Getting a Mac for the EX1 - Which one?

[Krummi]

Hey everybody.

I'm getting a new Mac for my EX1 editing needs (cutting, grading, authoring)

I'm *probably* buying used and what I have lined up is:

A 2.66 quad core Mac Pro w/ 4gb RAM and the x1900 XT GPU

or

A 2.2 core2duo Macbook Pro w/ 4gb RAM and the 8600m GPU

The Pro is more powerful, but will the mbp with it's rather weak GPU even play nice with the EX1 footage??

On a sidenote: Has anyone tried editing and grading EX1 footage on the new Aluminium Macbooks (non pro)? They have the new 9400m onboard GPU which is better than the old Intel stuff. How does it play?

[Chris@SFP]

Hi, i work as a video slution expert for Apple. I just order my EX1 today to my own production company. But i´ve been training companies on the workflow of the EX series for some time now. Depending on what your planing to do with it there are diffrent approtches.
Editing in FCP can be done supersmooth with a Macbook pro, i use the 15" 2.53ghz with 4gb ram at demos. All formats mix together perfect and you can also do standard color grading. There you also have the express port that is about 7x realtime for your footage straight into FCP. If your aims are more demanding than straight editing, more into animation and high end color grading asf. I suggest that you use the MacPro 2.8ghz quad with a standard setup of 10gb ram and the 8800 video card. =) For most bang for the buck if your looking for the HD-SDI in/out option i would ad a Blackmagic (just released a new card that about 600 euros retail here in Sweden) I know Aja might be a more high end card but face it.. Blackmagic does exacly what its ment to do for 1/4 of the price =) And remeber never to work on the same disc as you have your FCP installed.

Hope you find some of this usefull.