Pc for editing and film making

[Belle-vue]

hey all

i would like to ask, what kind of apple pc is best for photography/editing and film making? as i'm looking forward to buy imac ! but still confused :confused:

[mrsir2009]

Ok. So you want a Mac for film editing, yes?

If you already have a screen, keyboard and mouse I'd go for the higher end Mini. Or if you want an all in one and you've got a bit more money to spend, probably the high end 21" iMac :D

Good luck!

[Hellhammer]

You have to be little more accurate. What kind of editing? With what software? What is your budget? Is portability needed? I would recommend high-end 27" iMac

[aki]

What kind of editing (and what kind of budget I guess) are the vital factors here. Pretty much any mac can run iMovie, if that's what you are talking about. If you want to learn Final Cut or something, then yes you'd want to invest in an iMac. If you are serious/"serious", you'd want an iMac and a large screen. Large screen size is worth it's weight in platinum when doing video work.

[mrsir2009]

For final cut you'll need 4GB of RAM, maybe a Quad Core processor for best preformance, 27" screen... It'll cost some reddies. :eek:

[DoFoT9]

hmm. it seems as though you will be a light-ish user. HD video, photoshop and the like. i would recommend a large screen, so maybe the 27" C2D 3.33GHz iMac + 8GB+ RAM, or the Core i5 iMac 27" with 4GB or 8GB RAM.

[Belle-vue]

Actually i'm going to start learning and investing from Final cut, Photoshop!


how about :

2.8GHz quad-core intel core i7
2560 x 1440 resolution
4GB memory

1TB hard drive1 xdouble-layer superDrive
ARI Radeon HD 4850 graphic with 512 MB ?

:confused:

[spinnerlys]

Again, what kind of footage do you have, or what camera do you want to use? And what is the destination for the finished edit?

I edited several short films shot on DV (SD) on my G4 iBook and it worked like a charm.
Thus a Mac Mini could easily suffice your needs, unless you want to edit uncompressed HD footage (220MB/s +), then a Mac Pro is needed.

Can Mini run Photoshop CS5 and Final Cut Pro? (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=974007)

[Schtumple]

Actually i'm going to start learning and investing from Final cut, Photoshop!


how about :

2.8GHz quad-core intel core i7
2560 x 1440 resolution
4GB memory

1TB hard drive1 xdouble-layer superDrive
ARI Radeon HD 4850 graphic with 512 MB ?

:confused:

That will be perfect, ignore people that suggest the Mac Pro, if you're just starting out, you won't need it. I have a 3 year old MBP that does FCP perfectly.

[spinnerlys]

That will be perfect, ignore people that suggest
the Mac Pro ...

As I was the only mentioning a Mac Pro, I repeat it again:

Again, what kind of footage do you have, or what camera do you want to use? And what is the destination for the finished edit?
...
unless you want to edit uncompressed HD footage (220MB/s +), then a Mac Pro is needed.


As the OP hasn't answered the simple question of what kind of footage s/he wants to edit, which has been asked ten days ago, I just showed the OP two extrema. The Mac Mini will more than suffice many editing needs, especially if one starts with it. The Mac Pro is needed if uncompressed footage is involved, I didn't really suggest it though. I just guessed, as no real information has been given by the OP, just specs and some tidbits.

[Consultant]

A Mac.

Even former PC fanboys such as RedvsBlue switched to all Mac setup for video production.

[Belle-vue]

thanks guys!

I am using canon camera eos 500d, I am a beginner in doing short film! so I need final cut for film editing! if I get the one that I suggest , will it effect on the new imac update as i''ve heard there will be an update for the processor ? or there will no big difference ?

thanks!

p/s :its she :p

[Hellhammer]

thanks guys!

I am using canon camera eos 500d, I am a beginner in doing short film! so I need final cut for film editing! if I get the one that I suggest , will it effect on the new imac update as i''ve heard there will be an update for the processor ? or there will no big difference ?

thanks!

p/s :its she :p

The high-end will remain pretty same, possibly i7-870 instead of i7-860 but that's only 133MHz difference. You may want to upgrade the RAM to 8GB later on, it's only 100$.

[spinnerlys]

thanks guys!

I am using canon camera eos 500d, I am a beginner in doing short film! so I need final cut for film editing! if I get the one that I suggest , will it effect on the new imac update as i''ve heard there will be an update for the processor ? or there will no big difference ?

thanks!

p/s :its she :p

Then any current Mac, including the Mac mini, will be just fine for you. The i7 iMac will be faster during the Log & Transfer process, when it transcodes the H264 encoded video to AIC or ProRes.

