Mac pro specifications for media production

[ed2020]

I am interested to find out the ideal Mac hardware specifications required for quite demanding/professional picture and video editing and music production?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cheers, Ed

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Just get the medium Mac Pro with an upgraded GPU (not necessarily the top one), a couple of Cheetas as startup and scratch disks and as much RAM as you can afford... ;)

[bigandy]

I am interested to find out the Mac Pro specifications required for quite demanding/professional picture and video editing and music production?

Thanks in advance for any advice :) .

Cheers, Ed

The base MacPro will handle Final Cut Studio fine. A few RAM bumps and it'll fly.

What are you wanting to run/do/produce?

[ed2020]

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking to run Final Cut studio and shake to produce broadcast quality film. Logic pro for music. Also something for 3D modelling and animation.

Cheers,

Ed

[bigandy]

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking to run Final Cut studio and shake to produce broadcast quality film. Logic pro for music. Also something for 3D modelling and animation.

Cheers,

Ed

The difference between the 2.66Ghz and 3.00Ghz versions aren't substantial. It's better to pump the extra cost into more RAM - go for 4Gb if you can. If you're really serious about Shake and 3D stuff, that'll really do some good.

As much RAM as you can afford! ;)

[ed2020]

Thanks thats great, just the advice I was looking for.

[PegasusMedia]

There is no easy answer to your question. It depends on a million variables, including your definition of "demanding". The stock answer is "the very best you can afford."

Any Mac pro is capable of editing. How much extra RAM, which capture card, which additional hardware, how much extra drive space, what additional software, etc, etc depend on your needs.

[spicyapple]

If you're editing DV and HDV, the stock Mac Pros are sufficient. If you're working with HD uncompressed, you'll need to splurge on a fast array, like the Xserve RAIDs, and something like a Kona card.

The Apple Mac Pro website has details in Film and Video (http://www.apple.com/macpro/performance.html).

[ed2020]

It is for an education environment in order to produce broadcast quality film and music in final cut studio, shake and logic pro

[Sdashiki]

It is for an education environment in order to produce broadcast quality film and music in final cut studio, shake and logic pro

get the best you can afford.

as an educator, there should be other people who can answer these questions within your school/district/etc

and the best bet is to contact apple education sales (http://www.apple.com/education/pricelists/) as they have 24/7 people who deal especially with this kind of purchase and questions.