So after running a Hackintosh for two years, mrs xiphon would really like a [i]proper[/i] Mac for the house, and the 27" looks lovely.
Anybody use one as their main home computer?
What are they like for HD video editing/photography?
What are they like for HD video editing/photography?
Often people feel that iMac's are worth the price for the screen alone. We've used a 24" iMac for final cut editing for the last 5 years, apart from the screen quality just having lots of screen for tools is very handy. Although the screen is huge they're comfortable to sit close to.
I bought one about a month ago. It's a revelation, if I'm honest. Very fast and responsive, and having specced the SSD means that I turn it on, and it's on! Boot-up seems to take about five seconds, if that, with all programs launching equally quickly. Lightroom works really well in it - very fast, and having now calibrated the monitor, it seems plenty good enough for my needs, and a good improvement over my previous computer.
Sure, a 'normal' computer is cheaper, but as mine has to live in the dining room, the design is an important selling point.
Thanks for the replies so far
The current 'Mac' is OSX 10.8, running on 2008 hardware (Core2Quad 2.3Ghz, 8GB RAM, SSD, GTX260)
It's [relatively] "fast" for day-to-day use (email, web browsing, 'light' photoshop correction, iTunes, etc) - but for FCP its pretty slow.
Are the screens matt ?
For pro use I woudl want a matt screen, or a room without any reflections.
My mate has a large Mac but I can notice flicker on the screen - it is the only panel I have ever seen flicker on.
We have one, they are outstanding .
I use mine for photo editing for my business and it's superb IMO. The screen is fantastic - I would probably prefer matt but it's very rarely an issue. I dabble in DSLR video editing with Premier and it works well, though I'm not a 'power user'.
FiL bought the old one (?3 years ago) and has been v. happy with it. Given that he never knowingly underspends on his kit, I take it as validation of his choice, although he is now eyeing up the new Mac Pro with keen interest.
Unfortunately Darth Vader's bin is out of my price range.
bit of a thread hi-jack, but can anyone tell me what the earliest imac you can have that'll run the latest mavericks osx? is it the same as a mac mini that is late 2009 oldest?
I bought a Hackintosh because you can easily source a CUDA graphics card. It certainly speeds things up if using After Effects and the like. For £800 I think I got the equivalent of a PowerMac Pro at many times the price. However, there are niggles….
Boot-up seems to take about
People still boot computers? Just sleep it. And wake it from sleep.
For £800 I think I got the equivalent of a PowerMac Pro
No you didn't. You probably don't have a Xeon, or ECC memory etc.
Now maybe those things don't matter to you, but then you probably don't need a mac pro...(most people don't).
People still boot computers? Just sleep it. And wake it from sleep.
Yes, I even unplug it to save electricity. What's your excuse?
Yes, I even unplug it to save electricity. What's your excuse?
I read that it takes more electricity to cold boot a Mac each morning that just leaving it to sleep overnight and waking it in the morning. Apple are pretty good with their power-saving tricks. I only turn mine off if I'm going away for a few days
People still boot computers? Just sleep it. And wake it from sleep.
Yep, unplug ours every night.
They're great. As you'd expect really. Once you're used to the 27", anything else seems absolutely dinky. They're pretty much made for detailed photoshop stuff and video editing really. Its their raison'd'etre. Its like asking if a Ferrari would be any good for a track day? 😉
A word of advice though. Don't accidentally flick the inbuilt webcam on. Nobody needs to see their own stupid gormless face unexpectedly staring back at them in massive scale HD. I **** myself!!!
Well - I'll put it another way. I got a 'Mac' (with SSD + 1Tb) that could run a graphics card that would otherwise require a Powermac Pro to fit I think. However, I would still like the real thing!
I **** myself!!!
I certainly didn't want to see that. Put me off chat roulette for life.
I used a 27" imac for the practical part of a video editor interview using FCP. Was pretty nice for that but ultimately did feel like a lot of wasted screen space, unless you start using loads of tracks but really for most editing more than 2-3 seems excessive unless you have loads of stuff going on! Tbh it'd be more useful for complicated after effects projects than fcp. Or indeed premiere which feels a bit cramped on my 20" monitor. I prefer the dual screen avid setups we have at work though 🙂
I have a iMac 27" (3.4Ghz i7, 8GB RAM) for work - graphic design/web development.
I've messed about with Final Cut Pro of my own stuff (cycling/snowboarding) and it's perfectly acceptable. You could stick more RAM and maybe look at SSD to speed it up a touch. We tend to use Crucial for RAM as it's a fraction of the cost compared to Apple. Also, it's worth checking out the refurb section of the Apple website, you can sometimes find good prices there.
I'm used to triple monitors at home (1 x 24" Dell, sandwiched by 2 x 20" Dells mounted vertically) so the large screen space will feel "normal" to me.
The general verdict seems to be - add RAM, and upgrade to a SSD...
What about storage (for those on SSD) - external Thunderbolt drive? NAS?
Cheers all 🙂
There are three in the room next to where I am at work. Used for graphics stuff, InDesign, Quark, Photoshop, Illustrator...
What about storage (for those on SSD) - external Thunderbolt drive? NAS?
I have one of the LaCie 2Big 6 TB T-bolt drives. Shifting blu-ray video files around I'm getting transfers of gigabytes in seconds between it and the SSD.
I also have a number of USB3 drives hung off my macMini server over gigabit ethernet, and they might as well be corporate server grade given the speed of access. Also very impressive, but perhaps a little slow compared to the local T-bolt RAID.