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Can You Edit HD Video Files On A Mac Mini ?

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Hey,

I have never owned a mac before, but I need a new (faster) computer, preferably a mac, so that I can edit my HD footage. I am looking for either a Mac Mini or an iMac. My camera uses the AVCHD file and anyone with experience in this area any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris
 
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2011 MBP, i7, 16GB RAM, MBP 2.16Ghz Core Duo, 2GB ram, Dual 867Mhz MDD, 1.75GB ram, ATI 9800 Pro vid
I have to admit I haven't used a mini. My one experience with Final Cut Express on a Macbook also wasn't with HD content. So, clearly you'll still want to here for those who have actually tried editing HD on a mini or Macbook.

I should think that the iMac would be the better choice. It has an integrated graphics card that the system will take advantage of. Overall the system specs are also better which should help.

The mini hasn't seen an update for a long time. People have speculated if its life span is at an end and some think Apple will finally update it or replace it at Macworld in early January.

If you are going to use iMovie 08, then editing should be easy enough because it creates 'thumbnail movies' to allow for easy scrubbing. Final Cut may require more rendering for effects to make it livable to work with on a mini. More complicated effects will require rending, but that can be true on higher end systems too.

Note that AVCHD is converted when imported to AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec), so your files are going to be very large.
 

dtravis7


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MacMini M-1 MacOS Monterey, iMac 2010 27"Quad I7 , MBPLate2011, iPad Pro10.5", iPhoneSE
I use my Mini for Video work Converting, Compressing and some small stuff in Final Cut Express. It works fine but mine is Modded a bit. I bought a C2D 2.16 GHZ CPU from the last 24" White iMac that a friend ruined. It flys with that CPU installed. 2GB RAM and faster HDD.

To me the largest issue with large HD would be that small and slow laptop hard drive. I use a FW400 7200 RPM External and it's pretty zippy.
 
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I have a few
I have edited files from my HG10 canon using FCE 4 on my mac mini
several times! no problems at all! sometimes rendering is slow, but only with
a good amount of lengthy clips
 

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