Video editing and DVD authoring hardware suggestions

[crburton]

Getting more into video editing and DVD authoring and will be moving to Final Cut Studio. My questions are:

1. What is the best stock Mac for these activities?

2. What is the bang for the buck winner?

This is all of course considering only currently available systems. Right now I'm using the late 2005 PM Dual Core 2.3 with a Dell 23" display. I've got my eye on the new 27" iMac i5 or i7 but wasn't sure how they compared to the latest Mac Pros especially considering the Mac Pros seem a bit pricey for what you get in the latest refresh.

Chris

 

[THX1139]

Unless you like spending money, or work in a high volume studio... the best cost effective solution is to buy a USED Mac Pro, or go with the iMac. The only new Mac Pro that looks decent is the top of the line, but not many people can justify the price. Especially when you consider what's NOT included. The 6 core build option looks promising, but Apple isn't saying what the price is going to be. My guess is that it will be MORE than the 8 core and you'll only get 4 ram slots. The new line up pretty much sucks for the prosumer/small studio. Unless you need ECC ram, that i7 iMac is probably the best all around machine for the money.

The other options are to wait another 512 days to see what Apple does next, or build a PC.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Best "bang for the buck" is the new iMac i7 or the previous model iMac i7 that is in the refurb store right now. The new model has a better video card w/ more VRAM so will be better if you use Motion or other motion graphics apps.

You'll need an ext. drive for your scratch disk and probably another for storage, and another for backup. That is 3 exts which can be kinda messy and one of the many reasons why I prefer the MP, but it's not "bang for the buck" under any scenario.

You'll also want to load it up with at least 8GB of RAM.

 

[crburton]

Getting more into video editing and DVD authoring and will be moving to Final Cut Studio. My questions are:

1. What is the best stock Mac for these activities?

2. What is the bang for the buck winner?

This is all of course considering only currently available systems. Right now I'm using the late 2005 PM Dual Core 2.3 with a Dell 23" display. I've got my eye on the new 27" iMac i5 or i7 but wasn't sure how they compared to the latest Mac Pros especially considering the Mac Pros seem a bit pricey for what you get in the latest refresh.

Chris

Wanted to bump this now that the pricing has been announced for the new Mac Pros ... $1200 for the 6 core option. The more I struggle with this decision the more I want the expandability of the Pro (my wife has one and is upgrading to the new ones). I'll be waiting to see more info on performance to make a decision. Thanks for the comments though.

Wanted to add ... I'll be using this system to produce a professional DVD package for resale for our amateur MMA events that we have approx every 3 weeks. Getting them done quickly and efficiently is of most importance as they all need to be created, labels printed, and packaging created (all done in house) before the next event.

Chris

 

[AnimaLeo]

Wanted to bump this now that the pricing has been announced for the new Mac Pros ... $1200 for the 6 core option. The more I struggle with this decision the more I want the expandability of the Pro (my wife has one and is upgrading to the new ones). I'll be waiting to see more info on performance to make a decision. Thanks for the comments though.

Wanted to add ... I'll be using this system to produce a professional DVD package for resale for our amateur MMA events that we have approx every 3 weeks. Getting them done quickly and efficiently is of most importance as they all need to be created, labels printed, and packaging created (all done in house) before the next event.

Chris

$1200 seriously? In the U.K. Quad Cores start at £2000. =( I wish I could get a Mac Pro for £1200.

 

[MCRunning]

i7 iMac is the way to go

 

[crburton]

$1200 seriously? In the U.K. Quad Cores start at £2000. =( I wish I could get a Mac Pro for £1200.

1200 additional ... 3699 with the 6 core option.

Chris