Calling all MAC Users

[Chubz]

Folks

Looking for feedback on MAC's. Planning on moving from PC into MAC .

My main desire to have is the following:

Converting 20 +years of old 16mm football film to MiniDV then to DVD.

Converting 50+ MiniDV Tapes to retain family and vacation footage.

Shooting and editing new MiniDV footage in family videos for Bdays xmas and such.

Photo Editing.

Any suggestions would be great, I took a long look at Apple last night but there are so many options.

Budget?????? Going high $2500 staying low $1000 (even used might be an option)

I know I will aslo need to set aside some cash for periherals and programs too.

Greg

[bobdea]

yup, I'm a mac user

I'd get a mac pro with a good video card

for the DV conversion, a few ways to do that, I'd just get some sort of AV bridge

all the peripherals are the same so the ones you have are probably the one you'll be using.

for games I actually use a xbox 360 controller.

do you use AIM?

if so hit me up for the more random questions

[Phil]

I got my MAC in Jan. 2008 for the same thing - old family videos. I thought that it would take 2 years to do them all and I am dreadfully behind as of right now (I'm only up to '94). Now I have two cameras (Dad's and mine) rolling all of the time so the task gets more daunting.

All of that being said, it is all pretty easy. Download the vids into iMovie, drag and drop your project, add transitions, music, whatever, and produce. Once you are done with that, throw it all into an iDVD project and make your DVD. That is how I do it anyway. Rendering the vids takes a long time, so be prepared. Sometimes it take 4 hours. Of course, this is not something you have to sit there for, but you have to wait.

I don't know how serious you want to get with editing the vids, but if you want to go all the way, get Final Cut Pro. I wish that I had that for some sports/action stuff that I've done. I do videos of my snowboard students and it is more basic than I would like because iMovie doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles.

As far as photo editing, plan on purchasing a program for that. I did not find that anything that came with my Mac was really any good for that, so I go Photoshop.

Hope this helps.

Off Topic: sorry I missed your Blue Mountain sessions this year. Both were gametime decisions for me - we were just too busy this year - it was a great season.

[carvedog]

If you have screen and keyboard that are good think about this....

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB139LL/A?mco=MjE0NDk5Mw

Refurb. Buy the apple care warranty and get the extra ram.

Final cut express used to be an option with these guys too. For like $100. At least when I bought some gear a couple of years.

This is a pretty sweet ride too.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB325LL/A?mco=MjE0NDk5Mw

24inch. 2ghz and 2gb ram included.

Just a thought.

[bobdea]

If you have screen and keyboard that are good think about this....

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB139LL/A?mco=MjE0NDk5Mw

Refurb. Buy the apple care warranty and get the extra ram.

Final cut express used to be an option with these guys too. For like $100. At least when I bought some gear a couple of years.

This is a pretty sweet ride too.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB325LL/A?mco=MjE0NDk5Mw

24inch. 2ghz and 2gb ram included.

Just a thought.

no, I disagree

if you were to get a mini I'd get one with one of the nvida boards not the intel 950 graphics for a few reasons one being MUCH better performance now but later on even better because apple is working with nvidia to get some cool stuff done.Basically using the GPU as a coprocessor to the CPUs for functions other than graphics, this is built into their next OS due out this summer.

MS claims to be doing the same thing but it's certainly not part of the windows 7 beta so don't expect to use the GPU for more than graphics on the Windows platform in the next 5 years other than if it's a surprise they are not talking about.

[Phil]

Good points from carvedog.

I have the iMac that he listed (actually, the 21, not the 24)

One thing to consider about that is that you cannot take it apart and self service. I have always taken my pc's apart and rebuilt/fixed whatever was necessary. Last week my superdrive failed and I was immediately aware that I was either going to pay a lot of money or get an external drive (voiding the advantage of an all in one). It ended up being a fried cable. $100 for the service - a new superdrive would have been $300.

Just something to think about. I still like the all in one, I just hope that nothing else goes wrong.

BTW, the MAC wireless keyboard and mouse are the shiz.

[cail]

are you looking for a laptop? if so, go with the Macbook Pro. get the 15" 2.4GHz. you can upgrade the memory, up to 4GB - $60 (or 6GB >$300), and harddrive (500GB) yourself. memory isn't that necessary, but harddrive might be a good idea...

iMac would be sweet too. like the large screens

[bobdea]

Good points from carvedog.

