Need to figure out next dimension in editing setup (now using Final Cut 4.5)

Gary Gregerson · April 5, 2015

Hello

I'm an amateur filmmaker...I've been using Final Cut 4.5 on a Mac G5 for about 4 years now (got it from a friend). It works for what I do (shoot in Super 8, edit on digital) but I'm thinking I should get an upgrade...my friend suggested a mac mini but I don't know if Final Cut Pro would work and I've read negative things about them and about Final Cut Pro 10. So is there some other software and computer I should use? I like macs, I have to say...I hope this is an ok topic, I'm not fishing for Apple or anything!

Thanks

Gary

Tyler Purcell · April 24, 2015

Ohh wow, that's some old school stuff you got there!

It's a whole new world today, even the final version of FCP before they went to X is version 7.0.3, which came out in 2009.

You can still buy FCP7 on ebay, it's not that expensive. I'd grab a nice Mac Pro tower, they're not that expensive on ebay either. It will be a lot faster then a Mac Mini and work well for future proofing. Look for a 3,1 Mac pro 8 core 2.8ghz or better. I bought mine a few years ago for $800 bux on ebay. Then all you need is a fast boot drive, some internal storage (because it's a lot faster) and you're done. I'd upgrade to 10.8.5 operating system and leave it there. I think you'll be good with that system for many years, until the web brewers no longer support Mountain Lion, then you can migrate to the newest operating system because the Mac Pro 3,1 is 64 bit and upgradable forever pretty much.

Hope that makes sense.

Brian Drysdale · April 25, 2015

Lightworks is now an option on Mac. If you only want to export to Youtube 720p it's free, but you can take out a one month license if you've only got occasional projects that need exporting to other formats. That means you can spend as much time as you want editing a project until it's time for the export. Just an option that some FCP users have taken, but there are are other NLEs.

Dylan Sunshine Saliba · April 25, 2015

Hello

I'm an amateur filmmaker...I've been using Final Cut 4.5 on a Mac G5 for about 4 years now (got it from a friend). It works for what I do (shoot in Super 8, edit on digital) but I'm thinking I should get an upgrade...my friend suggested a mac mini but I don't know if Final Cut Pro would work and I've read negative things about them and about Final Cut Pro 10. So is there some other software and computer I should use? I like macs, I have to say...I hope this is an ok topic, I'm not fishing for Apple or anything!

Thanks

Gary

First thing, CONGRATULATIONS on making that setup work for you for so long! That was ancient when you got it four years ago! I completely second Tyler's suggestion. 3.1 macpro or better and you'll be in heaven. FCP7 is pretty cheap if you can find it. If not, Adobe Premiere Pro CC seems to be where most are headed if not going to the FCPX camp. I personally edited on a macmini in 2010 for a year and it worked just fine for my needs. I had to hack FCP7 to work on it with only 64mb VRAM instead of the 128 mb needed, but the performance hit was minimal with the content I was working with. The mac pro is much more robust, upgradeable and "futureproof". There isn't really anything that is actually future proof when it comes to computers, but 64 bit intel processor chips for a mac is a great start.