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iMac vs the new Mac Pro for video editing in FCPX?

Hi.


I am currently using a macbook air for all my editing and rendering of videos in FCPX. The editing process is reasonably smooth when dealing with shorter clips, but when I tried to edit multicam clips, things started to slow down. Also, the rendering and compression processes are tedious. I am planning to edit and process a much larger number of videos in the next years to come, so I have decided to do a serious upgrade of my system.


For the moment, I am torn between a maxed out iMac 27", which would be the cheapest alternative, and the 6 core Mac Pro or 4 core Mac Pro.

When I look at benchmarks of the new Mac Pro's in Geekbench, the iMac is never very far away in terms of performance. Does tests like this tell anything about how well the Mac Pro will perform in FCP? Does the hardware in the Mac Pro have features which makes it superior to the iMac, in other ways than for example the "pure power" of the CPU and GPU?


Christopher.

Posted on Jan 12, 2014 9:35 AM

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Posted on Jan 12, 2014 9:49 AM


FCP X 10.1, Motion 5.1 Updates w/Dual GPU Support (new Mac Pros) (from Thursday)
Apple released Final Cut Pro X 10.1 Thursday with support for Dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro and more.
Long list in the Final Cut Pro X 10.1 Release Notes that also links to info on How to back up important FCP X 10.0.x files before updating . (Today's Apple docs listing also has more related to Final Cut Pro X 10.1.)
Also out today are Compressor 4.1 and Motion 5.1 . Full release notes below but here's a clip from the App store Motion 5.1 changes:


  • Optimized playback and rendering using dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro
  • FxPlug 3 with custom plug-in interfaces and dual-GPU support
  • Faster project loading, especially for complex projects
  • Share directly to YouTube at 4K resolution
  • Spanish language localization
Dual FirePro Dxxx Rendering FCP-X
Intel Xeon processors are designed to run 24/7 and stay cool and under load.
Mac Pro so far hold up strongly for years, easy to add and upgrade RAM and processor, and maybe, hopefully, even the twin GPUs. Thunderbolt2 for all your projects and storage as well.
6 or 8-cores is going to walk away from iMac which is breathing hard and not designed for constant heat. Haswell was designed to conserve and reduce.
6 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jan 12, 2014 9:49 AM in response to Christopher Tellefsdal


FCP X 10.1, Motion 5.1 Updates w/Dual GPU Support (new Mac Pros) (from Thursday)
Apple released Final Cut Pro X 10.1 Thursday with support for Dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro and more.
Long list in the Final Cut Pro X 10.1 Release Notes that also links to info on How to back up important FCP X 10.0.x files before updating . (Today's Apple docs listing also has more related to Final Cut Pro X 10.1.)
Also out today are Compressor 4.1 and Motion 5.1 . Full release notes below but here's a clip from the App store Motion 5.1 changes:


  • Optimized playback and rendering using dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro
  • FxPlug 3 with custom plug-in interfaces and dual-GPU support
  • Faster project loading, especially for complex projects
  • Share directly to YouTube at 4K resolution
  • Spanish language localization
Dual FirePro Dxxx Rendering FCP-X
Intel Xeon processors are designed to run 24/7 and stay cool and under load.
Mac Pro so far hold up strongly for years, easy to add and upgrade RAM and processor, and maybe, hopefully, even the twin GPUs. Thunderbolt2 for all your projects and storage as well.
6 or 8-cores is going to walk away from iMac which is breathing hard and not designed for constant heat. Haswell was designed to conserve and reduce.

Jan 12, 2014 10:11 AM in response to Christopher Tellefsdal

Everyone is different and there is no "one" configuration.


You can BTO starting with 4-core and select 6-core. Or 6-core which comes with D500s.


RAM can be upgraded yourself. Same for the SSD internal later if you want. Even the cpu though that tends to be expensive but in 2-3 yrs.


And then all the Thunderbolt external storage, monitors and more.


I usually include in these kinds of threads...


http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2013/20131218_3-MacPro-CPU-choice.html

Great site and his focus is photography and custom upgrade ideas.

Feb 2, 2016 7:58 PM in response to Christopher Tellefsdal

When you get the Mac Pro if you chocar the Mac Pro do extensive rendering test and multiple play back to see if you get a glitchy Mac Pro some of these machine come defective with flickering graphics card there is a forum here in the apple community that some D700 D500 and D300 like mine came with glitchy flickering graphics card I wish I could post the video of my iPhone which I recorded of my Mac Pro which I recently purchase and had to return it back. And if you custom built you Mac Pro it's a **** of hassle to get a quick replacement on a retail Apple Store they will have to refund your money and you will have to get a new custom built one through the online store. If your not doing virtual reality and hard core graphics rendering I will just get the basic 6 core standard or the even more basic quad core Mac Pro

iMac vs the new Mac Pro for video editing in FCPX?

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