IMac vs MacBook Pro vs Custom PC for editing?

[eturkyolu]

Hi,
I am sort of a mediocre video maker. I write, shoot, and edit everything myself. This past year I have put more passion into film making. I have bought new equipment and been watching a lot of videos from professional film makers and their tutorials.

However, the one major problem I have right now is my computer. Right now for editing I use an old Lenovo PC which barely does the job. For one I work on an Adobe Platform. On my current PC I can't operate AE without having to render the entire project every 10 seconds so it doesn't lag. The same with Premiere. Although I upgraded my Video Card a couple years ago, I finally need to ditch this computer.

I've spoken with a couple of film maker friends and they each said something different, So I've come to a conclusion with three options. 1) I can get the new 27" iMac with custom hardware which comes to about $3,500 2) Get a MacBook Pro with the Retina Display with custom hardware which also is in the $3,500 range and 3) Build a custom PC with $3,500. Right now the MacPro is not considered as one of my options due to very high pricing with custom hardware.

Now, Although I work on an Adobe Platform, I would like to try Final Cut. But that is not really that important. Also, eventually I would like to start 3D modeling with 3Ds Max or similar, which I heard to be a PC software.

What I would like to know is what each of these 3 options are good for. I am really confused and I need to purchase something before the beginning of April. THANK YOU!

Also I Forgot to mention, right now I shoot with a Sony Nx5u and the Canon 5D Mark lll but eventually I will upgrade to something like either the BlackMagic or the RED. the computer would need to support these formats without lag and possibly support something like DaVinci Resolve for color correcting.

[bseitz234]

Disclaimer: I have not really pushed the limits of video editing. I am somewhat of a tech geek, and have asked CS6 to do some 3d renders and high def video, but always playing around.

I've had a really great experience with my 27" iMac. It's a late 2010 model, 2.93 GHz 4core, 12GB RAM, Radeon 5750 w/ 1GB. CS6 works great, although sometimes I come close to bumping up against the RAM I have- so I might recommend 16GB or more. But as far as your current workflow, I think the iMac would do nicely. Two big problems with the macbook pro: screen size, and heat. A friend of mine has the retina pro, and it gets quite hot when working hard. The larger enclosure of the desktop helps get around this. There's also absolutely something to be said for that 27" display: I have both the iMac and a non-retina MBP, and 15" never felt small until I had the desktop.

As far as the PC option, I have to say, I don't know nearly as much, although performance specs are performance specs. If you can get a new i7 processor, at least 16GB of RAM, and a good video card and display, I imagine you'd be happy. Ultimately, that's a question that a lot of people will weigh in on, and you have to decide on for yourself. Would you rather try final cut, or PC-only-3D software? I am a very happy mac user, and would recommend the platform to a lot of people, but there are reasons to go PC, and you just have to weigh the pros and cons of each for yourself.

[Cptn Rigo]

Hi

First of all, I don't want to enter to the Mac vs PC, I use both (Day job, Game developer with PC, Night job App developer with Mac).

the Mac advantage is that everything will work at arrival, no problems... 27 inch beautiful screen, all ok...

the PC advantage is that 3500 dlls buy a MONSTER of pc, (think about a 2014/2015 mac release), and the best of all is that this computer will be upgradeable, and with the spare cash you can bought a video card to avoid the rendering times of the video.

I choose the PC way (16 gigs of ram + SSD its a dream), good luck 

[STEMI_RN]

All about specs and familiarity. If you have been using PC, I recommend sticking with it, otherwise you may face a rather steep learning curve.  If you have the ability (or a friend with the ability) to build the PC from scratch, you can get a MONSTER PC that would cost twice as much in MAC. AND you're talking about adding another $1000 for Final Cut Pro.  Stick with the PC.  I've used both and it all boils down to personal preference.

