well thats easy, it will not support any of the current new intel i series processors
any thoughts on the link to the mac's spec? will that even handle HD footage?
Win7 works nicely on older hardware.
Running a media centre at home, on a 2.6G P4 from 2003, with W7 Ultimate.
The mac will handle HD, but is a little long in the tooth. Changing the HDD on imacs is a bit of a mission, check the guide for that exact model on ifixit. (this i think http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-20-Inch-EMC-2105-and-2118-Hard-Drive-Replacement/1092/1 )
Mostly editing HD will be a PITA with long transcode/render times whatever you do it on, unless it's very high end. If I was buying a machine specifically for this, I'd be looking at a raid array or SSD for a scratch disk at least. Having said that, I'd also tend to look more at higher end machines than low end in general (spending 2k on a machine doesn't seem ridiculous to me).
So is the mac worth it? Well, depends how much it'll cost you and if you're prepared to swap the HD yourself...
OH, also you cant view 1080p content on that mac at 100% as it doesn't have a big enough monitor... if that's an issue? Having said that, if you want space for 1080p content at 1:1 + tool pallettes etc you really need a 27 or 30" monitor, and that's starting at about £900 really gonna blow the budget... so maybe not as much of an issue as it might be.
i know it wont be viewable as HD on the screen, even on a home pc i'd be limited to viewing it at 720p due to the monitors i have and both tvs that can be run as a second monitor are 720p. but i trust that if the files set to HD and then uploaded in HD others will be able to see it the quality providing they have the right screens 🙂
what ive noticed is trying to watch a full HD file on a computer with bad graphics card jsut provides a jumpy experience and doesnt handle the images at any watchable frame rate.... was assuming (and hoping!) that either the iMac or a new box with decent graphics card would be able to handle it, even if the screen doesnt quite make the msot of the resolution?
bit like playing decent music through a decent amp but not so decent speakers i suppose... once i upgrade the home TV then if i stick with a PC instead of mac i'd run it as a second monitor i think 🙂
GPU isn't the only deciding factor on if you can view HD content. Depends how the content is served too. Flash based HD content beasts nearly any system.
Checked and that iFixit guide is the right one BTW. For your needs (and in general) I don't think that quoted repair price for the mac is worth it, you'd want to be willing & able to repair yourself, and be getting the mac cheap.
New system is probably best for you I suspect.
Your cam does 60fps only at 720p yes? I'd stick with that res anyhow, for fast movement a more fluid framerate will be more useful than the extra pixels. 720p is enough video res for most anyhow...
BTW TVs make grim monitors. Way too low DPI. On a 32" 720p panel you've a DPI of about 46, compare this to 100ish on a typical monitor....
the mac is cheap... but i definitely wouldn't feel comfortable changing the HD myself. the tech in new units is confusing, i still dont really understand why those chilliblast ones are better than that HP i posted... he numbers (to an idiot like me) all seem better in the HP.
put me in a room with murderers and paedophiles and i'm fine, ask me to work out which PC is better and i'm lost haha!
