Mac specs for FCP ?

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Hello :)

I'm in the prosess of switching from PC to Mac, and I'm doing this for ONE reason only, Final Cut Pro!

My main focus will be editing FULL HD(1920x1080) - footage from my T2i DSLR, and making shortfilms for practice purposes.

I've never owned a mac so i dont know what specifications are nessesary to run FCP, and I'm not thinking of minimal requirements here. What's the ideal requirements for having a smooth working experience?(prossesor?, ram?, Graphics card, Imac or Mac Pro etc.)

And I'm a student, i have money to buy a brand new imac, but i cant afford to max the specs on a mac pro if you see where im going, so something in between.

So if anyone out there has a good setup that they are pleased with or a recommendation please let me know :)
 
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2018 15" MBP, 2019 11" iPad Pro, iPhone 11 Pro
Whatever you buy, you'll save some money by upgrading the hard drives and RAM on your own. OWC and NewEgg are great online retailers for those items.
I use FCE on my MBP, but it's mostly for personal/hobby use. Not professional and not Full HD video. So you definitely want something like a quad core i7 iMac or a Mac Pro. I have a feeling you can do all that with the iMac, but someone with more experience will be able to tell you for sure.
 

IWT


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Your Mac's Specs
M2 Max Studio Extra, 32GB memory, 4TB, Sonoma 14.4 Apple 5K Retina Studio Monitor
Whether this helps or not is up to you, KRZY; but I do HD video and HD 2D & 3D digital image editing via a 64 bit OsiriX workstation on my iMac, 27 inch, core i7, with 16 GB RAM.

It handles this beautifully even when running other things in the background.

If my situation seems in any way akin to yours go for the i7 iMac with as much RAM as you can afford.

Good luck in your new venture and you'll never regret switching to Mac.

Ian
 
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Whether this helps or not is up to you, KRZY; but I do HD video and HD 2D & 3D digital image editing via a 64 bit OsiriX workstation on my iMac, 27 inch, core i7, with 16 GB RAM.

This helps alot thanks :)

My budget only goes this far.. so im stuck between these two configurations:

Mac pro:
* One 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Nehalem”
* 6GB (3x2GB)
* 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
* ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
* One 18x SuperDrive

Or

the imac:
* 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
* 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
* 1TB Serial ATA Drive
* 8x double-layer SuperDrive
* ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM

the mac pro is more tempting as i have more availability for upgrades later on(when can afford it :p) but what do you guys think ?
 
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This helps alot thanks :)

My budget only goes this far.. so im stuck between these two configurations:

Mac pro:
* One 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Nehalem”
* 6GB (3x2GB)
* 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
* ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
* One 18x SuperDrive

Or

the imac:
* 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
* 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
* 1TB Serial ATA Drive
* 8x double-layer SuperDrive
* ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM

the mac pro is more tempting as i have more availability for upgrades later on(when can afford it :p) but what do you guys think ?

If it was me, I'd be looking for a way to get a Mac Pro. Like you said - more options for upgrading, etc. Especially if you already have a monitor to use.
Have you looked in the refurb store on Apple's site? You'll save some money and they are good as new. Even come with standard 12 month warranty and option to purchase Apple Care.
 

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