Hit_yOur_tV
02-20-2004, 12:57 PM
Hello. I am getting ready to buy a Dvx100a in the upcoming weeks, and I am trying to find a computer to edit on. I have a Gateway that is pretty good, but I tried Vegas and it just didnt work for me. I really liked FCP 4 when I tried it, and I think I have narrowed it down to that. The problem is I dont have a mac, and I am looking to find something that can get the job done but is not super expensive. Getting to the question, I was wondering if the lower end G5 is a good computer. I know the G5's have been hyped up, and are supposed to be very fast computers, but how is the lower end model? I would probably up the ram to 512 and get a bigger hard drive, but with that and my student discount it would equal about 1800 dollars. I just wanted to hear from someone with experience, because I have always worked on a pc, and am quite inexperienced with macs. thanx.
-kevin
Any G5 (and all late model G4s) will run FCP without problem. *Especially if you're working primarily with DV, the only time you're really going to notice slowdown in the program is when you start stacking on the effects or overlaying tracks with motion and/or opacity changes. *Obviously, the faster the computer, the shorter time the rendering time will be.
I would increase the ram to at least 1GB, and make sure that you have a separate drive for video capturing (meaning you need at least 2 physical drives). *Having one big one will not work as well as having one smaller one for system/programs and another solely for video, etc.
Also, as you already have a PC, I would just add that you might want to take another look at the choices you have on that side, as you'll need to buy all new hardware AND software just to become productive on the mac end. *While I would say Vegas is at the top of my list, if you don't like it (or just haven't given it enough time to get used to it), you may want to check into the other choices out there: Premier Pro (nah *;)), Blade, Liquid Edition, and Avid DV, just to name a few. With any of these choices, you'll be paying less than the cost of a new mac and NLE software + extras.