Which Mac to get?

Author: Marvolo
Date: 9-Jul-2006, 9:53 PM

Author: Marvolo
Time: 9-Jul-2006 9:53 PM
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I am looking to get a MAC and never owning one I am fairly lost when it comes to deciding which one to get. If any advice could be given it would be great!

Author: Gillean
Time: 10-Jul-2006 7:57 AM
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Advice? Don't type Mac all in caps, it is wrong and Apple fans and grammar nazis hate it!

We can't really give you any advice as to which model you should get since you haven't given us any details as to your budget what you want to use it for, where you want to use it and what equipment and software you already own.

Ooh, a laserdisc. The Cheat's playin' something on a laserdisc.
Everything is better on a laserdisc. Whatever happened to the laserdisc? Laserdisc!

Author: Marvolo
Time: 10-Jul-2006 12:47 PM
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I am planning on using it for editing and I own nothing associated with a Mac. Price is not really a concern.

Author: none
Time: 10-Jul-2006 10:20 PM
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I've been putting off buying a new mac as well. Mac has been moving their line of computers from the old chips to the new Intel based ones. I don't think there's many models besides the 'Tower' which have not switched over. (most of the laptops are now Intel) So if you looking for more bang for your buck you could wait until the next model is released with the new chipset and buy the older model. But this Intel chip has advantages like the PC bootup. (and all future software will be designed with it in mind) What are your options for a machine? Does it need to be portable?

Anyone know if the date has been set for the new Tower models?
none

Author: Gillean
Time: 10-Jul-2006 10:21 PM
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Originally posted by: Marvolo
I own nothing associated with a Mac.

I didn't actually mean Mac specific equipment and software. If you have a decent monitor you probably wouldn't want an iMac. If you have a heap of Windows software then you likely wouldn't want to buy a PowerMac just yet. If you have a USB or wireless keyboard, mouse and a monitor a Mac mini may be more appealing. That sort of thing.

Anyway, if you wan't to get into serious editing you have three options really. If you don't have a decent monitor and don't need too much power then an iMac would be a good option. If you want a portable solution then a MacBook Pro is comparable spec-wise, but obviously a laptop. Probably max out the RAM on both those options (just don't buy it through Apple, markup is quite high); Mac's handle RAM allocation quite well, but it is always nice to have a fair bit and it isn't that expensive an upgrade. If you wan't to get into heavy compositing and either have a couple of decent displays or are willing to buy them, etc, then you'll really want the 'power of a PowerMac'. The current model hasn't been upgraded to Intel processors yet so you can't dual boot Windows or virtualise it at a decent speed, but it is still the fastest Mac available. If you aren't in a rush then I recommend waiting a couple of months for the new Intel PowerMac/Mac Pro for even a bit more speed and compatability with future apps (when they stop making Universal Binaries in a couple of years).

By the way, if you wan't to get the Final Cut Suite then this year I recommend you hop on eBay and buy a cheap copy of Final Cut Pro 4 or 5 (Retail or Academic, doesn't matter) and then send it in for the crossgrade to the full Universal suite. Should end up being quite a lot cheaper than just buying it new, though you won't have physical manuals (they are all in searchable PDF form on the discs though).

See http://www.apple.com/universal/crossgrade/ for details on that deal.

Ooh, a laserdisc. The Cheat's playin' something on a laserdisc.
Everything is better on a laserdisc. Whatever happened to the laserdisc? Laserdisc!

Author: Marvolo
Time: 10-Jul-2006 10:29 PM
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Gillean, thanks for the advice. I guess I will wait a while and pick up an Intel PowerMac/Mac Pro that sounds like a good option to go with.

Author: DarthBalls1138
Time: 11-Jul-2006 2:41 AM
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Well if you buy a copy of the Mac OS then you could build a PC with an Intel or AMD based chip (has to be one that supports SSE2 or SSE3 insruction set) and use a fan edited (hacked) version of the Mac operating system. There is no law that says that to run a version of the Mac OS you have to run it exactly as they give it to you and only on hardware you buy from them, so this falls within the same legal grey (gray?) area as the fan edits that this site supports! This would save a truckload of money, but it's up to you! (Oh and if you are going to go this route be sure and get an ethernet card that the Mac OS supports already or that you can find custom drivers for online, it's a biotch to realize that all your hardware is compatible and everything works except yer friggin internet!)

And very sorry to thread jack but I have a question along the same lines: From what I know Mac writes to HFS and FAT32. Windows writes to NTFS and FAT32. But FAT32 doesn't allow files bigger than 4 gigs, which plenty of the videos I want to edit are. The only way I have found to edit one video using both Mac and Windows is to A) use FAT32 (which I can't do as stated above) or B) have two machines networked together and have the video in a shared folder on the Windows system then the Mac system will still somehow write to it.

Does anyone know how to edit the same file from a dual boot because I don't want to build another machine! By the way if anyone doesn't want to divert this thread any further they may email me at DarthBalls1138@gmail.com thanx!