Newbie needs Macbk Pro purchase advice

[David Roth weiss]

Hi Karina!!! Welcome back from the dark side.

Most editors dislike glossy — though I seem to recall all the new models are glossy.

MacMall (Santa Monica) still has that last generation 2.6ghz 15″ MacPro with the good graphics card and the non-glossy screen. That’s a good one, and at a great price too. Contact Philip or Dean at (310) 394-7779. The bricks and mortar store is called Creative Computer BTW, and they do the Ca. Post-production tax break thing if you press them.

BTW, I’m available for training and consulting…

Good luck,
David

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Karina Buck]

Thanks so much David. Just spoke to Phillip at Mac Mall. They have a couple left, but the clock speed is 2.5 gHz instead of 2.6. Is this a problem? He says it has the “better” Nvidia graphics card.

Also, should I upgrade to 4G of ram? It costs $125 extra there.

[David Roth weiss]

That’s right, it’s 2.5, and that’s the one to get. Absolutely do boost the RAM to 4Gb. That machine is a very nice machine to learn on, especially if you look it up to a nice external monitor (24″ Dell Ultrasharp for example) and a nice external FCP-capped keyboard, such as the Bella Pro model, which they also have at MacMall.

I’d also advise a G-Raid for your media drive. Philip knows the one.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Karina Buck]

And is it ok if it has the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT ?

[David Roth weiss]

Yep, that’s the one with 512gb memory I think. Verify with Philip just to be sure, but I’m pretty certain.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Karina Buck]

Thanks for all your guidence David. I am now a happy member of the Mac Club!

[David Roth weiss]

Congrats Karina, that’s great.

There is a lot for you to learn, but I’m sure you’ll wrap your brain around FCP fairly quickly. You will find a few things rather confusing initially, as there’s a lot more under user control than with edit* or Avid. However, you will eventually come to appreciate the power that control brings. There are also a few downright dumb things too, such as the fact that changing the speed of a clip ripples the entire video track on the timeline, but that’s a whole different conversation.

Meanwhile, before doing anything else, may I suggest that you watch the very brief tutorial at the link below, which very clearly and very concisely explains how to properly begin new projects in FCP. As I like to say here to everyone, if you follow the instructions in this tutorial every time you begin a new project, you will go on to fame and fortune. Well okay, how about just a little fame???

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/biscardi_walter/realtime_sequences.php

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.