Need advice-About to take the plunge

[Justin Skotarczyk]

It sounds like you’ve done the research, and found a usable, cost feasible solution.

I know people that run both of those programs on an older iMac with no issues.

The more you get into really complex projects with hi-res footage and intense animations, you may begin to see some limitations.
For practice however, that computer should more than suffice.

Justin Skotarczyk
Designer/VFX Artist
Mosa
Royal Oak, MI

[David Bogie]

You can research all of the iMacs around here. The general answer is all models are inappropriate for serious motion graphics and video work because you cannot add or change the cards.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Bret Williams]

Don’t make this decision based on getting a monitor built in. You’ll kick yourself later. Why not get the cheapest Mac Pro with a single quad core processor, 320 gb hd, and 2 gig of ram. (if you need more ram get it somewhere else later for cheap – and you only need another gig, I use 3 gigs with no problems and I hit AE and FCP pretty hard at the same time).

The above will cost less than the imac you’re going to buy. True, it won’t have the additional monitor built in, but buy a $200 el cheapo 20″ ACER or something for a secondary monitor if you really need it. But if you’re just learning or practicing, I think having the right machine should come before having an elaborate dual monitor setup, no?

Besides, even the cheaper Mac Pro has quad xeon processors that will run circles around the imac. You’ll have room to grow and add additional drives or add a raid card or video cards for FCP. With the imac, the minute you end up needing any of that stuff, you’re going to have to ditch the imac and buy a Mac Pro anyway.

[Brendan Coots]

I tend to agree with this. Now that Apple has gone 8-core-standard on the Mac Pros, the quad-core machines are very attractively priced. Here’s some things to consider:

iMac
– can’t upgrade anything
– if monitor dies, computer is useless
– apple monitors are way overpriced, and this is just as true when it’s part of a computer.
– the iMacs are, in some ways, a faster mac mini with (overpriced) monitor built in
– can’t add hard drives, much less RAID. Because of this, your media and OS will be on the same drive and performance will suffer. Alternative is using external drives for everything, which is more expensive and less convenient.
– 2GB RAM won’t do you much good with AE or FCP. I personally feel like 4GB is the minimum, and like their monitors Apple memory is crazy overpriced

Mac pro
– can upgrade everything – drives, RAM etc. using third party providers and save hundreds or thousands of dollars
– Will run circles around the iMac. Even though you are just talking about learning, you probably don’t want to be completely hamstrung by your computer
– can add (or replace) the monitor as you see fit, using any size, brand, pricepoint etc.
– better resale value

Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com