Buying First Mac

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Dan Lester

Guest
Hello
I'm in the process of buying my first Mac a Power Mac G5

Dual 2.3GHz PowerPC G5
1.15GHz frontside
bus/processor
512K L2 cache/processor
512MB DDR400 SDRAM
Expandable to 8GB SDRAM
250GB Serial ATA
16x SuperDrive (double-layer)
Three PCI-X Slots
ATI Radeon 9600
128MB DDR video memory

I'm sure the specs look familiar to everyone here. I've been a PC user all my life and have gotten to the point where I troubleshoot my system/systems as much as actually creating video.

OK enough history, My main purpose for this machine is creating video and media content. I would likie some advice on hardware for this machine.

I can only speak from the standpoint of the PC world and what I have read about Macs online and magazines. I plan on using Final Cut Pro Studio.

Questions:
How much ram is really enough for creating video with Final Cut Pro Studio?
I currently use 2 Gig in my PC. Windows XP machines can only use 2 Gig per program. Some of the videos I create are pretty complex and up to 30 minutes long.

Is it really possible to add a second internal hard drive for capturing video?
Again,,in the PC world it's better to capture to a hard drive that is separate from your OS/video program.

Thanks
Dan Lester
 
Joined
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Your Mac's Specs
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0
Some of the guys i know who do video work, use like 4 Gigs of RAM. Me, using FCP is tough since i only have 512MB...but i dont do big projects, not until i upgrade.

and

Yes, you can capture to the second hard drive. It will become your scratch disk and everything.
 
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PrintNazi

Guest
I would say for video editing ... the more ram the better. You're starting with the right equipment for what you want to do. But real heavy editing would require lots of RAM and CPU power.

I'd say use what you got and see if it works. If it does you'll save money by not over buying. If it doesn't you can alway add more RAM. And, I believe you can add another drive ....Good luck!
 
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Your Mac's Specs
1.67 Ghz 17" PB w/1 GB Ram; 400 MHz PM G4, 366Mhz iBook Firewire, Nano 4GB Black
I agree, the more ram the better. You're probably going to want 4GBs, but thats just my opinion. I recommend buying the ram from a third party though, it will be much cheaper, and it's easy to install.
 

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