Which Mac Should I Buy?

by Brendan Boykin

This is a question that often comes up. Our lead instructor, Brendan Boykin, offers some advice. There are more choices now than just the “you have to get the fastest Mac available” approach when purchasing an editing sytem for Final Cut Studio. If you don’t need PCI expansion cards (like AJA, Blackmagic, or Matrox), then you don’t have to pony up for a MacPro. MacPro’s are great machines....very fast, very expandable, but can get very expensive. If you are a DV only shop, the last two generations of iMacs are actually more than capable systems. He chose to list the top of the iMac systems to show that it is as powerful as the bottom of the MacPro systems....but cheaper. The MacBook Pro laptops give incredible speed and portability, just not as much expandability.

Brendan highly suggests the 17” if you are considering the MBP as an edit system. Not only do you get a bigger screen from the start, you also get the ExpressCard for more expansion options (additional FireWire ports, SxS card compatibility [and SDHC with an adapter], eSata access with adapter [for more storage options and the new Matrox/AJA offerings]).

About Brendan Boykin:

Brendan is one of Weynand Training's lead instructors. He is the owner of Creek Mountain Media, and has been providing Apple Certified training since 2003 with current certifications in Final Cut Studio 3. For more information visit his website. He is also the author of the Apple Pro Training Series book, Final Cut Pro 7 A Qucik Reference Guide. For more information on the guide click here

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