A mac for Final cut express.

[merlynhome]

Hi
My church have asked me to price up a mac for some video work.

A laptop would be ideal but not a hard rule.

My budget would be between 500 and 800 pounds (uk).

I am looking at second hand or refurb.

It will only be used for video and some podcasting, but we want to take the video up a step for imovie.

My main questions are will final cut express run well on a Macbook or Macmini.

Does it require a graphics card.

Am I better with a newer macbook/mini or a older powerbook, will the core 2 due have a effect on rendering times.

any advice on subject would be welcome.

Thanks

 

[themanfromvlad]

I'm not too sure on UK pricing, but as long as you are not doing HD, you'll be fine with a used G5 iMac or PowerMac G5. If you want a laptop, the Macbook will run Final Cut Express no problem. Final Cut Express will work with an integrated graphics card. If you can find a used 1.67 GHz Powerbook at a good price, that might be a decent option as well.

 

[zioxide]

every mac on apple.com (refurb or new) will run fce

 

[thejadedmonkey]

My video professor used a CD Macbook with FCE as his secondary computer when he wasn't near a Mac Pro or PowerMac with Final Cut Pro on it.

 

[elvirav]

A Macbook or a Mini will be fine. I have used the full version of Final Cut Pro 5 on my Mac Mini (even my G4 Mac Mini could run Final Cut Pro 5) so certainly an Intel Mac Mini or MacBook should be fine for the Express version. I have used 1 GB of RAM and that's fine, but if you can afford to go up to 2 GB, that's even better. (Isn't it always?)