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Would I really burn up this iMac if I buy it? Time of Essence
Hi folks,
You will be able to tell from my lack of knowledge that I am a ‘newbie’ but, that being said, I don’t want to stay one forever. I will be graduating as a Film Studies major from a school that focuses more on theory and history than hands-on. I’m graduating soon and won’t have access to school equipment. A good number of the labs here are equipped with iMacs. Upon the advice of an individual in our media production area I purchased the computer described below…it is returnable. However, when I consulted with a film maker/professor he told me that I will ‘burn’ up my computer when I do heavy duty editing if I don’t purchase a MacPro.
Money IS an issue here but it would certainly cost me more in the end to initially buy the wrong equipment.
I need to keep in mind that I still need to buy a camera, software, and a deck as I still work with mini DVs.
Does anyone have advice for me? I need to return the computer within the week, should I wish to do so.
I am hoping to be able to do public service films for two NGOs with which my family is associated…not YouTube vids
Thank so much!“iMac 27″ / 3.2 GHz / 4 GB / 1 TB (NEW)
4 GB RAM (2 x 2 GB chips), 1 TB Hard Drive (7200 rpm), 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3 Processor, 8x Dual layer Super Drive, ATI Radeon HD 5670 with 512 MB shared GDDR3 memory, 27″ (2560×1440 px) TFT Active-Matrix Display, Gigabit Ethernet, Extreme Airport Card, Bluetooth, 4 USB ports, 1 800 mbps Firewire port, SDXC Card Slot, OS X 10.6 Factory installed.” -
2 Replies
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Hi,
I’m new too, to FCP and Apple anyway. I did stuff in Adobe for a few years prior to me jumping ship a year ago. My HP was pretty new and beefed up, but Adobe crashed it 100 times a night for doing something as small as a transition. Hence my move over to Apple.
I have the iMac 27 quad core. It sounds like it’s set up pretty much like you have it. The first thing that I did was get some external drives. I have a 2 TB external that runs pretty fast off the firewire and a couple of 1TB drives that I just store clips and audio on. I don’t do production work but my projects are pretty good sized. I’m doing a 2 1/2 hour one right now and the machine seems to run just fine. The raw data is a few hundred gigs. I use up to 4 different cameras 3 of them HD. No complaints. You can’t beat it for the money.
I haven’t spoken to any pro that uses one though. If I were to go that route, I would for sure beef up the ram to it’s generous potential. but even with the stock 4 gig, it scoots right along. As you already know, the monitor is the bomb.
Just my $.02
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Hello Patricia,
If you plan on working with MiniDV, I’d say the iMac should be fine. That being said, I think you’ll quickly find that you’ll regret going down the SD road. Get a Mac Pro if you can. One of the main problems you’ll find is that external firewire/USB drives aren’t all that great at the high demands of video editing. With a MacPro, you’ll be able to add drives (four drives total) inside the machine, and you should raid 3 of them together. For now to help with the money situation, just remember that a mac pro is much easier to upgrade and expand later on. With an iMac, you’ll be pretty much stuck.Also, I would discourage you from investing money into a miniDV deck at this point. That’s pretty much wasted money. If you plan on shooting tape, you’ll still be able to capture from your camera. I personally love panasonic cameras, and encourage you to look at some of them. You can find a great tapeless workflow with AVCAM cameras recording on to sd cards.
I hope this helps. Best wishes.
-Grant Gomm
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