I am purchasing a new Mac and would like to know what is the minimum h/w configuration required to run iMovie properly.
And what would be a good config without going over board?
I've seen recommendations on this forum, but they are dated 2008.
I'd like to have a recommendation for the latest h/w and Mavericks MacOS.
Thanks.
iMovie '11, Mac OS X (10.7.5)
iMovie will run on just about any Mac that is in the current Apple line.
The best are the iMacs. Any model will do, but the 27" models are really good for editing.
You can get the i5 processor or the i7 processor. The i7 is faster, but both work fine for iMovie.
Memory can really help. iMovie can happily use 8GB, and I currently am using 16GB.
Next would be the MacBook Pros. Lots of people are happily editing movies on MacBook Pros.
Finally, the MacBook Airs. iMovie will run on a MacBook Air, but they are not great for movies because they do not have a hard drive. They have a small solid state drive rather than a hard drive, and the solid state drives are generally too small for video files, which can be quite large.
With any Mac you get, if you plan to do a lot of movies, it is good to get external disk drives. These days, you can get USB3 or Thunderbolt drives. The USB3 ones are pretty inexpensive. The Thunderbolt Drives are much faster, but you do not really need their speed unless you move to Final Cut Pro X and are shooting with multiple cameras.
iMovie will run on just about any Mac that is in the current Apple line.
The best are the iMacs. Any model will do, but the 27" models are really good for editing.
You can get the i5 processor or the i7 processor. The i7 is faster, but both work fine for iMovie.
Memory can really help. iMovie can happily use 8GB, and I currently am using 16GB.
Next would be the MacBook Pros. Lots of people are happily editing movies on MacBook Pros.
Finally, the MacBook Airs. iMovie will run on a MacBook Air, but they are not great for movies because they do not have a hard drive. They have a small solid state drive rather than a hard drive, and the solid state drives are generally too small for video files, which can be quite large.
With any Mac you get, if you plan to do a lot of movies, it is good to get external disk drives. These days, you can get USB3 or Thunderbolt drives. The USB3 ones are pretty inexpensive. The Thunderbolt Drives are much faster, but you do not really need their speed unless you move to Final Cut Pro X and are shooting with multiple cameras.
AppleMan1958 wrote:
iMovie will run on just about any Mac that is in the current Apple line.
... and in the far corner of my desk, my brave lil' MacMini sobs and brushes away a tear ... you have forgotton to mention him/it!! 😁
Here in use:
a MacMini/i5/16GB Ram... plus a few ext.HDDs. Used for using FCPX, so iMovie - no prop.
meant as an addendum to appleman's excellernt advice:
• iMovie is a single-window app - so, screen estate is of importance. For my old eyes, iMovie on 11" is no fun ... consider to plug-in a bigger screen as 'main' screen.
• video eats disk-space. consider an ext. hard-drive, usb3 connected, to locate your Events (=these are the large files) on.
• don't forget backups; again, 'any' cheap usb-connected drive does it, if you trigger backups manually once in a while. A wireless TimeCapsule is more convenient, no doubt, allthough 'wireless' is for huge data as video no fun.
What is the recommended Mac configuration for iMovie?
