-
iMac Setups
Hello Everyone,
I’m in the market for a new computer. My comp is 7 years old and I’ve been running FCP HD since I had the computer. Needless to say, it is time to upgrade. I feel that the Mac Pro is a little out of my price range for right now, but it seems that i/o solutions are geared more to card based solutions. As part of my research, I’m wondering what type of setups do you have that involve the iMac? Are there specific i/o solutions that you find work best in your workflow? I know that the Mac Pro would really be the way to go, but in the interest of $, I figured I’d ask this first.Thanks,
Jesse -
4 Replies
-
We have a 27 inch we take on the road when we need an computer and can’t bring a tower. So far it’s worked out really well for us.
In my opinion the biggest downfall to editing on the imac is the single Firewire 800 and 4 USB Connections. Does not give you a lot to work with. I have been looking at having OWC add an esata to it, it’s a pretty inexpensive upgrade.
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/turnkey/iMac_2010_27
As far as processing power and Ram are concerned you can put way more in an iMac than FCP can currently access so no worries there.
my 2 cents
-Andy George
Senior Editor
http://www.chiselindustries.com -
[Jesse Davidson] “Are there specific i/o solutions that you find work best in your workflow?”
Take a look at the Matrox MX02 Family of I/O boxes. They have different price ranges depending on the I/0s you would need. I also recommend the AJA IO express and the AJA IO HD
https://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mac/mxo2_family/input_output/
https://www.aja.com/products/io/Chad Tingle
Producer/Editor -
Thanks for the answers so far!
Chad, it looks like the AJA io is the one that uses Firewire. It looks as if the Matrox boxes wont connect without a PCI card which you can’t get on an iMac. How do you get around the fact that the iMac has one Firewire port?
Can you ad more like the eSATA port that Andy mentioned?
Part of me is considering just breaking down and getting the Mac Pro. But my pocket book would really like for me to find an iMac solution.
Thanks for the help guys,
Jesse -
[Jesse Davidson] “Part of me is considering just breaking down and getting the Mac Pro. But my pocket book would really like for me to find an iMac solution.”
Jesse,
I was in the same boat back in April.. but I ultimately made the decision based on where wanted to be in a couple of years. I also looked at the projects in my pipeline and the shortfalls I would endure or projects I would have to turn down if I didn’t have a mac pro with the right hardware card. In the long run that was my reasoning behind the whole thing. I told myself I didn’t have to get into the highest end 8 core mac pro I just got a good one and beefed up the ram months later when I finished a few projects. I guess what I’m getting at is you can get a mac pro and grow with it. Upgrade it with video cards, IO cards and ram when the time comes. I used to install video editing systems in Miami for a dealer and i saw clients continuously make the mistake of saving now and coming back months later and say I should have gotten the computer that i can upgrade later. Believe me I understand the finance game but a computer without and upgrade path as your main editor/compositor will bite you in the long run.
Chad Tingle
Producer/Editor
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up