Daygola814 said:
I applaud your decision to join the Mac pack. Your timing is flawless, since I sense that 'affordable' video editing for the mid-stream producer is going to software-based solutions on 64-bit machines. Apple has a real edge in this area.
Daygola814 said:
I wouldn't plan on using your PC RAM in the new Mac, the specs are frequently different and you need the right stuff for performance and reliability. There is a possibility of using the Western Digital drives if they are SATA or FireWire. That said, one of the reasons that Macs enjoy a pretty good rep for reliability is that one tends to follow the Apple 'party line' and add parts that are known to be compatible. This isn't a good area to skimp.
Of course, I recommend you get a system like mine (go figure...) but with the latest model. I'm running a dual 2.5 GHz G5 PowerMac (you could choose either the dual 2.3 GHz or dual 2.7 GHz) with 4 GB RAM, 9600XT graphics card, a 250GB system drive and a 1 TB internal SATA RAID. If the RAID seems like overkill, just add a second 250GB SATA drive for now. At a minimum, get 2GB RAM. The key to a good system in this environment is balance - you need fast drives to feed the processors, and the big RAM acts as a buffer. I have seen FCP HD grab 2.5GB of RAM while shredding its way through a render. I recommend you buy your system from your Local Apple Store if you have one. The reason is that the staff isn't on commission - they're actually interested in spending the time it takes to get you what you need. Most of the 'deals' I see for Macs on the web include $5 off the retail price and some free stuff that either isn't free ($40 a stick to install your 'free' RAM) or is low-end (printers & gizmos.) If money is a real issue, talk to the Apple guys to figure out what you really need, then buy a refurb from Apple.
The issue of performance is best answered this way: A G5 dualie is fast, but not in the conventional way. in a simple action like a screen scroll, you'll see little difference. When it comes to the 'heavy lifting', something like MPEG2 encoding, you really see the difference. I like the analogy of a Mustang vs. a turbo diesel truck - both can do 100 mph, but the turbo will do it pulling 10 tons.
The biggest thing about an FCP system is that you have the capability to do just about anything you can conceive, so your bottom line performance depends more on what you're doing than how fast the machine is. How much faster is that hardware accelerated PC that has to go to CPU rendering because you've exceeded it's limits? Or you're using a filter that it's can't handle? Take a good look at 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' (made on Macs) and you'll understand that it's about what you make, not how fast you could have done it if you'd gone the easy route.
Finally, HD... Yes, you can, but understand that HD is a many-headed monster, not just a new kind of video. FCP5 will cut most types of HD, the biggest issue as you move up the video food chain is disk storage - both speed and capacity. High-end HD can easily demand over 120MB/second transfer rates and chew up storage at more than a gigabyte a minute. The most likely starting place, HDV, is supported natively on a system like I described.
Good luck!
