Need Advice on iMac & MacBook Pro Updates.

[Joe Marler]

I have both 27″ LG 5k and the 27″ Apple Studio display which I use on both M1 Max MBP16 and a M1 Ultra Mac Studio. The LG is good. However this is a good comparison of them which also reflects my experience: https://youtu.be/-ARS-htYzHQ

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[Mark Smith]

I bought an original Mac Mini M1 which has served me well in the edit department. I am mostly cutting 4K and some 5.7 k and of course everything under those specs. When The M1 mini came out I was long overdue for an upgrade so it was a solid purchase. I also havE a 14″ MPB M series. Since I do shoot quite a bit having a desktop in addition to something I would take on location is a need in my case. The newer generation M1 ‘s are beasts so I think they are good for a number of years. One thing I have learned with the M1’s is that fast storage makes a huge difference in performance. If I have a small project using a 2 TB or 4 TB SSD drive like a T7 makes a huge positive difference in performance.

[Paul Szilard]

Good review. For me however the “benefits” are a waste of my time/money and I think the LG is better value. If one had an open budget and price was totally immaterial, then sure, the Apple screen would be a slightly better choice.

[Glenn Payne]

Thanks so much for the info!

[Julia William]

Right now, I will advise choosing the 13-inch, 14-inch, and 16-inch MacBook Pro models over the iMac. The 14in and 16in MacBook Pro feature the M1 Pro and M1 Max options, which are superior to the M1 and M2 alternatives, and the 13in MacBook Pro offers greater value and better processors than the 24in iMac. Last week I bought a Sceptre E248W-19203R for my personal use which is working great.

[Matthew Woods]

Heads up if you use After Effects, you should hang on to the 2013 iMac for now(Still get a new machine for Final Cut). I have that same 2013 model iMac, as well as a 2017 iMac Pro. The 2013 iMac is WAY better for After Effects. The iMac Pro is a little faster, though not a lot but it is much more prone to crashing and often can’t play back a Ram Preview in real time. I don’t have these problems on the 2013 iMac. It is one of the last machines that Apple made with an Nvidia card, and I think Adobe works much better on Nvidia. I hoped Adobe would fix AE for Apple Silicon, but reports sound like that is not the case.

[Eric Santiago]

Chances are it’s your Adobe/Apple combo.
We are running 6 new 2022 MacBook Pro M1 Pros with the latest After Effects and it’s been stable with this version from Adobe.

This is not the case when using numerous flavors of OS/Adobe versions across iMacs, Mac Pro 2013s, and 2019s.

That’s more of a gamble of late.

IMHO of course.

[Julia William]

Right now, we’d choose the 13-inch, 14-inch, and 16-inch MacBook Pro models over the iMac.

[Glenn Payne]

Do any of you know if I can use my late 2013 iMac as an external monitor if I buy a new mac book pro? After reading online, it seems I can but was hoping someone might have firsthand experience. I’d love to purchase other options later but that would work fine for me for now.

Also, would I have any problem updating a fcpx 10.5.4 library to the current 10.6.4. version of fcpx? I know I can’t open it on the older version afterwards. Just double checking in advance.

Thanks!

[Doug Metz]

You can only use the 2013 iMac as a monitor if the machine connecting to it is running High Sierra or earlier, so would need to be a 5yo OS, which won’t run on anything newer than 2017.

Updating libraries usually goes without a hitch, but make a backup copy first, so you can revert if necessary (probably won’t be necessary).