15" MBP to iMac for video editing - will I notice much difference?

[adriantoll]

I'm starting to do a lot of video editing, and I'd really like to speed up rendering in Final Cut Pro (version 6.06).

I currently have a 15" MBP with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 4Gb of RAM.

Would upgrading to an iMac with a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo and 8Gb of RAM make much of a difference? Or would I need to look at a Mac Pro?

I already have an external screen, so getting a Mac Pro wouldn't cost that much more really, but I like the compactness of the iMac.

I remember being told once that rendering speed is defined by processors, and how many apps you can run at one time is defined by RAM. Is that true?

Cheers, Adrian

 

[miles01110]

MBP -> iMac will be a noticeable difference, but it won't be as big as MBP -> MP.

I remember being told once that rendering speed is defined by processors, and how many apps you can run at one time is defined by RAM. Is that true?

Basically. There are a few things that can qualify that statement, but all else equal it's true.

 

[adriantoll]

MBP -> iMac will be a noticeable difference, but it won't be as big as MBP -> MP.

Thanks for that - if you were to have to quantify it, would you say that if the speed of the MBP was 1, would the iMac be 2 and the Pro be 4? (I know is is a simplification, but not not knowing the full technical aspects of it it wold be helpful to know how big you you think the speed bumps would be - simply multiples of the speed or an exponential curve?)

(GHz / Gb) Basically. There are a few things that can qualify that statement, but all else equal it's true.

Thanks - that's useful to know for the future...

 

[miles01110]

Thanks for that - if you were to have to quantify it, would you say that if the speed of the MBP was 1, would the iMac be 2 and the Pro be 4? (I know is is a simplification, but not not knowing the full technical aspects of it it wold be helpful to know how big you you think the speed bumps would be - simply multiples of the speed or an exponential curve?)

I think it'd be more like

MBP = 1
iMac = 1.25
Mac Pro = 1.75

 

[adriantoll]

I think it'd be more like

MBP = 1
iMac = 1.25
Mac Pro = 1.75

Great - thanks Miles, that's been a big help.

 

[adriantoll]

Here's an interesting benchmark test from December 2008 that compares the fastest MBP, iMac and Mac Pro. My MBP is the generation before the current ones, so a jump to an iMac will probably be a bigger difference than these results show. These would suggest that according to my simplistic rating system, the difference might be 1 / 1.25 / 2.25 or thereabouts, depending on what it is you're doing (although the results of particular interest to me was the Compressor results, where the Pro was about five times faster than the iMac or MBP in encoding a DVD at Best quality).

http://www.barefeats.com/three08.html