Need Advice On Using Mac For Editing

N

Nonprophet

Used to do some editing about 10 years ago for local public TV, so not a total newbie but by no means a pro either. Going to start work of some video projects soon and I need to get a decent setup for editing. Money is definitely an issue right now--can't really afford to splurge on a new Mac Pro, etc. I'm using Adobe Creative Suite 5.5

Currently, I have a brand new Macbook air 13" with the new Haswell processor and SSD. It's pretty quick/snappy, but obviously the 13" screen makes it tough. It's doable, and great for editing in the field, but a bigger screen would be nice. I also have a friend who just gave me a lightly used 2008 20" Imac with 2gb ram, 300gb hd.

Here are my options as I see them:

1. Buy a used Cinema display for use with the MBA. A friend has a slightly used 27" Thunderbolt display he'd sell me for about $650.

2. Update the 20" Imac. For about $300 I can max out the ram at 6gb and put in a high speed 6g SSD from OWC. While the ram upgrade and SSD swap should make a huge difference, I'm still limited by the 2.66ghz core duo processor....

I realize that neither of these solutions are creating the ultimate editing machine, but, if you had to choose between the two options, which one would you go for?

Thanks!

NP
 
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I'm guessing the air will be the better option, but it's hard to say. The real issue is the GPU - the airs use the intel integrated graphics chip which generally isn't vey high performance compared to a dedicated GPU. Running a cinema display on that may be pushing the gpu to the limit. On the other hand the iMac's GPU is dedicated but also 5 years old and not particularly powerful. It may be that there's no real advantage one way or another, in which case the faster/newer CPU of the air is probably the best bet.
 
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I just scrounged an old flat screen monitor from where I work, I will use this for the video in Sony Vegas, enabling me to have more workspace on my 23" monitor. I have no idea how your editing software works, but maybe you could try a similar setup? The only thing I had to spend money on, was a VGA to HDMI converter for $9.
 
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6GB doesn't really seem like a lot for editing, obviously the more the better.

I've just upgraded to the top level MBP and 15" hasn't bothered me. If you can push yourself to do something like that then that would be better imo, obviously, I guess
 
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for the money you want to spend i could build a better pc..

secondly if you want a screen then get a dell monitor, why waste it on a glossy overpriced apple screen?

im unsure why anyone gets a mac for editing to be honest, mac pros i can understand, everything else you would be better getting a windows laptop for the price.

when you learn that filmmaking is all about budget then you will understand that apples machines no longer cut the mustard, sure its great to show off to your friends that you own an apple product, but really apart from a nice OS theres not much going for it..

but seriously look into the dell u2410 or something similar
 
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