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
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.
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.
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?)