What's the right MAC for me???

[gstevens]

Hey everyone...

I figured I'd come straight to the source of mac knowledge. I stumbled upon this forum and it looks as if you are all very passionate for apple and apple made products, thus making this the best place for my question...

What Mac should I buy!?

I've been a PC user my entire life, and am finally ready to tackle a new OS. I have been very unhappy with vista and decided apple could be the right product for me. (after years of using iphones, ipod, itunes)

I'm currently a senior in college and have been majoring in film the past 4 years. I am constantly on my computer and beyond just using it as a personal machine (web browsing, music, etc) I need this computer to handle video editing.

I am looking to become a video editor and need a machine that will be able to last me the next few years, I imagine a Mac Pro would be the most logical choice but the 8-core model is almost $4,000!! Is the quad-core worth it?

I'm curious, would a souped up iMac be good enough for my video editing purposes? and how customizable are the imacs? (extent of HD bays, RAM, etc)

Also - Is this a good time to buy? the last thing I want is to buy a new mac and have a newer/faster version come out the following month.


Any information/personal experience would be greatly appreciated.

,

- Greg

 

[aaronw1986]

If you're looking to do video editing as your profession, then I'd highly recommend the mac pro over an imac. If it is your way of making money, more power is what you want. You could also look into the 2008 version of the mac pro, where 8 cores was the standard config. If you've been in college doing video editing, you must have used a mac at some point? I would recommend going to an Apple store and using the machines. Mac pro is more versatile in terms of upgrades. You can use any types of monitors you want, have up to 4 hard drives, and puts lots of ram in.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

If you're going on to a career in film, go with the 8 core pro. The extra 4 cores give you a lot of future proofing.

An iMac could handle it, but if you can't afford an 8 core Pro, I'd advise waiting until quad core iMacs come out (whenever that is.)