Advice on getting a new computer…

[Zane Barker]

[Alireza Bahmanpour] “The new iMac is very tempting, with Intel Core 2 Duo 3.6 ghz, nvidia GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB, and 4 gig ram, and then maybe I could add another 8 gig. “

The maximum amount of ram that the current iMacs can take is 4GB.

I honestly am not a big fan of iMacs as editing machines. My reasoning behind that is there is only ONE firewire bus on the machine (yes there are multiple ports but there is still only one bus). I have experienced to many problems when being forced to have my media drives and deck share the same firewire bus. You can easily get dropped frames on ether capture or layback to tape.

If you do not want a Mac Pro then I recommend looking into a MacBook Pro, at least with those you can add an express card with a second firewire bus, or better yet an esata card for your media drives. And the new 17″ that was announced has the ability of taking up to 8GB of ram.

There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!

[Walter Biscardi]

[Alireza Bahmanpour] “The new iMac is very tempting, with Intel Core 2 Duo 3.6 ghz, nvidia GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB, and 4 gig ram, and then maybe I could add another 8 gig. “

Can’t add that much RAM to an iMac. Not even close.

[Alireza Bahmanpour] “My budget is around £2300 (so about £1500 for the computer, and the rest goes for the software). Any recommendations??? “

That’s a pretty low budget for a primary editing system. but the only thing you can afford in that range will be an iMac. You’ll have to do a lot more rendering than if you got a Mac Pro and of course, you’ll be limited to the editing formats you can do natively in an iMac.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Alireza Bahmanpour]

Thanks for your responses
Mac Pro is too expensive, it is more than £50000 for a reasonably good one. How about Dell XPS or hp? Would they be in any way suitable for editing, or should I stick with mac?

[David Mosquera keith]

Maybe look out for second hand mac pro, or even build yourself up a hackintosh ( apple software with PC hardware ) ive heard they run ok but the setup is a hassle and has hardware compatibility problems more info:

http://www.osx86project.org/

[Walter Biscardi]

[Alireza Bahmanpour] ” How about Dell XPS or hp? Would they be in any way suitable for editing, or should I stick with mac?
“

I don’t use Windows software for editing, never have so I can’t give you any advice there.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

Read my Blog!

STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!

[Rob Alexander]

I think you’ve made a mistake on the macpro pricing – £50,000???

A single quad core will cost you about £1400 add a bit more memory and a monitor (dell) and you’re up to about £1700-£1800, not wildly out of your reach and far more powerful than an imac.

[David Roth weiss]

Gosh, if you’d like I’ll sell any number to you at the bargain price of just £25,000.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

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A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Alireza Bahmanpour]

Ooops, sorry
I would never even pay that amount for a Ferrari…
I meant £5000