I have this somewhat odd conundrum. I do a lot of editing on FCPX with my 2011 baseline Mac mini i5 2.3ghz dual core, upgraded to 8gigs of RAM if I may add. I've always thought the included 5400rpm hard disk was my bottleneck for performance. The things I've felt that needed improvement in my workflow are render, transcode, and export speed times as well as converting for web and DVD via compressor. My budget is a little tight right now, I'm looking at the new iMacs though I only really have money for the base model with zero upgrades right now. If it helps to answer my question, I live in a humid country where Apple is overpriced and difficult to get service. I could wait a bit until around January and stretch the budget a bit closer to a 27 inch iMac or a baseline model with iris pro + fusion(or pure ssd) and 16 gigs of ram. From what I understand, the GPU now plays a role in FCPX workflow, so I'm worried about the iris pro option since I want to use this machine for a lot longer than I've owned my Mac mini. I don't play games much. I also don't need a lot of hard disk space as I use a scratch disk for editing and have lots of external storage. So, the million dollar question is, will a better processor and GPU outperform an ssd + more RAM for processing tons of dslr footage? Yes, I do plan on editing 4K footage from cinema cameras in the future. Both iMac options are about the same price out here.
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Base model 2013 imac+upgrades vs 27 inch.
- Thread starter Chosenbydestiny
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Why don't you replace the drive with an a solid state drive? For about 200 bucks, you can save about 2 grand, for the next 2 years
On the mini? I hear that would only improve boot and app launch times, but not transcoding, render, export, or compression. My goal is to cut my current wait time by half at the very least, if possible.
