RAM/video edit question

[MUTTSx3]

Well here it is....

1st post....soon to be first Mac.

Ive been lurking here for many months...reading/searching/learning. Havent had a need to speak up until now...its been more fun to shut up, read and learn. Im fed up with sluggish PCs/adware and malware infections/etc so its time to switch to the other team.

I'll be getting either the high end 15 or the 17...going to hit the store and play with both again before deciding.

My question is in regards to RAM. I do a lot of home video using AVCHD. I like to catalog it and am doing some editing. I know to use iMovie I'll need to convert the footage...been reading extensively about that. Doesnt seem all that hard. My debate is whether to get the 17 inch with 4 of RAM vs the 15 inch with 8 of RAM. With this type of video work and light gaming (sports games--a little golf, nba2k11 type games), what amount of RAM is ideal?

Thanks in advance.
Tony

 

[ECUpirate44]

Well here it is....

1st post....soon to be first Mac.

Ive been lurking here for many months...reading/searching/learning. Havent had a need to speak up until now...its been more fun to shut up, read and learn. Im fed up with sluggish PCs/adware and malware infections/etc so its time to switch to the other team.

I'll be getting either the high end 15 or the 17...going to hit the store and play with both again before deciding.

My question is in regards to RAM. I do a lot of home video using AVCHD. I like to catalog it and am doing some editing. I know to use iMovie I'll need to convert the footage...been reading extensively about that. Doesnt seem all that hard. My debate is whether to get the 17 inch with 4 of RAM vs the 15 inch with 8 of RAM. With this type of video work and light gaming (sports games--a little golf, nba2k11 type games), what amount of RAM is ideal?



Thanks in advance.
Tony

You can get by with 4, but 8GB is ideal for video editing. Don't upgrade through Apple, buy it with 4GB and upgrade to 8GB through a 3rd party if needed like Newegg or OWC. Theres nothing wrong with the ram that comes with the mac, its just overpriced and the upgrade is dead easy to do yourself.

I would buy the computer with 4GB and use it for a while. If you decide later that you need 8, just upgrade then.

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[simsaladimbamba]

As iMovie is still 32-bit it will not take advantage of more than 4GB of RAM and even a professional video editing application like Avid Media Composer will not take more than 2GB RAM, even if the project included over thousand tapes, edits or groups, even if one edit (a stored sequence) takes up several hundred MBs (not for the media, just for all the information what was used form what clip at what position).
Therefore I deduct, that iMovie will run the same with 4GB as with 8GB, you will just be able to also have more open applications and switch faster between them.

Adobe Premiere on the other side, can access 8GB RAM, as it is 64-bit, and it can also edit AVCHD natively without transcoding, though the CPU will be used for that all the time when editing in Premiere.