Switching to Mac, need suggestions

K

KOHR

Well-known member
Okay, well after numerous failures of my previous editing station, a custom built pc, I have decided to switch to Mac... but I'm unsure of which configuration I should get... any suggestions, tips, or advice?

#1.
15" Macbook Pro
2.4 ghz Intel Core 2
Apple 23" Cinema HD Display
4 GB RAM
200gb 7200 rpm hard drive

#2.
17" Macbook Pro
2.5 ghz Intel Core 2
4 GB RAM
200gb 7200 rpm hard drive
Hi-res screen upgrade for full HD (might use it as a field monitor)

#3.
24" Imac
2.8 Ghz Intel Core 2 Extreme
4 GB RAM
1 Tb internal harddrive

EDIT:
P.S.- I'm also going to be buying all new software to work with. I used to be a Adobe user, so my knowledge is pretty much limited to Premiere and After Effects. I'll be buying Final Cut Studio 2.0 for sure, but I'm still not sure about Shake 4.1. The good side about switching to Shake after a couple years of After Effects is that I would be familiar with both programs and "supposidly" Shake is better for vfx and compositing. The bad side being that I'm very new to shake and I'm not sure if its integration with FCP is worth the learning curve. Any suggestions? Thanks

I'm completely torn between these three options. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! By the way, I'm doing primarily HD video editing for my own short films. I also do some small proffessional work on the side. Thanks again!
 
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Well, it all depends on what your needs are. If you need to edit on the go, the 17" MBP with 4 GB ram and the 7200 RPM does great work (especially with the high res screen). On the flip side, if you are not going to be editing on the go, then the 24" iMac is a great purchase. I've personally editing with the 24" iMac and the 17" MBP, but are great to work with. If you plan on running Shake and After Effects a lot, you may want to consider a Mac Pro. I'm not usually one to suggest overbuying, but to me it sounds like you need a LOT of growing room, and the MacBook Pro and iMac aren't going to give that to you.

I forked up the cash for Final Cut Studio 2 in October, and I do not regret it one bit, worth every dime. It is great to work with, and makes easy work of my DVX's footage.

One last thing, what ever you do, DO NOT BUY THE RAM FROM APPLE. I ordered the 4GB ram for my MBP from macsales.com (OWC) for $100, the ram from apple is $400 and you don't even get to keep the original set.

Fell free to pm me if you have any questions.
 
EDIT-XTREEM said:
Well, it all depends on what your needs are. If you need to edit on the go, the 17" MBP with 4 GB ram and the 7200 RPM does great work (especially with the high res screen). On the flip side, if you are not going to be editing on the go, then the 24" iMac is a great purchase. I've personally editing with the 24" iMac and the 17" MBP, but are great to work with. If you plan on running Shake and After Effects a lot, you may want to consider a Mac Pro. I'm not usually one to suggest overbuying, but to me it sounds like you need a LOT of growing room, and the MacBook Pro and iMac aren't going to give that to you.

I forked up the cash for Final Cut Studio 2 in October, and I do not regret it one bit, worth every dime. It is great to work with, and makes easy work of my DVX's footage.

One last thing, what ever you do, DO NOT BUY THE RAM FROM APPLE. I ordered the 4GB ram for my MBP from macsales.com (OWC) for $100, the ram from apple is $400 and you don't even get to keep the original set.

Fell free to pm me if you have any questions.
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Hey thanks! So essentially I should get as little RAM as possible when I configure my mac and then just buy from macsales? Unfortunately, the Macpro is just a bit too much for my budget, because I'd have to get a display for it as well. I have a limit of about $4000 to spend on all of this, and that includes the software.
 
If you dont need it now, there is strong rumor that the MBP will be redesigned by mid summer.

From your option , i will choose option 1 but with cheaper 24" Dell LCD monitor.
 
KOHR said:
Hey thanks! So essentially I should get as little RAM as possible when I configure my mac and then just buy from macsales? Unfortunately, the Macpro is just a bit too much for my budget, because I'd have to get a display for it as well. I have a limit of about $4000 to spend on all of this, and that includes the software.
Click to expand...

