mojo1701 said:
This would obviously be more than enough to run a professional-like video editing suite. That's why I'm asking. But how much does it run for?
As a side question: What are the recommended Video Editing programs for Mac? Do you know?
This seems awfully OT for the ENWorld boards, but here goes:
There are two commonly-used video editing programs for the Mac.
iMovie, which comes for free with all Macs, is aimed strictly at consumer-level editing. I.E. clean-up those home movies, then make a DVD and send it to your family and friends.
Final Cut Pro is the professional program. It is amazingly powerful, and once you get over the initial learning curve, very easy to use. Many independent filmmakers are now using FCP to edit their films, and even Hollywood directors like Steven Soderburgh have used it for film. FCP costs $999, but comes with lots of power, and several additional programs - Soundtrack for composing music, LiveType for doing advanced titles, Cinema Tools for working with 24P video, and Compressor for doing batch encoding for the web or DVD.
There is now a stripped-down version of Final Cut available, called Final Cut Express which costs $299 but does not include the extra programs, and lacks advanced features like color correction and compositing.
So depending on what you are doing, there are three different solutions available:
http://www.apple.com/imovie/
http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/
And finally, the reason to get the Mac for this stuff, is that the entire system is fully integrated. Apple makes the hardware, the system software, and the applications. So you are going to have fewer computer "issues" and more time to get your work done.
Your friendly neighborhood Mac guy…
Drengy