-
Mac Mini — waste of $???
I am thinking of purchasing a Mac Mini for really small editing projects…DV only. I edit on a Power Mac G5 at work. At home, I use Premiere Pro, and the more I use Final Cut at work, the more I want it at home. Only problem is that I can’t afford a Dual Processor G5 right now. I am not expecting the Mac mini to preform anywhere NEAR what the G5 does, but what I want to know is if anybody has had any experiance editing on the mini. I realize that render times would be quite long, but that’s okay. I would appreciate any feedback. thanks.
Brian
-
9 Replies
-
I’d say:Go for it, if that’s what you can handle, but fill’er up with RAM and _do not forget_ the external firewire drive for media. Apparently FCP 5 does not handle media on the system disk at all.
I have been editing for quite a while on a 677 mhz Powerbook, and the mini should cripple that. Never used FCP 5 on it, though.
But: Do what you can afford and start getting some cuts done. The rest’ll come.
Gunleik
-
You might want to consider moving up to one of the iMacs. My wife edits with FCP 4.5 on a 20″ iMac (not even the new ones that just came out, or the ones before that with the speed increase) and it works pretty well. I haven’t upgraded it to FCP 5, but it should work if we do. The new iMacs should work well with DV and FCP5 (and if you decide to add the studio package down the line, you probably have more flexibility in doing so). Just my $.02.
Boyd
“Go slow to go fast” -
I just got my Mac Mini 2 days ago. I am pretty much in the same boat with you but I use Prem. Pro for work. I have wanted to get more familiar with FCP since I get calls to do work on it every now and again.
The verdict? It seems to work. DV editing is functional. I am using an external USB2 drive for media storage currently. Now I am not sure I would use this as a workhorse system, but it does do the job for me so I can get up to speed with FCP. I have yet to do any heavy lifting with it, but simple disolves and titles render out pretty quick. As with most computers, RAM is your friend. I have 512MB right now but will get 1GB as soon as the holidays have passed.
In my case, not a waste of money.
Good luck
-
Thanks for the feedback. I’m leaning towards the purchase. I have the Dell 19″ LCD, so I could have both computers hooked up, and just get a switch box for my mouse/keyboard.
Did you get the 1.25 or the 1.42 mini? I really want the one that has the superdrive, but that is a lot of added cost. I am also considering just buying an external DVD burner, but that kind of defeats the purpose of getting the mini for the compact size…
-
That would be my ideal purchase, but I don’t quite have the money for that right now. I don’t want to hold out forever, because I know that bigger and better things will always come… But I would love the imac. I would really love the quad G5….
-
I picked up the 1.42 with the superdrive. I was also teetering on getting an external DVD burner and saving 100 bucks but I thought I might as well just get what I need now and avoid trying to add-on after the fact. It’s bad enough that there is only one RAM slot so I have to ditch the 512MB it came with to get a 1GB stick. Oh well, that is what I get for trying to get away cheap.
-
I found a local guy who is selling the superdrive mini with keyboard and mouse for $400. I have to jump on it. It comes with 512 Ram, and I’ll eventually get the GIG card. I heard a rumor that Mac will be releasing the mini with an intel-based chip next year. I kind of want to hold out for that one, but you can never keep up with the Joneses…
-
Rumors have it that a new mini will be ANNOUNCED on January 10th. That doesn’t mean it will ship any time near there, IF it is announced. A bird in the hand…..
-
… and it will most likely _not_ be compatible with FCP or any other AltiVec hungry app for six – nine moths. Don’t do the guiena pig thing without getting paid for it – or if you don’t have a passion for being exactly that.
The reason Apple is considering releasing the mini and iBook as the first Intel machines, is because these are considered not for pro use. All media apps are heavily dependant on AltiVec and needs to be rewritten to get up to speed or: even run. The jury is still out as of Rosetta can emulate AltiVec code at all. (Rosetta is the emulation layer in the new osx)
I guess _if_ this happens in january, only iMovie, iDVD, iTunes (and hopefully iPhoto) will be rewritten at launch. FCP has to get back to it’s intell roots, as Logic and Shake and… will.
Gunleik
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up