In that case, I'd probably do a 17" mbp or 24" imac depending on if you need portability. The Low-end 15" isn't quite as powerful, and it has 256MB of Video ram over the 512MB in both the high-end 15" and 17".
 
I rock a macpro, its is completely different working with a macpro than an Imac, seriously when you get the taste of a macpro everything else seems inferior.... I would go and save for the fastest 8core mac you can, even if it means waiting a while to afford it, go to OWC and get 8gigs of ram, then raid 4 750's and get a dell or Hp monitor with a spyder2 for calibration, and you'll be shocked at what you can do.... seriously when every I edit on someone else's imac or MBP, it feels like I just hit a road block.... and I dont even have the 8 core, lol


Jon
 
Jon Neely said:
I rock a macpro, its is completely different working with a macpro than an Imac, seriously when you get the taste of a macpro everything else seems inferior.... I would go and save for the fastest 8core mac you can, even if it means waiting a while to afford it, go to OWC and get 8gigs of ram, then raid 4 750's and get a dell or Hp monitor with a spyder2 for calibration, and you'll be shocked at what you can do.... seriously when every I edit on someone else's imac or MBP, it feels like I just hit a road block.... and I dont even have the 8 core, lol


Jon
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Jon,
True enough, but this is his first mac. I was trying to reccomend something that he can learn on and work on without blowing the bank.

I did configure a mac pro for you.




Specifications

Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
2GB (2 x 1GB)
320GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB (Two dual-link DVI)
Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel)
One 16x SuperDrive
Apple Mighty Mouse
Apple Keyboard (English) + Mac OS X

Apple Subtotal: $3,698.00




8.0GB OWC Matched Set (2GB x 4)
2 X 750GB Western Digital Caviar

Macsales Subtotal: $658.98


Which means you come in at $4356.98 before taxes (I have no clue what your sales tax is).

Not sure if you could stretch the extra $354.98, but I can tell you, you won't look back.

EDIT: Looking back you wanted the $4000 to include the software. Sorry.
 
Thanks edit-xtreem! Unfortunately I do need to buy all new software right now... so I don't think I could pull that off (despite how amazing it would be...). However, the main issue is the Cinema display, because its just so darn expensive. Does anyone know of a good HD monitor for a more reasonable price that I could use with a mac pro? If I could somehow lower the cost by $800 for that setup, I could probably actually assemble that. :D

Thanks again!
 
the Higher end Dell use the same LCDs as the apple cinema displas so I hear... Find a college student to order the mac for you and get a 10% discount on it, an no one said you need to get all that hardware when you get it at first, just get the bare macpro, and add on when yo can, I swear if your going with a desktop, there is no other option in my book, especially if you ever want to get into HD or Shake.... or try this try to do a 1080p project in color on an Imac... I remember using Imacs up at stanford for the summer and using color..I took like 3min for it to launch, on the mac pro>than 30... in all reality, it is just apple and oranges between the two.


cheers,
Jon
 
KOHR, exactly what types of projects are you going to be editing and working on? Do you need portability? If not, definitely go with #3 of the options you gave.

However, if you're planning on getting and working with Shake or Motion in the Studio suite, I would highly recommend the MacPro. How about color correction with Color? Or what if you decide to get After Effects CS3 for Mac? You're going to want the extra power and expandability of the MacPro at that point.

You can do things now to try saving money. As suggested earlier you can buy a used Mac Pro, if you're a student use your student discount for the MacPro and the software, buy from an authorized Apple dealer in another state that offers free shipping (Amazon?), buy third party RAM or wait to upgrade the RAM, etc. I hear the Dell displays are really good and very comparable to Apple's, and a little less than Apple's. There's a lot of ways you can save money.