[RLPhoto]

With 3500$ in a Win7 Pro machine, you can get a monster of a machine. I mean like the equivalent mac would cost 6000$+... Add two Dell 27" Ultrasharps, you'll be set for 5 years easily. I'm still using my machine I built in 2006, runs fantastic!

You can run all your adobe apps Plus you can even Run AVID for serious production work if needed. FCP is not really needed anymore. Check it out.

http://www.avid.com/US/products/avid-ds#overview

Mac's are good for COCOA coding and App production. They also look pretty but is it worth it for video and still production anymore? To me, no but you must decide for yourself.

[bycostello]

i'm a mac user...  the benefits of a mac are they are beautiful machines.... the benefits of a pc is that you'll get way more bang for your buck.. 

so pretty or plastic...

[Brand B]

AND you're talking about adding another $1000 for Final Cut Pro. 

It sounds like a PC would be a better choice.  But FCPX is $300, not $1000.

[sociophilo]

I made an account just to post to this thread ... I've been having this war with myself for the last 6 months, and I will tell you about my journey.

I needed a mobile work-station as my work takes me on the go more often than not. So a laptop is what I needed (i only mention this because it is more expensive than an equal power PC)

So for $2000.00 this is what I bought.

i7-3630 2.4 ghz (overclockable - this means that you can push the processor to a higher speed, max 3.2)
16 gigs of ram (expendable to 32 for $100).
Full HD, 95% colour gamut screen
1.5 gig GTX670 nvidia graphics card (which takes advantage of Adobe's mercury engine speeding S___ up to levels unheard of)

And 2 SSD drives.
1 boot drive (256 GB - Crucial)
1 work drive (512 GB - crucial)

----
And this is in a laptop, so there is a higher cost for all of this stuff. Go to apple's website and insert these specifications in one iMac and you'll see how high the cost is. Furthermore, go to a website like newegg.com or xoticpc.com and do some research on how to build computers and you will save hundreds of dollars and achieve the highest level of performance.

Websites like www.reddit.com/r/suggestalaptop or www.reddit.com/r/buildapc can greatly help you through the process.

---

Personally, I think macs are fun computers used by regular people to do regular things. When you want top quality, and I mean TOP quality, your best option is to go non-apple. Apple limits your future-proofing and their products are insanely expensive.

--
sp

[bvukich]

You definitely get more bang for the buck with a PC.  I don't do video, but here's the base for my new PC I'm building for photo editing:

Shuttle SZ77R5 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007UZO3F6
Intel Core i7-3770 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SZ0EHE
32GB DDR3 1600 MHz http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0068ZWZY0
Crucial m4 256GB SSD http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085J17UA
GeForce GTX 650 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00966IU4M

~$1150

I haven't decided which direction I want to go on monitors yet, probably either a pair of Dell U2410 or U2412M monitors.  Those are about $400 and $300 each respectively.  Or I may go with a single 30".  I'd prefer 27" but I insist on a 16:10 display, so that's not happening.
Bulk storage will be a few 3TB USB3 drives (which are only about $110 each these days).

All said and done I'm looking at about $2k and change, which doesn't get you much in the Apple world.

[Niterider]

You definitely get more bang for the buck with a PC.  I don't do video, but here's the base for my new PC I'm building for photo editing:

Shuttle SZ77R5 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007UZO3F6
Intel Core i7-3770 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SZ0EHE
32GB DDR3 1600 MHz http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0068ZWZY0
Crucial m4 256GB SSD http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085J17UA
GeForce GTX 650 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00966IU4M

~$1150

I haven't decided which direction I want to go on monitors yet, probably either a pair of Dell U2410 or U2412M monitors.  Those are about $400 and $300 each respectively.  Or I may go with a single 30".  I'd prefer 27" but I insist on a 16:10 display, so that's not happening.
Bulk storage will be a few 3TB USB3 drives (which are only about $110 each these days).

All said and done I'm looking at about $2k and change, which doesn't get you much in the Apple world.

