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TheEpicFilmCo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 31, 2008
129
0
Uk
Hello.
My friend is interested in buying his first Mac soon. He will be using Final Cut Express 4 as well as Adobe Flash.

The problem is his budget though. He currently has £450. Will a Mac Mini reach his requirements? Or should he be looking at last gens MacBook or even a refurbished iMac?

My friend would be very happy if you could give him some suggestions.

Thank you. :)
 
Hello.
My friend is interested in buying his first Mac soon. He will be using Final Cut Express 4 as well as Adobe Flash.

The problem is his budget though. He currently has £450. Will a Mac Mini reach his requirements? Or should he be looking at last gens MacBook or even a refurbished iMac?

My friend would be very happy if you could give him some suggestions.

Thank you. :)

The mac mini will work just fine with Final Cut Express 4. He might have to up the ram to get better performance. It will work fine for minor work.

I am using a 1.8 mac mini with 4GB of memory and a 320 Hard drive that I install myself. Im running Final Cut Pro 6 and it runs ok, but I don't do intense stuff.

But Im looking to buy a Macbook Pro to run FC Studio.
 
The mac mini will work just fine with Final Cut Express 4. He might have to up the ram to get better performance. It will work fine for minor work.

I am using a 1.8 mac mini with 4GB of memory and a 320 Hard drive that I install myself. Im running Final Cut Pro 6 and it runs ok, but I don't do intense stuff.

But Im looking to buy a Macbook Pro to run FC Studio.

You're not able to use all of those four gigs, though.
 
He needs it quite urgently so he can't wait for a Mac Mini update. Am I right in thinking that a MacBook is better suited then?
 
Yes

He needs it quite urgently so he can't wait for a Mac Mini update. Am I right in thinking that a MacBook is better suited then?

A new MB would be better as it has better integrated graphics, if he can tell him to check the Refurb site first if he wants to save some money. As the other poster said as well, up the ram by yourself later, if you find it too slow.
 
I can't imagine doing much video work without a FW port. I suppose there's still the white MB...[/QUOTE]

Darn, forgot that part.
 
Okay, how would say a 2.1GHz MacBook compare with a 2.4GHz iMac then?(The new MacBook is too expensive.)
 
Hopefully we'll see a new Mac Mini soon - if I were him I'd wait for that to be released.

As for using a MacBook - depends if he's after portability or not. The WhiteBook would be great for Final Cut - but the screen resolution isn't the best.
 
Well no. He doesn't need portability, so he would just use the MacBook as a desktop. He can't wait for a Mac Mini update though, so I guess he will go with a bottom line iMac.

How would a BlackBook compare with the bottom of the line iMac though, because on eBay it's pretty cheap at the moment.
 
And which has nothing to do with FCE.
And I didn't say it had anything to do with it! :p

However, maybe you should do some reading before you posted something that is wrong. Straight from the system requirements of FCE:
Some FxPlug filters are not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors.

So the mac mini w/ the intel IG will not be able to run all FxPlug filters :rolleyes:
 
I'd look for a used or refurbished recent mini to tide myself over until the mini is revised. They should be available for a good price, and then when the new one comes out, it can be sold to recoup most of the cost, and buy the new one. :)
 
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