Mac advice

[icky]

Not sure there's much experience with Macs here, but I'm looking for some basic advice. A friend of mine is looking to get a video editing system set up in her home. She has experience with Final Cut and Avid, but they use Final Cut at her office. Other than that, she has little computer experience.

Based on this, I recommended that she go for a home setup with a Mac and Final Cut.

Now I have no experience with Macs, but after a quick scan of the Apple store, I concluded that she should probably get an iMac Intel Core Duo. It appears to come in a 17" or a 20" model. I am keen to push toward the 20", but then she might not feel that it is sensible to spend the extra cash.

So... any special Mac advice out there? Avoid the Core Duo? Buy used? Screw Mac and get a PC?

Any advice at all would be appreciated.

[sordavie]

When will they be introducing the Core 2 Duos to Macs? Might be something to keep an eye on.

[Bommando]

In my experience, there is not a lot of depreciation with Macs, so it's usually best to buy new, since you're not saving much by buying used. The good news is that they last a very long time.

My PowerBook = 4 years without a single service. It goes months without a reboot with no impact on the system. I only reboot after a system update.

Anyway, now I'm evangelising. Back to your question:

I definitely recommend the 20" for any graphics work. The extra screen real-estate is much-needed and because the monitor is built into the iMac, you can't upgrade just the monitor, so choose wisely. The important thing to remember when talking about cost is that you're buying for the long-haul. Macs get superceded much slower than PCs, so a little extra spent now will last you a lot longer. I'd say a slightly above-average Mac has a lifespan of 4-5 years.

Her biggest expenditure will actually likely be Final Cut, unless her work buys it for her. Everything else is pretty much bundled already. She may want to buy Microsoft Office:Mac, but I hear OpenOffice will be presenting a native Aqua version in September. The current X11 version of OO sucks though, so if you can't wait, get the M$ version.

Most Apple store staff are very helpful and I'd say they would happily allow her to load a sample video onto an iMac running Final Cut, so she can test encoding speeds and such.

The last thing to rememeber is that if she hasn't had any Mac experience in the past, there will be a slight adjustment period to get used to the interface. Having said that, every client who I have recommended a Mac to has been much more satisfied with the way OS X worked than Windows.

Let me know if you need any other info

[icky]

Thanks!

She stumbles through PC use, so I think she'll stumble through Mac use just as well. I will recommend the bigger monitor to her. I think this system will serve her well.

Holy smokes on the Final Cut Pro prices. Final Cut Express might suit her needs. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I think she films clips for news stories, so it is single-camera work.

[Mateo]

Tell her to use Ubuntu!

*runs as the shoes are thrown*