And any update, whichever and whenever it is coming, will have faster components, which you can ignore or not. You might see a 10/20% speed increase, if that is important to you, wait. If you need the Mac now, buy now.

[Schtumple]

thanks guys!

I am using canon camera eos 500d, I am a beginner in doing short film! so I need final cut for film editing! if I get the one that I suggest , will it effect on the new imac update as i''ve heard there will be an update for the processor ? or there will no big difference ?

thanks!

p/s :its she :p

The ability to be able to edit anywhere is the biggest plus. Unless you only ever plan to be editing at your house, the iMac isn't worth it.

And spinnerlys not everyone needs a Mac Pro, even if it is HD footage a MBP will suffice, I highly doubt Bella-vue is working to broadcast timeframes/technicalities of video production...

[spinnerlys]

The ability to be able to edit anywhere is the biggest plus. Unless you only ever plan to be editing at your house, the iMac isn't worth it.

And spinnerlys not everyone needs a Mac Pro, even if it is HD footage a MBP will suffice, I highly doubt Bella-vue is working to broadcast timeframes/technicalities of video production...

Haven't you read my second post? I meant the Mac Pro as an example, especially if one edits uncompressed footage. The OP wasn't giving any indication on what she wants to edit, thus my post about the Mac Pro, and also that a Mac mini can be sufficient too.

I also linked to the PS and FC on a Mac mini thread, as even the i7 iMac might be overkill, except during the Log & Transfer processes while the footage is transcoded.

In my reply to her statement of what she wants to edit and where the footage comes from, I never took the Mac Pro into my mouth, I even recommended the Mac mini again.

PS: OP, get the 8-core 2.93 GHz Mac Pro with 64GB RAM.

PPS: The PS is an example, if I would have recommended the Mac Pro and NOT used it as an example.

PPPS: English is only my second language, so there might be some difficulties to understand my sentences.

[Schtumple]

Haven't you read my second post? I meant the Mac Pro as an example, especially if one edits uncompressed footage. The OP wasn't giving any indication on what she wants to edit, thus my post about the Mac Pro, and also that a Mac mini can be sufficient too.

I also linked to the PS and FC on a Mac mini thread, as even the i7 iMac might be overkill, except during the Log & Transfer processes while the footage is transcoded.

In my reply to her statement of what she wants to edit and where the footage comes from, I never took the Mac Pro into my mouth, I even recommended the Mac mini again.

PS: OP, get the 8-core 2.93 GHz Mac Pro with 64GB RAM.

PPS: The PS is an example, if I would have recommended the Mac Pro and NOT used it as an example.

PPPS: English is only my second language, so there might be some difficulties to understand my sentences.

Ok, I probably read it incorrectly too, sorry for that. I thought you were really hammering for her to get the Mac Pro, which like you said, is only really useful for log & capture/coding HD footage.

[spinnerlys]

Ok, I probably read it incorrectly too, sorry for that. I thought you were really hammering for her to get the Mac Pro, which like you said, is only really useful for log & capture/coding HD footage.

I meant the Mac Pro for the ports, which I didn't mention, as uncompressed HD footage can go up to 220MB/s, thus eSATA is needed, as Firewire can not accommodate that.

But as the OP most likely uses AIC (12-14 MB/s) or ProRes, any Mac with a FW800 port will do.

Good luck on the move though. :)

[Belle-vue]

thanks a lot! that was really useful.. i want to get deep into mac, as i'm only a beginner , so if i can update it , that should be fine ! I thought once i buy imac i wont be able to add extra GB or do some updates on the processor :p

[spinnerlys]

thanks a lot! that was really useful.. i want to get deep into mac, as i'm only a beginner , so if i can update it , that should be fine ! I thought once i buy imac i wont be able to add extra GB or do some updates on the processor :p

You can update the RAM on all current Macs with ease for yourself, the HDD can be replaced with ease on the MacBook and MacBook Pro and the Mac Pro. The iMac and the Mac mini and the MacBook Air have hard to get to HDDs and the process of replacing them might damage the Mac if you don't know what you do.
The CPU and the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) are not user replaceable on all Macs but the Mac Pro, even though the 27" iMac has a replaceable CPU, but it might not be worth the hassle.

[Belle-vue]

oh! I guess if there's an update i'll just send my future imac :p to apple store and let them update it! to avoid any damages! thx

[spinnerlys]

oh! I guess if there's an update i'll just send my future imac :p to apple store and let them update it! to avoid any damages! thx

As I said before, you can upgrade the RAM yourself. As far as I know, Apple won't upgrade the CPU or HDD after you have purchased it.

Read page 37 ff. to see how to upgrade your RAM on an iMac.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iMac_Late2009_UG.pdf