Cut Express 4 (HDV or AVCHD), plus if these applications get updated to take advantage of the 4 cores, you're rolling.
Cons:
-More expenssive than the Core 2 Duo.
-if iMovie and Final Cut Express don't get updated to take advantage of available cores, then you would have saved money getting the Core 2 Duo. I'm guessing, we will see an update of these soon.

Quad Core i7:
Pros:
-Will be able to edit fast on iMovie 09 and Final Cut Express 4 (HDV or AVCHD), plus if these applications get updated to take advantage of the 4 cores, you're rolling.
-Also, since i7 is able to double the 4 cores to 8 cores, your encoding times will shorten considerably.
Cons:
-More expensive that the Core i5.
-if iMovie and Final Cut Express don't get updated to take advantage of available cores, then you would have saved money getting the Core 2 Duo. I'm guessing, we will see an update of these soon.
 
Remember that in iMovie and FCE, you do not edit HDV or AVCHD natively. Both are transcoded to AIC during import. If you use Final Cut Pro, it gets transcoded to ProRes or AIC (highly recommend ProRes). In FCP HDV can be edited natively. Currently no mac app supports native AVCHD editing, so it is no more entensive than other forms of HD.
 
Hi guys!


I was just wondering about the support for 2+ cores.

Was Final Cut Express not recently updated to version 4 and got some support for AVCHD and time frame or something?

How does Snow Leopard, Grand Central and OpenCL change the game??

Maybe iMovie 2010 will have some support? That big Radeon card should be able to cruch some video numbers :)
 
Mr.Bullitt said:
Hi guys!


I was just wondering about the support for 2+ cores.

Was Final Cut Express not recently updated to version 4 and got some support for AVCHD and time frame or something?

How does Snow Leopard, Grand Central and OpenCL change the game??

Maybe iMovie 2010 will have some support? That big Radeon card should be able to cruch some video numbers :)
Click to expand...

I don't believe they use 2 cores at the moment.
 
I was just looking at 148% cpu load for iMovie09 - running snow leopard.


dose anyone know a app that can show current cpu clock??? I can just see cpu load...
 
SSD expresscards as scratch drive?

Hey!

Jus thought of this - my 17" MBP has the expresscard.

Has anyone tried to use one of the SSD e.g from Verbatim as a "drive"? currently they at max of 64GB, but not expensive and 128GB should be coming soon
.
 
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