Thats a solid build. I hope you dont mind, but I may propose a slightly different setup. The thing I value most in a custom built computer is the motherboard. The option to choose from the thousands on the marker make it possible to customize everything to the fullest. I would start with a Corsair 300R/Antec 900 or others depending on your budget. Those cases are optimized for airflow and will allow for the coolest temperatures. Couple that with a 500-750w power supply (depending upon needs). I recently built a computer where I got a corsair 300R and a corsair 650w builder power supply together for $75, but those deals are hard to find. Then all you have left to match the bare bones setup is a motherboard. The best for the price is the asrock z77 extreme4 (or extreme 6 depending upon needs). I promise you would not be disappointed with this setup.

Also, check out the intel i7-3770k processor. For barely any more money, you have full control of the overclocking capabilities. Place a cooler master hyper 212 heatsink on that with arctic silver thermal compound and the temperatures will be unbelievably low.

Whichever route you go, have a great time building it!

[GuyWithCamera]

The current top of the line iMacs will be more than enough to do video editing, and of course any PC with comparable specs will be too. The components are important, but I believe the OS is just as important. I use both Mac and PC daily. Although I do not consider myself an Apple fanboy, I do prefer Mac OS a bit more. Here's my opinion:

PC Pros:
-Cheaper for comparable specs
-Highly customizable in terms of hardware
-Easier to upgrade hardware
-3D Studio Max

Mac Pros:
-Ease of use
-Clean UI & UX
-Final Cut Pro
-Run Windows via Bootcamp or VM softwares

If you choose a PC, you'll definitely get more bang for your buck. If you already have the Adobe Creative Suite, for the PC, that's even more money you'll save. I believe Adobe charges a fee to switch from a PC license to a Mac license.

If you switch over to a Mac, even if you've never used one before, you'll learn very fast. I feel it's more intuitive than a PC. Also, you can install Windows on your Mac and run it like a normal PC, if you do via Bootcamp or run it as a virtual machine in your Mac using softwares like Parallel.

Whichever you choose, I don't think you could go wrong if you're willing to invest that much in it. Good luck to ya.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Here is a interesting interview with Adobe discussing Premiere Pro. and FCP X.  They are quite different in what you can do with them.  Its from Adobe's point of view, but investigate what they say about needing more software to use with FCP X if you want high end audio editing or other features.
 
http://www.hdvideopro.com/blog/editor/2012/01/adobes-creative-suite-5-5-wins-hdvideopros-2011-product-of-the-year-whats-in-store-for-2012.html
 

It depends on what you need and are willing to spend.

[samhodde]

As somebody who recently jumped shipped from FCP 7 to the CS6 Adobe suite I would say don't buy a PC just to use FCP. Apple took a huge dive with FCPX and released iMovie with a few more features.

If you're looking for a desktop, go PC for sure. A everybody else has said you will absolutely get more bang for your buck. I have a mid 2011 MacBook Pro that I use for all of my personal work and a custom built PC desktop that I use at work. The MacBook is great when I want to be mobile and take my work with me, but when that isn't necessary the PC desktop is great. Use the money that you'll save and buy another monitor.

[samhodde]

Regardless of how you feel about Conan, and his hair, this video sums up many editors experiences with FCPX.

Conan O'Brien Editors: Apple Final Cut Pro X Is Easy To Use	Small | Large

[KKCFamilyman]

Spec out an i7 pc that you can custom build. ($700-1000)
I like the hp zr24 series ips display $360 ish
Get a 15" macbook pro retina 256gb i7 2.3ghz at microcenter.com or bestbuy for $1900 and most have great condition open box ones for $1700.

Get a 1tb usb3 external for the storage the mac lacks. And it runs windows well in bootcamp. I am running it now with no issues.

You can acheive that with $3500. Also if your monitor dies replace it. If you need a bigger hd or video card get it. You will be stuck with an imac.