I have the iMac that he listed (actually, the 21, not the 24)

One thing to consider about that is that you cannot take it apart and self service. I have always taken my pc's apart and rebuilt/fixed whatever was necessary. Last week my superdrive failed and I was immediately aware that I was either going to pay a lot of money or get an external drive (voiding the advantage of an all in one). It ended up being a fried cable. $100 for the service - a new superdrive would have been $300.

Just something to think about. I still like the all in one, I just hope that nothing else goes wrong.

BTW, the MAC wireless keyboard and mouse are the shiz.

not much different than doing work on a laptop. I have torn apart minis and imacs of most generations. lots of screws but the same as any other PC in essence.

that said, the apple towers (power macs and mac pros) are the easiest machines to add or remove drives and cards from of any machines I have seen.

he opens it at about the 1:20 mark <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JGhQxx9qM8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JGhQxx9qM8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Phil]

Bob,

I was told that with the new iMacs (the aluminum, not the white ones) that they pull the glass screen off in order to access the internals. With the white one, there was a screw on the back that allowed you to get to everything. The idea of pulling the screen was one that deterred me from messing with it.

If someone can show me a safe, easy way, I would be glad to do it.

[bobdea]

Bob,

I was told that with the new iMacs (the aluminum, not the white ones) that they pull the glass screen off in order to access the internals. With the white one, there was a screw on the back that allowed you to get to everything. The idea of pulling the screen was one that deterred me from messing with it.

If someone can show me a safe, easy way, I would be glad to do it.

ahh, I did not know this

found a video, looks simple but time consuming, still better than opening up a acer laptop

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YsCTNVEYt8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YsCTNVEYt8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Phil]

Thanks. Hopefully there will not be a next time, but if there is, I'll be glad to have this!

O.K., carry on with the O.P.'s original intent. ;)

[pow4ever]

Sounds like all the stuff you want to do can be done on window machine.

Doesn't seems like there is a reason that you have to go mac.

if you are pretty good with computer

You can give osx86/hackintosh a tried.

If you like it and it meet your need then take the plunge.

--

David

[skategoat]

Any Intel Mac is going to do what you want and more. I own five Macs. The only one I wouldn't want to do video editing on is the G4 iBook. Even my 1.83 Mac Mini works great for video editing. Typically, when editing video, the graphics card is the least of your concerns. The bottleneck in your workflow will be 1) capturing your video, which you can do nothing about since it has to be real-time, 2) rendering, which is dependent on processor speed and RAM.

If you end up with the iMac, get the 24". Not just for screen size but screen quality. The 20" uses a TFT screen which is only good if viewed straight on. The 24" uses S-IPS which is much better for off-angle viewing.

But, for $2500, you can get a Mac Pro and it doesn't get any better than that. You can load it up with 32GB of RAM and four PCI Express expansion cards. It's user serviceable unlike the iMac or Mini. However, you have to buy all the peripherals which will put you over the $2500 mark.

Used Macs hold their value so you won't save much with them. However, I highly recommend the Apple refurbs. The last three Macs I bought were refurbs and they were indistinguishable from new.

Finally, pay for the AppleCare. 3 years of piece of mind. And in 3 years, your Mac will still be very usable unlike cheaply made Dells and HPs.

[bobdea]

skategoat has it

only used mac I would buy would be a apple refurb

if you get a mini or a imac get the ones from the latest refresh due to the hardware improvements.

but at the type of coin in your budget get nothing other than a mac pro, most components are upgradeable, last I heard even the CPUs.

the fastest one is was the fastest desktop you could get when it came out, now there's a "desktop workstation" that's faster from HP or something.

with the rest of the line it's not really the case, although solid machines they are not exactly the fastest things around.

although it's rumored that it is possible with the imacs to upgrade the video card but since it's the type of slot for laptops they are expensive and not all that great.

[MEC]

I changed from PC to Mac in January, for precisely the same reason. FYI, I picked up a barely used macBook on Craigslist for absolute peanuts. If you scan the larger metropolitan area Craigslists for a while, you will most certainly find what you want at a deep discount. It works like a dream, and the video transfers (we had a lot of 8 millimeter that had to get converted) are easy. I recommended this to a friend, and he also got a barely used iBook for next to nothing. (I think he paid $200.)

