need some opinions for video editing

[ghostterm42]

hey guys,

I'm really having a tough time trying to decide on a mac.

My motto is to save as much money as I possibly can.

I'm starting a small business and I need a mac for video editing.

I'm not going to be doing videos that last more then 5 minutes but I am going to be doing 2 to 3 min hd (720p) tops.

I will probably be doing 1 to 2 a day at least and this will just contain adding music to the background of the video, editing the piece of music this way it can fit in the video, that shouldn't take up to much memory or space I wouldn't think and then add the subtitles/lyrics at the bottom of the video.

I know iMac is the best thing to get for video editing but it's not like I'm going to be doing extreme video editing at the beginning, just sort of basic stuff.

My question is the Mac Mini 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 good enough for this? I figure that if I can get away with this for let's say 6 months, then I can buy an iMac.

If I buy an iMac it's got to be the 27"er for $1699 which after I buy everything it'll run me to about a little over $1900.

If I buy the Mac Mini it'll only cost me $847 with tax, a big money saver right there.

Thanks

 

[Mr.C]

On the flip side if you buy a Mini now and an iMac six months down the road in the long term you end up spending a lot more money. Something to maybe think about. It might be better to invest in what you will need down the road now.

 

[zedsdead]

If you editing for a business, you want a machine that will work up to a great ability now. All the iMacs are quad-core, so I would go with them for video editing. The base 27" will be a good investment.

 

[gigaguy]

Can I chime in a question also?
So for light to moderate iMovie editing is the CPU power more important than gpu? I do one or 2 short videos a month. My current 2.0 c2duo mini, 4gb ram and 7200 hdd is a little sluggish and stutters with edits in a 12 min STD def video I'm editing. I want to get a new mini regardless.

I don't do gaming and wonder if the server model with 8 gb ram would be better than the other mini models? I have no need for an iMac screen. I use my HDTV as monitor. I also want most bang for buck and would upgrade hdds to 7200 and ram to 8 gb on any mini. Sdd right now would add too much $. Thanks.

 

[zedsdead]

Can I chime in a question also?
So for light to moderate iMovie editing is the CPU power more important than gpu? I do one or 2 short videos a month. My current 2.0 c2duo mini, 4gb ram and 7200 hdd is a little sluggish and stutters with edits in a 12 min STD def video I'm editing. I want to get a new mini regardless.

I don't do gaming and wonder if the server model with 8 gb ram would be better than the other mini models? I have no need for an iMac screen. I use my HDTV as monitor. I also want most bang for buck and would upgrade hdds to 7200 and ram to 8 gb on any mini. Sdd right now would add too much $. Thanks.

Video editing is more CPU dependent, however you need a decent GPU as well. A quad core processor will definitely help you.

 

[gigaguy]

Thanks, so you are saying either of the GPUs will work okay for my needs and the quad core would add better CPU grunt. Would the 2.3 or 2.5 still be doable?

 

[fa8362]

If you're starting a business, get the cheapest Mini that will do the job. The base Mini will more than do the job for you. I've done more than what you're planning to do with a nearly two year old Mini. There are people still using G5s and the like for video. I've seen a lot of successful small businesses that use old technology and I've seen a lot of bankrupt small businesses that use the "latest and greatest." You seem to understand this, but beware of advice that doesn't.

 

[ghostterm42]

If you're starting a business, get the cheapest Mini that will do the job. The base Mini will more than do the job for you. I've done more than what you're planning to do with a nearly two year old Mini. There are people still using G5s and the like for video. I've seen a lot of successful small businesses that use old technology and I've seen a lot of bankrupt small businesses that use the "latest and greatest." You seem to understand this, but beware of advice that doesn't.

what kind of video editing work do you do with your 2 year old mac mini and how often do you do it and what are the specs on it?

Thanks

 

[indg]

i've edited 720p video in imovie hd and feature length sd dv videos in final cut pro on my 5 year old macbook c2d. h264 encoding is slow, but it's definitely doable. every mac sold today is powerful enough to handle light video editing. it's just a question of how fast do you need to do it. if your livelihood depends on it and time = money, then obviously you want to get the fastest mac you can afford.

just keep in mind that when it comes to buying macs, buy what you need today at a price point within your budget. don't worry about what you think you'll need 6 months from now and overspend on "future-proofing" (god i hate that term). needs change over time and new macs come out every few months. what your needs are and what new, fast, shiny technology apple releases 6 months from now might be totally different than what they are today. so choose the mac that fits your needs today, not what you think you'll need on feb 1, 2012.

 

[japtor]

With the speed tech is moving these days, the best future proofing is probably just saving money for your next computer after this one.

I'd debate getting the base level one too, especially if money is that much of a concern, then just spend a little money to upgrade the RAM yourself to 8GB. The main upgrade I'd look into for quick video editing is fast storage cause the stock internal drive will be a killer when working with a lot of data. If you want to go cheap, a single big external drive will saturate FireWire, and/or a faster internal would help too.

 

[Tulpa]

The quad core server mini is actually more powerful for video editing than the base iMac, whose quad i5 doesn't have hyperthreading.

I guess it's a matter of how much turnaround you can afford. The C2D minis were slow as molasses at encoding, but they could certainly have handled the workload you're talking about if you can just let it run overnight. The new i5 minis should be somewhat faster but probably still not giving very quick turnaround.

just keep in mind that when it comes to buying macs, buy what you need today at a price point within your budget. don't worry about what you think you'll need 6 months from now and overspend on "future-proofing" (god i hate that term). needs change over time and new macs come out every few months. what your needs are and what new, fast, shiny technology apple releases 6 months from now might be totally different than what they are today. so choose the mac that fits your needs today, not what you think you'll need on feb 1, 2012.

Have to disagree with this somewhat. It's much cheaper to spend more on a computer that will still be relevant three years from now than to buy a new comp every six months because you want to "save money". It's highly unlikely that in six months a quad core CPU (for instance) will become unimportant for video editing.

I've seen a lot of successful small businesses that use old technology and I've seen a lot of bankrupt small businesses that use the "latest and greatest."

Uh, yes, because there's more to running a business than what technology you use. That doesn't mean more advanced technology makes no difference (particularly if the business is fundamentally based on using that technology).

 

[indg]

Have to disagree with this somewhat. It's much cheaper to spend more on a computer that will still be relevant three years from now than to buy a new comp every six months because you want to "save money". It's highly unlikely that in six months a quad core CPU (for instance) will become unimportant for video editing.

i never suggested for anyone to upgrade their mac every 6 months. i merely said people's needs change over time. you don't need to buy a $2000 imac based on "future needs" if an $800 mini fits your needs today. if you require a faster mac months down the road, new more powerful imacs will be out then and your $2000 (less the resale of the mini) will be better spent then, not now. on the other hand perhaps the mini you buy today will still be sufficient for your needs even a year from now. if that's the case, you will have saved a bundle of $$$ because you didn't overspend on something you didn't need in the first place.

if what you need today is a mini, get the mini. if what you need today is an imac, then get the imac. but don't waste your money buying an imac today because you think you'll need it a year from now. why give apple your hard earned money if you don't have to? who knows, with the money you save from not buying an imac today, you might be better off investing in apple stock and selling it a year from now.