Please recommend a mac to run FCP

John Godden

John Godden

Well-known member
Greetings

Can I get a HW recommendation for running Final Cut Studio 2.0?

My preference (due to cost and size) would be to get a Mac Mini with 2.0 GHz and 2 GB. I just don't know if a 2 GHz Mini (with 2 GB) has enough horse power to run Studio? Macrumos also recently stated the the mini might be hasta-la-bye-bye soon. ??? I'm looking to purchase in about 2-3 weeks so that will after MacWorld and any possible announcements.
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/12/17/apple-store-shipping-dates-and-buyers-guide-recommendations/

In any case.................... what sort of processor speed and memory config is needed for FCS to rock? If this has already been discussed please direct me to the appropriate thread.

MUCH thanks for any HW recommendation
JohnG
 
Dude...NO MAC MINI! You are going to buy the lowest end Mac for high end professional editing/compositing/color correction software? No, that would be a big mistake.

I PERSONALLY would really only recommend the pro machines, MacBook Pro and MacPro...especially if you want it to ROCK! But I know people have budgets, so an iMac will work, adiquately. Although you are limited to firewire drives and only ONE firewire bus which can cause issues when trying to capture video.

But...do you NEED FCP? What formats of video will you be working with? FC Express works with DV, HDV and AVCHD just fine.
 
It all depends on what you're doing with FCS 2. For docu-style editing and basic cutting with FCP, I'd say go with a MacBook Pro. (Portable, can hook up external monitor, ExpressCard expansion.) For Motion or other processor-heavy graphics tasks, a MacPro is the way to go.

No real way to tell how much it will "rock" without knowing what you're going to do with it.

--SM
 
do you even need final cut studio 2? Get a used macbook or macbook pro and then buy final cut studio 1 used. i bought a new mac pro but bought a used copy of final cut studio and saved tons of money
 
Hi Guys

OK, I guess I should add some info about what I'll be doing.

I have been using Premiere Pro CS3 on a uber fast PC running XP Pro. I have been very pleased with the performance of this machine in crunching the HVX files. That said, Achronis just killed my hard disks and I'm at a pretty high frustration level right now. :furious3:. I'm looking at alternatives but I wouldn't be surprised if I have to rebuild the entire OS and Program structure.

Anyway, regardless of my immediate PC problem .................... I've been contemplating rotating one of my home machines to the Mac platform.

OK, so the Mini won't do it. ............ :bath:

How well will a 2.8 GHz IMac perform with FCP? Sorry for the generic question here but I'm not familiar with FCP.

Regards
JohnG
 
The iMac will run FCS OK, although you may suffer some performance hits when using some of the more processor intense apps like Motion and Color.

Really though the whole reason to get a Mac Pro tower (and why so many video pros use them) is the expandibility. FCS really shines when you add 3rd party cards and devices, and you can easily upgrade your graphics card, hard drive and RAM. iMacs have no PCI slots and don't offer the max storage and memory that an MPro does. If you want to view your DVCProHD footage on an external NTSC monitor for example, you'll need a video card that can only be installed in a Mac Pro. Same with external RAID arrays.

If you have an "uber fast" PC, why wouldn't you upgrade to a similarly speedy Mac?

JK
 
JohnK said:
The iMac will run FCS OK, although you may suffer some performance hits when using some of the more processor intense apps like Motion and Color.

Really though the whole reason to get a Mac Pro tower (and why so many video pros use them) is the expandibility. FCS really shines when you add 3rd party cards and devices, and you can easily upgrade your graphics card, hard drive and RAM. iMacs have no PCI slots and don't offer the max storage and memory that an MPro does. If you want to view your DVCProHD footage on an external NTSC monitor for example, you'll need a video card that can only be installed in a Mac Pro. Same with external RAID arrays.

If you have an "uber fast" PC, why wouldn't you upgrade to a similarly speedy Mac?

JK
Click to expand...


JK

For now, I just want to make sure I get enough processing grunt to edit FCP projects reasonably fast. An 'uber fast' Mac platform would come next year. If that means a Mac Pro tower............ ????
Regards
JohnG
 
I have three Mac Pros, one G5 and an iMac. The Mac Pro's are great, the G5 not bad (mostly used for digitizing) but the iMac sucks.

I know people claim you can edit on it fine but it's as quirky as hell, I suspect the graphics card, and there's nothing that can be done to upgrade it. To be fair to the cute little iMac, its the only mac running Leopard and that might have more to do with its crappy performance.

But I don't recommend an iMac .
 
my main box is a quad 2.5 g5 which does fine editing hd and works great for after effects, etc. i have an imac g5 2ghz that also works fine for hd but not so much for after effects or any other graphic card dependant app. my 3rd machine is a macbook 2ghz. same deal. great for fcp but not so much for after effects and motion.
 
I went for a Macbook Pro on a stand and an external monitor. I feel like I have the best of everything. Dual screen editing and when I am on the road, I can work. I works well even with HDV which is super processor hungry.

The mini wont work (you need a dedicated GFX card to run studio well). As of now, your choices are iMac, MacBookPro, MacPro or a used tower. Who knows what Macworld will bring...
 
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