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Imac i5 HD movie editing

Hello, I wanted to know if the basic imac 21.5 inch is sufficient for HD movie editing?

iMac

Posted on Feb 3, 2013 8:34 PM

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Posted on Feb 3, 2013 8:36 PM

Yes but upgrade the RAM to 16 GB when you buy it. It cannot be upgraded down the road, also consider getting a Fusion HD.

17 replies

Feb 3, 2013 9:12 PM in response to Travolta1179

Rendering will be slower, but then rendering takes forever no matter what..... I have 12 GB and it works well. It also depends on your processor - that is just as important. Also remember: HD videos - shot in 1080p - require an obscene amount of hard drive space; I've started to shoot in 720p because the files are much smaller and I couldn't tell the difference on my TV.


Remember, the new 21" is not user upgradeable anything, so whatever you pick, you're stuck with. I'd suggest taking a look at the refurb section of the Apple store: previous models at savings with a full warranty:


http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac


Note that the inventory changes continuously.

Feb 3, 2013 9:50 PM in response to Travolta1179

As long as the processor and the RAM are fast and plenty, no problem. Oh, and no matter what you'd pick, make sure you not only have a large hard drive, but also keep this in mind: when rendering and encoding and burning video, you do need to have at least as much free space on the hard drive as your video project (example: my last 1 hour project wound up with about 150 GB of various files, so while working on it, I needed to make sure I have at least that much empty space available.

Feb 4, 2013 1:47 PM in response to Travolta1179

Personally, I'd go for an i7 and more than 8 GB RAM; with "DV format" you mean regular SD footage, not HiDef? Then an i5 and 8 GB should be fine. I shoot in HD, so the files are huge and take much more "horsepower" to process. I have the top of the line mid 2010 i7 2.93 GHz iMac with 12 GB and yes, it's faster than what I had previously, but I still walk away while it's rendering/encloding, so I'd like faster than what I have.

Imac i5 HD movie editing

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