mac or pc? imac or mac Mini?

S

sithroya

Member
hi gang, two questions.

1-which is better with a budget from about $1000-1500ish for video editing,composition etc., mac or pc?

2-and is it better to get a mac mini or imac, even if both have the same specs?

thanks :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
sithroya said:
1-which is better with a budget from about $1000-1500ish for video editing,composition etc., mac or pc?

2-and is it better to get a mac mini or imac, even if both have the same specs?
Click to expand...

Personally, I'd go with a Mac. But it really depends on what your editing needs are. You aren't going to get into Mac-based editing of heavy-duty HD and compositing for $1500 or less, but you will get plenty of power to run FCS with HDV or HD footage from cameras like the HMC150.

It also depends on your skill level, comfort level, and software preference. If you want to work with Final Cut, Mac is your only choice. For AVID and Adobe CS, you can go either way. Sony Vegas, I believe, is PC-only.

As for the Mac Mini vs. iMac, there's really no question: iMac. The Mini has lots of compromises and is not really suited for much more than being a home office computer.

capitanfracassa said:
This belongs to the religious discussions forum. Is there one?
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Religious discussion is against forum rules. :beer:
 
capitanfracassa said:
This belongs to the religious discussions forum. Is there one?
Click to expand...

I think this thread will have to do in that department for now...

In any case, whichever computer one chooses, it shouldn't be the "infdel" type, of course...

...which would be a Mac...

...or a PC...

...depending on your point of view...
 
FCP by itself costs more than his stated budget.

For $1000 you could build a powerful Windows system and afford EDIUS Neo 2.
 
Barry_Green said:
FCP by itself costs more than his stated budget.

For $1000 you could build a powerful Windows system and afford EDIUS Neo 2.
Click to expand...

Final Cut Express should be a consideration too, and it's only $150. It won't work with DVCPROHD, and there are a few other limitations, but it will work with HDV and AVCHD, and it will run on a Mac Mini.
 
Barry_Green said:
FCP by itself costs more than his stated budget.

For $1000 you could build a powerful Windows system and afford EDIUS Neo 2.
Click to expand...
Oh, true indeed. I was assuming the $1000 was for the computer alone, not the software. If it has to include the editing software within that budget, then definitely go the Windows route, as Barry said.
 
David S. said:
which computer platform is no. 1 in customer satisfaction?

find out and go with that one
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Well, we are, as I predicted, getting religious.

First, do note that customer satisfaction is greatly impacted by usual cognitive mechanisms: people who overpay tend to over appreciate what they get, because if they didn't they'll have to admit that they are suckers. Not saying that that covers the full difference between Mac and PC, but it is a factor.

Second, most people chose a platform before they actually get proficient in either. They chose based on marketing, and most likely based on peers. If art students had mac at art school, they will use Mac. Like Tampon brands, the art of marketing OSs is based on getting them early. Few customers ever switch. So customer satisfaction is quite meaningless. Mac users don't know what they miss not having a PC and vice versa. Nobody except geeks willingly invest a few months to get to know both well. (BTW, my favorite OS is Linux, but I can't run a serious NLE on it. And I still do backups with a DOS partition.)

Third, when graphic interfaces were novel, MAC attacked the market from up high and Windows from below. You wanted a half decent OS you needed a MAC. Windows 3 was really crap, and so was 95 (and 98 was a patchwork). At the time I was running an IBM OS2 at home. Remember that?

Today an OS is pretty much a commodity. They all do the same thing. They are pretty much equivalent is every respect. Between Windows 7 and Leopard Snow and even the latest Ubuntu you have all kinds of minor difference, and people who experienced all (i.e. most nobody) will have some preference for X feature on the Mac, vs. Y feature on Windows, but that's like choosing between Toyota and Honda. Really not worth the fierceness of the usual debate. If I were tied to FCP for some social or historical reason, I see the logic of not wasting my time learning a new OS and a new NLE. If you're crazy busy, your comfort zone is worth worth an extra $2000 every 4-5 years.

But for those not locked into an NLE, I believe it is a waste of good money. It's like paying for a Civic twice the price of a Corolla.
 
