New iMac - edit machine? (Page 1 of 3)

I edit with an eSATA-connected Drobo with no bandwidth issues, and both USB 3 and Thunderbolt are faster than eSATA.

Are you planning to edit with FCPX, though? If not, I'm honestly not convinced it's worth sticking with the Mac ecosystem anymore. One of the reasons I'm not big on the iMac is that I can't upgrade the video card, and GPU acceleration is becoming a bigger and bigger deal on the video editing/FX front. You might consider the PC you can build for the same price (or less) as the iMac if you want to upgrade your rig.

I'll stick with the adobe suite for now, but the graphics card issue is something I'll need to investigate further

The big question for me is what the new Mac PRO will look like.  By all indications, it is coming at some point, and those you can certainly upgrade video cards.  Im typing this on a souped up Mac G5 while running avid.  At the current place Im at, there are 45 stations just like this one.  Bunim Murray runs about 175 of the same station.  Authentic Productions in Burbank is about to switch over its 95 stations to the same.  So clearly there is still SOME small demand for them.

Well, Tim Cook kind of hinted at a new Mac Pro coming 2013... We'll see if that comes true.

And that totally worked out with Final Cut, amirite?

I know, they just updated FCPX with actual, like, features, and not to be a cynic but...well, yeah. I'm being a cynic. I'd love to be wrong. In the meantime, I have a 5 year old Mac Pro and for lack of a clear reason to stay in Macland, I'm gonna pick up some PC components on Black Friday and move on.

Totally planning to get an iPad mini, BTW. But it's pretty clear that's the niche Mac is gunning for moving forward.

They're still charging silly money for the Mac Pro, surely those units aren't shifting. The new Macbook Pro ad is telling; the tag line "for the pro in all of us" is aimed right at the prosumer market.

I don't see what all the beef with FCPX is still all about. It EASILY beats 7. It's a great program, and plenty of professional production companies use it. It's a professional program, and I'm not sure why people bash it so hard. Probably because it's Apple, and all the talk about them not caring about professionals; which I do think is valid to a degree, but I still think FCPX is great. So much better to work with than Premiere, in my opinion.

And you don't have to buy Apple's overpriced Superdrive. I got a Blu-Ray burner on Newegg for $45. DVD writers run around $20. And that cost shouldn't be much of a factor when considering which really expensive computer to buy.

Last edited by Sam F (2012-10-27 22:54:51)

The optical drive doesn't bother me that much. What bothers me the most about the new iMac is the lack of a microphone port. I know it's got a microphone built-in, but I've got a Sennheiser microphone and an Ibanez guitar I'd like to plug in there without having to purchase an audio card.
...Which I guess I'll have to either way to get good audio, but still. Wasn't always like that.
I also don't like that I can only afford a 21,5", meaning I won't be able to upgrade the RAM later on. I really can't afford shelling out the extra money for a 27".

But with my needs, a 21,5" will do. At least for now

Also, the deal with FCPX? I don't know. I haven't used it, so I really can't tell. I only know what I've read and heard about it. But when it comes down to things, I only ever really used an NLE to edit. Cutting, trimming and adding audio. I do all my color correction inside AE. Since I'm usually using premiere, I don't even have to export the video. I might have to with FCPX, but I'll work it out.

All in all, I'm happy with my decision to switch to mac again. I haven't owned one for 2 years, and back then it was leopard. I'll do just fine with Mountain Lion

There are any number of articles, written by professionals, on why FCPX is not an acceptable professional tool.

And the belief Apple doesn't care about professionals arose in large part because of FCPX not being seen as a viable professional tool, not the other way around.

Sam, I highly, highly recommend reading the series of articles DIF forumer Jeff Harrell wrote about FCPx as that whole thing was going down back in June. Really well written and funny (I just enjoy reading it), and he goes wonderfully into explanations for his opinions, and so far as testing out other programs for the first time to see what the solution is for editors moving away from the FCP ecosystem, etc..

Fun stuff. I'm sure the program has been thoroughly debugged since, but the Wiki page says the "stable release" date was five days ago, so, consider it infotainment reading if nothing else.

June 11th: FCPx is released.

June 23rd: "What Went Wrong With FCPx"
June 24th: "Project Management in FCPx: No. Just no."
June 25th: "Assembly Editing in FCPx"
June 26th: "FCP 8: What Could Have Been"
June 27th: "Impressions of Premiere"
(The link to "the thing he made" is down in the post, but here on YouTube.)
June 28th: "A story as yet untold"
June 29th: The FCP X FAQ, that petition, and what should have happened instead

It is quite clear that the number of people who need more power / expandability just isn't enough to make a viable market for Apple. They don't prioritize it because it doesn't make them any money. Now you might think that's short sighted, and that the publicity value of the high end creatives is worth it, but they clearly don't think so.

Upon reading up on the matter, it seems FCPX before the updates was a fancy-schmancy version of Final Cut Express.

With the added features, at least it's a viable option. For indie film makers, at least. I might be sticking to Premiere, but it's definitely worth checking out. For now.

As for the new iMac, I will be ordering one as soon as they are available, so I'll gladly do some review/test for you guys, if you're still on the fence.