[bobdea]

I changed from PC to Mac in January, for precisely the same reason. FYI, I picked up a barely used macBook on Craigslist for absolute peanuts. If you scan the larger metropolitan area Craigslists for a while, you will most certainly find what you want at a deep discount. It works like a dream, and the video transfers (we had a lot of 8 millimeter that had to get converted) are easy. I recommended this to a friend, and he also got a barely used iBook for next to nothing. (I think he paid $200.)

sounds like stolen

CL is known for that

[MEC]

sounds like stolen

CL is known for that

I actually bought it from a dad who was upgrading his kid's computer. They were an upper middle class family and really didn't care what they got for the computer. My friend acquired the older iBook from a computer guy who had bought it used from his workplace, and then decided it was too slow for his needs. I would never make a purchase from someone who is shifty, and have turned down opportunities to purchase goods that were most likely stolen. I do agree that one needs to be careful when using Craigslist, but I don't think and would never assume that every person who uses it is suspect.

[Chubz]

Thanks for all of the input.

I think I would like a laptop just for mobility. I'm confined to my home office enough with my job. I would assume a laptop could offer me enough gumption to get the work done.

Heres one I found on craigslist.

Brand new, next-generation, in the box Apple MacBook Air! This laptop comes fully loaded with manufacturers warranty and also has the full 3-year Apple Care on it!!

Specs: -1.86 Ghz Processor -128GB Solid State Disk Drive (Boot Computer in seconds) -NVidia Graphics Card - See for all the other technical details - http://www.apple.com/macbookair/ - Apple 3-Year Care Program

Software Installed: - Full Adobe Suite CS4 ($2.5k+ package) - iWork - MS Office for Mac 2008 - Aperture - Final Cut Pro - Full iSuite - Fusion - Toast 10 - Quickbooks Pro 6

Little pricey at $2800, but with the some programs I was looking to buy anyway.

[cail]

good price.. especially with all that stuff. coming with CS4 Master Collection rocks. does sound sketchy though. that computer is like what 3k out of box?

i'd get it if the seller doesn't seem like a blatant criminal

[bobdea]

so long as you know the macbook air is the lowest performance in the lineup go for it

the air is the apple product I understand the least.

BTW, CS4 on that is kinda pointless, slow ass machine, well the new ones are supposed to perform better because there's a decent video card in them.

I'd still spend the same and get a macbook pro, much better performance.

the ones from a year ago would choke with hd video that my laptop (first macbook) does fine with.

got better performance from a machine that cost like 1k less.

again, macbook pro, if I had to do it again I'd of got the pro.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro?mco=MTI4MDI

[Phil]

I have to tell you that I have no personal experience with either, but -

It seems to me that the Mac Book air is kind of glitzy - an "on the run" kind of computer. It does not seem like the kind of computer you want to be purchasing specifically to edit video. I don't know how much video editing you have done, but I can tell you that you will blow through that 128Gb in absolutely no time. 320Gb probably does not sound like a lot more, but by the time you start reaching 80% capacity, you can start dumping stuff you are done with. The other thing that worries me is that there is no optical drive and very few ports for anything else. This may or may not be a problem for you, but you certainly should check into it.

The Mac Book Pro seems to me like it is more of a work horse and made to do what you are looking to do.

Wanting mobility is understandable, but if I were you, I would go with the workhorse mobility, not the featherweight.

[Phil]

Upon further thought, you will need an input device for your video, an external optical drive to burn your DVD's and you will probably want an external hard drive as well. That sounds like a PITA when all you would need with the Mac Book Pro is the input device - the optical drive is in the computer and the hard drive is big enough (you may STILL want an external HD even with the Pro).

Hope this is helpful and not just me over-thinking things.

[skategoat]

Chubz:

I guarantee all that software is pirated. If you're okay with running pirated software, any self-respecting college or high school student can get all that for you for a case of beer. So, don't put any value into any of it unless it comes with a legitimate license.

One *big* factor in your decision is Firewire. Apple, in it's infinite wisdom, left out the Firewire port on its latest MacBooks. Not sure about the Air. Firewire is a must-have for importing video unless you are using one of the new camcorders that record to SD cards.

[cail]

MBP do it. you can always get those programs online

base model

upgrade HD

memory upgrade