Ideal system for AE any benefits between PC or Mac

[Darby Edelen]

Ahhh, time to upgrade, so many things to consider =)

Here’s some food for thought:

1) Graphics cards don’t help AE very much… at all.

2) RAM helps AE a LOT, but it can’t take advantage of more than 3GB of RAM unless you have a multi-core/processor system (extra RAM will always help you if you’re running multiple applications at once).

3) The Mac vs. PC consideration really boils down to this: which are you more comfortable using? There are secondary considerations such as software/hardware availability (Final Cut Studio is cool, being somewhat limited in hardware upgrade options, especially for a laptop, is not).

Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA

[Edward Barfield]

Personally, without getting into the Mac Vs. Windows long-running argument, I would go with a Mac Pro desktop (not laptop), with 8 gig of RAM (if you can afford it) and minimum two dual CPUs. Mac’s OS (Leopard) is Unix-based and is a more stable, and a better operating system (my opinion). I am about to purchase a MAC Pro and upgrade my Adobe CS2 Pro Video suite using a cross-platform upgrade ($799), as Adobe has told me this is supported.

My .02 worth…

Ed

[Scott Irwin]

It would actually be more accurate to say that you can only take advantage of more than 3 GB of ram with a 64 bit operating system, either a Mac OS, XP 64-Bit or Windows Vista. The Windows XP that most folks have only likes 2 GB of ram, max, or 3 GB if you tweak it.

If you’re really spending a big wad of cash and getting a whole new rig for primarily AE I would probably recommend a Mac pro desktop as you can pump that baby full of RAM and put it all to use. Bang-for-buck wise I do not really see the advantages of a Macbook Pro over a PC laptop as far as processing power. People talk about build quality a lot but I’m on my third Dell laptop and several other folks I know have them and bang the heck out of them with no real problems.

I myself am about to do an upgrade on my PC editor. I have an AMD dual-core that has been working fine but it was a bit dated when I built it new. I’m going Intel and will be getting either an E6750 dual-core or Q6600 quad-core, a new motherboard to support it, and some FASTER DDR2 ram chips to go along with it (not everyone who does home builds/upgrades is aware that RAM chips have a speed as well and if they aren’t matched with your mo-bo or you mix sticks together you will hobble the speed of all your ram). I’m going to be looking at a pretty significant performance boost for $350-$450.

Depending on what you’re working with renders are generally slower on a laptop because you’re only using one drive and it’s likely a 5400 RPM drive as opposed to the 7200 RPM drives found standard in most desktops.

Darby is correct that AE doesn’t give much of a hoot about your video card as long as it is OpenGl. It doesn’t help with renders or ram previews just stuff like wireframes and being a little snappier when you make adjustments.

Other ways to kickstart your system are with faster drives or RAID arrays and making sure you actually have a beefy power supply that lets your baby run full-tilt. I cheaped out on a power supply with my first build and it’s been causing me nothing but headaches (in the form of random freezes, BSOD’s, and other general funkiness).

I’ve only been working with AE since September and have absorbed a lot of this stuff fairly recently so I’d double check everything I just told you before spending money…

[Darby Edelen]

[Scott Kubie] “It would actually be more accurate to say that you can only take advantage of more than 3 GB of ram with a 64 bit operating system, either a Mac OS, XP 64-Bit or Windows Vista. The Windows XP that most folks have only likes 2 GB of ram, max, or 3 GB if you tweak it. “

And a 64-bit application, which none of the Adobe applications are.

Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA

[Scott Keck]

And remember: you’ll save tons of $$ if you buy the basic CPU configuration you want, and NO upgraded components. Apple want $699 for 4GB of 667 RAM…. same 4 GB is $119 from NewEgg. Apple also want $699 for a 750 GB SATA internal HD. I just bought a WD 750GB 16MB cache HD for $189 less than 1 month ago, also from NewEgg.

Save yourself the $ and upgrade it with parts from online retailers, use the $ you save for cool plugins and 3rd party FX.