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Looking into buying a Mac - Leaving XPpro?

K

kblaw

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 20, 2007
5
0
I am thinking of a switch from PC XP pro to a mac. (vista scares me).

I am a "enthusist" will above average skills in PS CS2, also I do 45 to 60 min videos movies of events tha I like using adobe premiere elements.

My current system a dual core system PC still bogs down in Adobe premiere after a 16 min video. CS2 works ok but sill slow at times.

that is my story....

Now, I want some help to buy a new Mac.

By budget is not robust....so what do you think is a mac system that would run well not bog down.

Also, I want to buy final cut pro in the near future, if I switch

If you can help me distill down what i need to look at, then, thank you in advance


Most kindley
kblaw
 
Since you don't mention portability as a factor, I would suggest getting an iMac or a Mac Pro. The Mac Pro would be a lot faster, but you said you don't have a robust budget, so the iMac sounds like the better choice. But can you give figures on your budget so we have a better idea of what you're working with?
 
my budget

My budget will be somewhere about $2,900.

My main concern is: 1st What does it take to run final cut pro with out "bogging down"
2nd. Running PScs3 when it comes out.

3rd My leaning curve leaving the windows world and going to the mac world.

Help here??

Thanks
Kblaw
 
With that budget I'd strongly suggest getting the Mac Pro. What I would do is downgrade the processor from 2.66GHz to 2.0GHz and get that configuration and then buy two of these 2GB RAM sticks. The RAM will give you much better performance overall than the processor at 2.66GHz and it will give you 5GB of RAM which should be plenty while still staying under your budget.

Also for CS3, you ideally want to get CS3 and not buy CS2. CS2 is not a Universal Binary yet and will make it run a lot slower. You can still use windows on your Mac Pro using bootcamp and that would be faster than using CS2 for Mac OS X.

The learning curve for going from XP to Mac OS X is not too bad. You just have to readjust some habits like the minimize, maximize and close buttons are on the left of the window instead of the right. Another thing that is different is that the menus for each program appear on the taskbar at the top of your screen instead of in each individual window and other differences like that.
 
reply

thanks for the reply.

When I linked to the ram site, this would cost 600 and some more, which If I am correct, puts me at about $3,300. Ooch! that stings.

Ken
 
Actually what I suggested doing was downgrading the processor on the Mac Pro to 2.0GHz which would make the Mac Pro $2199 and then buy 2 of the 2GB sticks for $325 each, that would make the total $2849 plus tax.
 
I agree I think you should get the Mac Pro.
You can also look into Final Cut Express which is plenty good for most people.
Also if you go with the 2.00 ghz pro and put in 2 gig of ram plus take Final cut express $200 off with the system you will come in at $2598.00
Nicely below your budget.
 
more info wanted??

Again, thank you for your help. Should I not think of getting an upgrade on the graphic card also?.The one that keeps my price at the $2,800 mark includes this Nvidia card. Would It not enhance the system to get a faster card?

Ken


NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB (single-link DVI/dual-link DVI)
2 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB [Add $149]
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI) [Add $249]
3 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB [Add $299]
4 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB [Add $449]
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Stereo 3D (2 x dual-link DVI) [Add $1649]
 
If you're only doing video and photo editing, a better graphics card will not help you, neither of them is dependant on the video card, they are both processor and RAM intensive.
 
Yeah, the graphics card won't be too big of a deal unless if you're doing a lot of 3D/gaming sort of things. Just don't go for the low end iMac with the Intel GMA 950 graphics because Final Cut Studio can't run on it. And you can always upgrade the Mac Pro's graphics card later if you want.

I also recommend the Mac Pro. Sounds good for what you're doing. I use Final Cut Express on an iMac G5 (about a two year old computer), and it runs fine, although I just regret not getting a bigger hard disk and settling for a 17" display. I would definitely get a 20" or better.

The Dell displays are cheap and bright and all, but the Apple Cinema Displays, while costing more and are not as bright, have superior color clarity.

It took me years to master Windows. It took me days to master Mac OS X.

Welcome to the Mac!
 
I would strongly suggest that you follow iBookG4User's advice and aim for the 5GB of RAM with the lower processors. RAM, as you will find out, is OS X's best friend, and your MP will be lightning quick.

Will
 
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