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hey guys i`m very new to all of this but i`m planning no getting a new computer since my old laptop can`t handle anything like editing movies...so is apple imac with 17 inch screen and following specs enough for editing? or do i need to go with the macpro? and a better video card? i don`t want to spend too much money because i still need to spend money on camera , mic and some lights..

 

1GB memory

160GB hard drive1

8x DL SuperDrive

ATI Radeon X1600 graphics

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Hi,

 

If your doing just about any kind of editing you should be fine. Any computer bought these days will edit DV and most will edit HDV. the new computer my roomate got can handle HDV, uncompressed HD, uncompressed SD with a color correction filter and a video layer on top of that (no real-time card installed)

 

Buy what you can afford but don't break the bank. These days its not 'can it work' but how long will you wait for renders....and even on a slow computer that isn't very long. Not having quality lights, cameras or mics will impact your productions more than an extra 5 minutes to render.

 

I started with NLEs in 98 when my first computer was an AMD K6-2 350Mhz with just 128mb ram. It worked just fine then, even in YUV 10mb/sec mode, so you should be just fine for mini-DV and similar formats.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Putting these systems together is all about mitigating technical problems that will occur. One of the basics is that you DO NOT want to store your media on the same drive as your system drive. So with the iMac you will need to invest in some Fire Wire drive space. And DO NOT try to save a few bucks by buying the cheapest drives. Drives are relatively inexpensive and your work is too important to gamble on a "good deal".

 

And go to the FCP Forum for all your questions regarding FCP.

 

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I will second the need for more hard drive space. I have 1.2 TB at home, and sometimes I struggle to find room for stuff. If you can afford it, try a raid array with some redundancy. That way every bit of data is on two drives and can automatically be saved if one drive goes bad.

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