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if you know how to use premiere switching over to fcp is nothing.. it took me 1 week and i'm fast in fcp after doing 10 + years in premiere....

i've tried the hackintosh way and it just isnt what i wanted so i think i'm doing the leap over to mac pro.. but i'm waiting for jan till the news comes out about the new machines...
 
Go with the system that you are most comfortable with. Macs are good, PCs (depending on the maker) are good. Then get the NLE that works on that format that does what you need it to do. NLE's have strengths and weaknesses. One may be good for one workflow, but not another.

Asking what is the "best" all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Shooting format, delivery format, type of projects.
 
I don't want to enter into any religious sort of debate, but here is my argument: have you compared prices of MAC's and PC's, when you say Mac is a waste of money?


I find Mac laptops are more expensive than similar PC laptops. Mac workstation desktops however are not. A quad or eight core Mac Pro is not more expensive than a similar Windows-based workstation ordered from Dell or HP. So the comparison is not always like a Civic or Corolla.
However if you can build your PC and look around for used motherboard/CPU's, you can probably make your PC workstation cheaper than a Mac Pro with some limitations. I even did this once.

I have used them all: Windows (98, 2000pro, XP, Vista), Unix, different variants of Linux, and now I am an OS X user. I switched from Windows to Mac for the following reasons:

1- I learned FCP and didn't want to spend time to learn another editing software.
2- Most of the people I know who are indie film-makers and photographers use Mac. So it is easier to work with them when it is needed. If Microsoft had opened NTFS file system to become an open source (like FAT32) this would have not been a problem.
3- When I want to upgrade to a dual core dual CPU system, by building myself a new system, I noticed the such Xeon CPUs and corresponding motherboards do sell for quite a lot as new. Used, they were still for quite a bit and I could completely trust paying that much for a used ones (most used Xeon processors being sold on Ebay were merely engineering samples). I realized I am not saving by staying in the PC platform.

At this point, my recommendation is the following: If one already has worked with an editing software, then the best solution is perhaps going for the platform that supports that particular software. Otherwise, it is quite an open question and a mostly matter of personal taste though I am quite enjoying the luxury of not having to have any anti-virus on my computer (which is a Mac).


R.


capitanfracassa said:
Well, we are, as I predicted, getting religious.

First, do note that customer satisfaction is greatly impacted by usual cognitive mechanisms: people who overpay tend to over appreciate what they get, because if they didn't they'll have to admit that they are suckers. Not saying that that covers the full difference between Mac and PC, but it is a factor.

Second, most people chose a platform before they actually get proficient in either. They chose based on marketing, and most likely based on peers. If art students had mac at art school, they will use Mac. Like Tampon brands, the art of marketing OSs is based on getting them early. Few customers ever switch. So customer satisfaction is quite meaningless. Mac users don't know what they miss not having a PC and vice versa. Nobody except geeks willingly invest a few months to get to know both well. (BTW, my favorite OS is Linux, but I can't run a serious NLE on it. And I still do backups with a DOS partition.)

Third, when graphic interfaces were novel, MAC attacked the market from up high and Windows from below. You wanted a half decent OS you needed a MAC. Windows 3 was really crap, and so was 95 (and 98 was a patchwork). At the time I was running an IBM OS2 at home. Remember that?

Today an OS is pretty much a commodity. They all do the same thing. They are pretty much equivalent is every respect. Between Windows 7 and Leopard Snow and even the latest Ubuntu you have all kinds of minor difference, and people who experienced all (i.e. most nobody) will have some preference for X feature on the Mac, vs. Y feature on Windows, but that's like choosing between Toyota and Honda. Really not worth the fierceness of the usual debate. If I were tied to FCP for some social or historical reason, I see the logic of not wasting my time learning a new OS and a new NLE. If you're crazy busy, your comfort zone is worth worth an extra $2000 every 4-5 years.

But for those not locked into an NLE, I believe it is a waste of good money. It's like paying for a Civic twice the price of a Corolla.
Click to expand...
 
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I just want to add that you can run Windows on a Mac using softwares like Parallel and VMware.

A friend of mine has Parallel on his Macbook. It works fine as long as you close all your Mac OS programs and thus giving it maximum power.

Another consideration regarding MacMini vs iMac is the quality of the new iMac monitors. iMac uses LED - I have one of those new 27 inch and the screen is just pure awesome.
 
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