What iMAC is good enough to run Final Cut Pro X?

I would recommend the 27" because it is a more powerful machine and FCP can be a demanding app. The i7 CPU is available on the online store, simply choose a 27" and then you can customize it to choose among other things the CPU. I would buy it with the base RAM and then upgrade the RAM yourself from a reputable reseller such as OWC (www.macsales.com) or Crucial.

A 21.5" machine will work but you will be limiting yourself because those machine are not as customizable. I would strongly recommend visiting an Apple Store and speaking to a rep familiar with FCP, they can help steer you to the correct configuration for your needs. If you don't have access to an Apple Store call the online store and again you can be helped out.

All iMacs in the current line will be fine for use wtih Final Cut Pro X *except* the lowest-end model (the "Iris Pro Graphics" model).

Beyond that, my advice is to max out the RAM & disk when you buy yoru iMac because the current iMacs are basically non-upgradeable later (except you can add RAM to the 27" models later.) And if you choose the 21.5" model, upgrade the disk to the fusion drive or the SSD option. You would find the basic 5400rpm hard drive is too slow for significant video editing.

Regarding an i5 vs i7 cpu, for most people this will make little difference in real-world use, even with Final Cut Pro X. More RAM and faster disks will give you greater improvement in performance than the marginal differences between an i5 & i7 cpu or between a 2.9 GHz & 3.2GHz cpu speed.

Final comment, if you are doing 'serious' video editing, you will definitely appreciate the much larger screen real estate of the 27" model. Timeline editing can get pretty cramped on a 21.5" screen.

ps. For what it's worth, I have been editing video on Macs beginning years ago with a 1.25GHz G4 eMac. They just keep getting better. I am currently using a 2.66GHz Core2Duo, a 3.06GHz Core2Duo and a 2.7GHz i5 and they are all great performers.

Hi MartinR,

Thorshammer1145 posed a question not far from what I've been mulling over too. My twist is that instead of FCP, I'd be using an iMac for photogrammetry modelling (I swear, the hobbies I get into just get more and more expensive).

I have been using Geekbench metrics for the various different Macs out there and while I've pretty much settled on purchasing an iMac, money is a bit tight and I want the most bang for my buck. According to Geekbench, the score for a 2013 21" iMac with an i7 3.1 Ghz quad core Intel scores a 14147 while it's larger 27" i5 3.4 Ghz quad core Intel sibling scores a 11800! I was really surprised by that.

Would you think I'm putting too much stock in the Geekbench scores to base my decision?

in all actuality if you are getting the iMac here is what you need.

http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/imac?product=ME089LL/A&step=config

This unit will do anything you want to do. However, you might want to take a look at the Fusion Drive and or more storage, That will be left up to you. Click the link and have a look. This would be a watermoccisin machine.

Cheers

Don

Geekbench scores are primarily based on cpu tests with a few RAM tests thrown in for good measure. I would expect a lower score for an i5 than an i7 even if the i5 runs faster than the i7, so I am not surprised by the results you quote.

I would not base my purchase decision solely on a Geekbench score. There is a lot more to overall system performance than what the Geekbench software tests and you have no way of knowing with certainty if any two systems tested were actually configured identically. There are loads of ways to sway benchmark scores. Treat the score as just one data point in your overall consideration.

I do media work -photo, video & audio production. Photo work is often with large RAW files, Photoshop & LighZone. No experience with photogrammetry as such, but I would expect photogrammetry performance to be greatly enhanced by a healthy dose of RAM and a fast disk. On a limited budget I recommend seeking an optimal compromise between the cpu, RAM and disk in my purchase. But only you can answer that question.

Hello to everybody!

Over one year has passed since the first post…

I work in video post-production. At home I do the same plus motion graphics, some vfx, music and audio production, photography and illustration.

I'm an old Mac user, 20+ years counting up and I've an iMac 3,1 (Intel Core2Duo 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro with 256MB VRAM) an old machine.

I'm about to buy a new one and I have some doubts about the right configuration for my budget (€2400 - €2500). I already know what's the best configuration but I have not €3200… So I'm stuck with the possible configurations!!

1 - iMac 27", Intel Core i5 3.4GHz, SSD 256GB, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB

2 - iMac 27", Intel Core i7 3.5GHz, SSD 256GB, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2GB

As you can see the fight here is between CPU and GPU…

Can anyone help me here? I live in Portugal where there are no official Apple Stores… 🙂

Thanks in advance

Cheers

ebatalha wrote:

Hello to everybody!

Over one year has passed since the first post…

I work in video post-production. At home I do the same plus motion graphics, some vfx, music and audio production, photography and illustration.

I'm an old Mac user, 20+ years counting up and I've an iMac 3,1 (Intel Core2Duo 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro with 256MB VRAM) an old machine.

I'm about to buy a new one and I have some doubts about the right configuration for my budget (€2400 - €2500). I already know what's the best configuration but I have not €3200… So I'm stuck with the possible configurations!!

1 - iMac 27", Intel Core i5 3.4GHz, SSD 256GB, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB

2 - iMac 27", Intel Core i7 3.5GHz, SSD 256GB, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2GB

As you can see the fight here is between CPU and GPU…

Can anyone help me here? I live in Portugal where there are no official Apple Stores… 🙂

Thanks in advance

Cheers

Please start your own thread, you are reviving a year + old one.