making dvds

Hello everyone

I have a mac on 10.11.6 capitain

Can i use final cut express4 and ilife 11 on this as I need to make a dvd ?


thanks
Hilary

G'day and welcome to the forums.

Depends a lot on your Mac as models back to 2007 can use El Capitan. Is this a DVD for movies, music, data etc?

It's an iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

and I need to import video from my camera and then burn a dvd for professional use, with ideally final cut and idvd, as I've used them both before on earlier computers successfully.

Does your camera have a firewire connector? Your iMac has both a FW400 and FW800 ports which you can use to import the video to Final Cut and then burn with titles using iDVD. Your iMac is running El Capitan 10.11.6 which is the maximum version of OS X it can run. However, you really need to boost the memory in your iMac. Your model can take up to 6GB of memory: 1 x 2GB + 1 x 4GB = 6GB.

Yes the camera has firewire. my concern is whether this software is correct for this mac ? If I get 6GB total memory - could be ok ?

You might want to even just consider using 2 x 2GB for 4GB RAM as the 4GB memory chips for those iMacs is usually quite expensive.

Just a thought…





- Patrick
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hilarysbiz said:

Yes the camera has firewire. my concern is whether this software is correct for this mac ? If I get 6GB total memory - could be ok ?

Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with the reqirements of Final Cut. You'll need to look that up and make sure it will run with the amount of memory your iMac currently has. Which is why we strongly recommend adding memory. As stated, your iMac can hold 6GB. The extra memory will definitely make a difference with a program like Final Cut. You need to keep in mind that your iMac is old and is not a speed demon.

pm-r said:

You might want to even just consider using 2 x 2GB for 4GB RAM as the 4GB memory chips for those iMacs is usually quite expensive.

Just a thought…

Click to expand...

Patrick & Chscag - the above piqued my interest (just trying to learn) - although our OP is from the UK, I went to OWC to look at RAM prices for her elderly iMac - as shown below, what might be the 'least expensive' option - do the 2 GB modules have to match (i.e. $36 to go to 4 GB total RAM or just one for $18)? There is certainly a substantial cost difference between 2 GB vs. 4 GB for those on a budget. Thanks for any input. Dave
.

There is certainly a substantial cost difference between 2 GB vs. 4 GB for those on a budget.

Click to expand...

Another small thing to consider, but may not even be noticed, is adding a 2GB + 4GB RAM module will not be matched and can have a small slowdown affect on the iMac. 2 x 2GB chips may actually be a better option — and cheaper.





- Patrick
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