My key advice would be if you're serious about this, and especially if you're doing VFX, then don't cut corners. Maybe it would be worth waiting just a little while longer if you can keep using what you currently have until you have the money for a MacPro.
 
flmmkr said:
KOHR, exactly what types of projects are you going to be editing and working on? Do you need portability? If not, definitely go with #3 of the options you gave.

However, if you're planning on getting and working with Shake or Motion in the Studio suite, I would highly recommend the MacPro. How about color correction with Color? Or what if you decide to get After Effects CS3 for Mac? You're going to want the extra power and expandability of the MacPro at that point.

You can do things now to try saving money. As suggested earlier you can buy a used Mac Pro, if you're a student use your student discount for the MacPro and the software, buy from an authorized Apple dealer in another state that offers free shipping (Amazon?), buy third party RAM or wait to upgrade the RAM, etc. I hear the Dell displays are really good and very comparable to Apple's, and a little less than Apple's. There's a lot of ways you can save money.

My key advice would be if you're serious about this, and especially if you're doing VFX, then don't cut corners. Maybe it would be worth waiting just a little while longer if you can keep using what you currently have until you have the money for a MacPro.
Click to expand...

Hey, to answer your questions--
I'll essentially be working on my own short films and doing some vfx work for others'. Portability isn't a key factor, but it would be nice for a make-shift field monitor, and also so that I could edit while away or at school. I'll be using both Final Cut Studio and Shake on HD projects. I have the student discount available to me. :grin: Unfortunately, I cannot keep using my previous system because it recently fried on me. Its essentially beyond repair, so I'm switching away from PC as it has always been rather unstable for me.
 
KOHR said:
Hey, to answer your questions--
I'll essentially be working on my own short films and doing some vfx work for others'. Portability isn't a key factor, but it would be nice for a make-shift field monitor, and also so that I could edit while away or at school. I'll be using both Final Cut Studio and Shake on HD projects. I have the student discount available to me. :grin: Unfortunately, I cannot keep using my previous system because it recently fried on me. Its essentially beyond repair, so I'm switching away from PC as it has always been rather unstable for me.
Click to expand...

Then get a mac pro, any macpro, I have the 2.66 quad and it wonders over anything else, the 8 cores are simply amazing....


Enjoy your new mac,

Jon
 
Jon Neely said:
Then get a mac pro, any macpro, I have the 2.66 quad and it wonders over anything else, the 8 cores are simply amazing....


Enjoy your new mac,

Jon
Click to expand...

okay, thanks! I'll probably just try to save a lil more and get a mac pro, but if you don't mind, I have one more question-- why is it that the mac pro is so much better with minimum specs compared to an imac thats maxxed out?
 
KOHR said:
okay, thanks! I'll probably just try to save a lil more and get a mac pro, but if you don't mind, I have one more question-- why is it that the mac pro is so much better with minimum specs compared to an imac thats maxxed out?
Click to expand...
The Mac Pro is 8 core, iMac is 2 core. Mac Pro is expandable and easily upgradable, iMac is not.
 
EDIT-XTREEM said:
The Mac Pro is 8 core, iMac is 2 core. Mac Pro is expandable and easily upgradable, iMac is not.
Click to expand...

^^^ yes, and simply that the xeon processors run hotter and work faster than core2duos...the ability to upgrade and put multiple graphics cards especially for SHAKE, The ability to run cheaply 8 gigs of ram and up to 32 if you ever need a godly comp. also for running more than 2 screens.. It amazing how much fast you can work with 3 to 4 screens. and the ability to run 6 drive native with SATA connections internally, plus 2 800 lines, It is simply a workstation like it claims.


Jon
 
What if you are way out in the field (Forest, Jungle) in a different country and won't be anywhere close to home base for at least five weeks and you need to do all your rough edit on your laptop in the evening after your daily film shoot to make sure you got what you came for, what would the best set up be for that - Mac or PC laptop?
 
I will always suggest mac since I converted, with out a doubt MBP, it is even better if your shooting with the EX1 so you can utilize the express SxS card slot that the MBP has.


Jon
 
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