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Which Mac to purchase?
Hi, new member here.
I’m an amateur filmmaker/photographer trying to decide which Mac would best suit my needs.
For filmmaking, I’ll be doing mostly experimentals/shorts/music videos for bands for the next 3-5 years, and I’ll be editing with Sony Vegas, or maybe even FCP. I shoot with a Canon XH-A1 in HDV.
For photography, I’ll be photographing bands, portraits, etc. and also going to school soon to take some graphic design courses. So for the next 3-5 years I’ll mostly be doing whatever I learn at school and applying it to my photography. I shoot photography with a Nikon D5000.
I could buy a Mac Pro, but I’ve been told by some friends that I don’t need a system that powerful for what I’ll be working on, and that it will simply a waste of money since I won’t be utilizing it to its fullest potential. Some say a 27″ iMac i7 is the best one suited for my needs for the next few years, while I get some experience in both filmmaking/photography fields.
Help?E.G.
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4 Replies
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You are aware that Sony Vegas is a PC based program?
So I assume you mean which Mac works best with Boot Camp?
Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org -
Thank you for clarifying, as this is something I wasn’t aware of. In that case, I’ll be editing in an Apple compatible editing software, perhaps FCP.
However, the question still remains, which system would best suit my needs based on the information I gave on my post above? top of the line iMac or Mac Pro?
I’m not trying to spend an extra $1000-$3000 if I don’t have to. -
To my knowledge imacs are not upgradeable for ram, HD or other PCIe cards (at least not in the past). The Pro’s are the only one’s that allow you to upgrade these items yourself. Also, if you wanted to use bootcamp, you can use PC based programs, I have students who use Mac’s that use Vegas with bootcamp all the time. If you want to save $ AND be upgradeable…why not go PC based?
Scott Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions -
I could buy a Mac Pro, but I’ve been told by some friends that I don’t need a system that powerful for what I’ll be working on, and that it will simply a waste of money since I won’t be utilizing it to its fullest potential.
Your friends obviously have never edited HD video and while you have an HDV camera now, all future cameras are shooting AVCHD or some form of AVC/H.264. You definitely need the most powerful computer your wallet can handle (Mac or PC) if you plan on working in HD. I would definitely got for the MacBook Pro. You won’t regret it.
BTW, I run Vegas Pro in a VMware virtual machine on my Linux laptop so you can use BootCamp or VMware Fusion to run Vegas on your Mac.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
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