Video editing on iMac?

[firetree]

24" iMac
3.06ghz intel core 2 duo processor
2x2gigs 800Mhz DDR2 SDRAM
500GB serial ata drive
NVIDIA 8800 GS W/512MB GDDR3
Final cut express preinstalled.

is what I am planning on getting i have been hearing from some other people that the iMac isnt powerfull enough to be a movie editing computer if I get this setup should it be good enough?

I do think I will wait till novemeber to see if the new ones come out before i buy though.

 

[Eidorian]

I'd wait unless you need to computer for something now.

 

[txhockey9404]

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It all depends on what you do. I have edited 3 two hour hd videos in iMovie hd , and while I am sure it could have been faster, it was ok. Note that this was done on a 2.0ghz machine with 1gig of ram, so your experience would be much better than mine.

 

[firetree]

hmmm ok ya I am planning on waiting for the new ones and hopefully they will have upgraded some of the stuff even more.

 

[yoak]

What kind of footage do you intend to edit?
It handles HDV fine and XDcam HD as well (from the EX series).
What suffers is rendering time.
I have a 2,16 iMac and been editing on it for 2 years.

 

[chilipie]

It depends a lot on what you're editing - with an external HDD to use as a scratch disk that would be more than enough to work with MiniDV. It'd certainly handle HDV/AVCHD, but it just depends on what you would consider acceptable.

 

[Eidorian]

Video rendering and encoding has always taken some patience in general. It took more back in the iMac G5 days.

The iMac is fine for video editing unless you're really pressed for time to have a finished product.

 

[aki]

i agree with eidorian imac is a good light video editing mac....i use my for a lot of video work.....very good cheaper option

about waiting....new imacs are soon latest jan 09 (?) i think BUT they wont be any big change from now probably so if u need it now i dont think u will miss anything amazing...not unless u can wait for nehalem or whatever

 

[Mike in Kansas]

You may as well wait, as the consensus is that there should be an iMac upgrade in the very near future. Just don't be too disappointed if the upgrade isn't "all that"...

 

[AppleFan360]

Video editing on an iMac is a breeze. I have done several projects. All in HD. Rendering time requires patience but that's to be expected unless you have a super computer that costs thousands of dollars more.

Put it this way. The Tim Burton movie "The Corpse Bride" was edited with Final Cut Pro on a Mac (probably a Mac Pro).

 

[dannyboxer]

Video editing on an iMac is a breeze. I have done several projects. All in HD. Rendering time requires patience but that's to be expected unless you have a super computer that costs thousands of dollars more.

Put it this way. The Tim Burton movie "The Corpse Bride" was edited with Final Cut Pro on a Mac (probably a Mac Pro).

Wow really? That's amazing.

 

[bearcatrp]

Would suggest you get an external hard drive to use as a scratch disk. Your render time, depending on length, will take a bit especially if its HD. I edited SD on my 2.16 white 24 inch iMac and worked good. I bought a refurb 2Ghz mac pro when I upgraded to HD camcorder. I would wait for the next update on the iMac. I just purchased a new mac book and the new video chip used is fast which I suspect will be put in the new iMacs. Hold off if you can.