What type of mac do you use?

suprmatch

suprmatch

Active member
I'm looking at getting a iMac 24-inch 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. Is this fine to run final cut studio? We use the mac pro with3.2 GHz. I know at the price I looking to spend on the imac what is another $7-800 bucks. But I'm thinking that could buy a light kit or mics. Anyway what are your thoughts?
 
It is hard to understand your question as it pertains to the MacPro, but I would suggest you re-think buying an iMac.

The iMac is not upgradeable (HDDs, Video card...etc). The iMac cannot handle PCIe cards or express 34 cards for expandability (esata, extra fw800...etc).

I have heard other users having problems with getting P2 footage onto their iMac, some having to transfer it to internal HDD and then to an external HDD. Not worth the 'savings' IMHO.


Jason
 
2 19" samsung monitor Mac Pro 2x2.8 Quad Core Intel Xeon with 2gb ram

Like Awakened said you are VERY limited on upgrading as opposed to say a Mac Pro which has enough upgrade space to keep it up to standard with ease for a while.
 
I was thinking I might have to get a mac pro but I guess I needed to hear it from someone first. I'm told not to buy mac extras (ram, harddrive, etc.) where do you get your extras?
 
suprmatch said:
I was thinking I might have to get a mac pro but I guess I needed to hear it from someone first. I'm told not to buy mac extras (ram, harddrive, etc.) where do you get your extras?
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Hi,
I'd advise you to get the Macpro , don't waste time n money on the imac, and for add on's read up on the apple forum, look for posts by "The Hatter".

http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=194

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
suprmatch said:
I was thinking I might have to get a mac pro but I guess I needed to hear it from someone first. I'm told not to buy mac extras (ram, harddrive, etc.) where do you get your extras?
Click to expand...


I use http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ there are others, but I trust them and their prices are reasonable. If you use a wireless router I suggest getting it with airport. It was an option I wish I sprung for. It is more expensive to buy it now. Oh yeah for your "extras" don't buy apple they overcharge.
 
I have 24" iMac and am just getting started with FCS2. It's working fine for me and I lucked out and got this free so I can't complain but I have to agree with some of the other posts, if you want to upgrade your machine in the futurem iMac isn't the way to go.
 
i would suggest getting the mac pro. i wish i did. and i get all of my computer hardware from www.newegg.com. they have the cheapest prices that i've found and they ship usually by the next day.
 
I've been using and supporting Macs in digital media environments for close to 20 years. The current iMac is not a good choice due to the reflectivity of the LCD, before you even factor in the lack of expandability. It is impossible to color correct accurately on a glossy screen. You need a matte screen.

I'd sure wait until next week to decide: new portable Macs to be released on Tuesday. If portability is an issue MacBook Pro's are improving with each generation. But a Mac Pro will always be better if you can use a traditional workstation.

Currently the plain vanilla 2.8 Mac Pro is the best bang for the buck. It is due for an update soon, no estimated date is available but the current model has been out a while. I'd buy it bone stock from Apple or a reputable vendor and add things as listed below:

Add the ATI RADEON 3870 512MB 16x PCIe Video Card (not the nVidia!) Apple drivers are better optimized for ATI cards when using Apple's Pro Apps (FCP)

Add at least 8 and preferrably 16 Gb of memory

Add a big fast hard drive. Hitachi 1 Gb is a good price point choice right now.

Add at a minimum one big fast scratch drive (see above- buy two) A RAID is preferable but to get started you can use a second internal drive. In a pinch you can use the original stock Mac drive and any good second drive for scratch- there are great deals on drives to be found these days and a scratch disk is of course essential for editing. Another plus over an iMac- you can use up to 4 internal drives on the Mac Pro in stock configuration. Internal drives are less vulnerable.

Then as needed add a SATA card, firewire card etc and you are on your way.

I like OWC as a vendor, they carry all of the items listed above and have been a responsible Mac oriented vendor for a long time. An excellent one stop Mac accessory shop. They are found at www.macsales.com (no, I am not affiliated with them in any way).

If you try a 30" Apple display you will never be satisfied with anything smaller again (size matters). Caveats: the Apple 23 is a good selection for color correction using an MXO or similar solution. And the Apple display line is long overdue for a refresh.

Summary:
iMac AVOID.
Mac Pro; best current option but new models are due soon-ish (on Apple time...)
Wait until Tuesday to see what Apple releases; who knows, maybe they will come out with a portable and expandable pro workstation (dream on...)
 
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G5 Quad, 8g ram, with mac 23" monitor.

Just bought a macbrook pro 17" from macconnection.com. They are having a blowout pricing on the the 17" model for $1700 after a rebate. I think the 17" are a little too large and heavier to be popular to anyone but us video guys.
 
Hmmm have you thought about buying a refurbished mac? I heard they are good value and reliable.

I have a macbook pro 15" and Mac pro 3Ghz that I have upgraded with aftermarket ram to 6gig. I currently have four internal drives 1 macos and applications, 1 windows and 2 x 750gb hdd on raid 0 that I edit from. I also run an external 2.5 tb raid that I backup to.

Internal hdd are relatively cheap so being able to use them is a big plus over imac.

Just did a disk speed test on my edit raid - not the fastest around but certainly very capable. You wont get these speeds with imac, but easily achievable on a refurbished mac pro if thats where you went.

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