eMac for video work - any thoughts??

C

CallmeKenneth

Registered
I am considering purchasing a new mac for the main purpose of video editing. I currently have an indigo iMac, but it is sooooo slow for that kind of thing. I've been using iMovie, which is fine, but i feel that it is limited when it comes to being reallllly creative (especially having used Premiere and FCP on other machines).
So - this is what i'm thinking. If i get a superdrive eMac, with 512m of ram, Applecare, Tilt & Swivel stand and Final Cut Pro 3 (all for an educational discount as i am a lecturer - wahooo!) it will cost me around £1700.
Do people think that would be sufficient, bearing in mind that the main thing i want to do is produce short creative pieces?. I'm not tooo bothered about games (i should really be doing more with my life anyway), and i'm sure it would be fine for web, email, word processing, photoshop etc.
The BIG question for me, though, is should I opt for a pro machine instead? I've looked at getting a built to order Dual-G4 with the following specs...D-867mhz, GeForce 4 Ti graphics card with 128mb, Superdrive, Speakers, Applecare, FCP3 and a 19" monitor all for £2260. :D
You have to bear in mind that I'm not rolling about in cash, and the less money i have to spend, the better. (I also have to convince my wife that I'm not throwing money away!)
So - do i go for the G4 or opt for the eMac (saving me a cool £560)?
I would really appreciate some thought on this. Thanx.
 
I don't see why an eMac wouldn't be fine for video editing. Sounds like your going to do short movies so that helps in regards to HD space. Just remember though that the eMac will be very limited when it comes time for upgrades if you will be in to that sort of thing. Thats what held me back from getting an iMac when I bought my computer. I have a G4 tower (466mhz) and I am a film student. I'm going to start using it for video. Any of the G4 macs available would fit just fine I think. I'm happy I didn't opt for an iMac back then.
 
I know of someone who is using a G4 400mhz for Premiere work and another is using a 500mhz Ti powerbook for FCP.

The eMac is faster than both of those computers and should be fine.

The main drawback of the eMac is the lack of expansion capabilities should you decide to take video editing more seriously.

With the Powermac towers, you can an additional monitor for more workspace, you can add video editing related PCI cards like the Matrox RT.

I was recently in your situation. My Powerbook G3 broke down and I wanted to get a new Mac that could handle my growing interest in editing.

So I was about to buy the eMac with the superdrive when my local university was having a sale on some Quicksilver 867 G4 towers and I chose that instead. I went with the G4 tower because I plan on diving pretty deep into editing and would like to make a career move into the field.
 
You might want to reconsider the eMac. They have reliability problems. Consider this from macfixit.com:

UPDATE: Apple Reseller comments The owner of a fairly large Apple authorized reseller, who wishes to remain anonymous, provided MacFixIt with a dismal report on the serious display problem affecting a number of eMacs:

"I have seen horrible results with the eMac. Over 50 percent of the machines that we sold have been back in for service, usually within 30 days of their. Always the same problems: video. The repair procedure is to replace most of the guts of the machine. This procedure takes a 45 minutes to 1 hour. Unfortunately, the replacement parts haven't been much better than the originals. It is not uncommon for Apple to send us a part that will exhibit the exact same problems. What's worse is Apple no longer reimburses service providers for repeat repairs if they send out a defective part."
 
Hmmmm
Thanks for the input guys. Yes - I have heard about the eMac display issue. My only thought is that (hopefully) by the time i get round to buying one that the problem will have been resolved :confused:

I suppose i'm not that bothered about expandability. If i do need extra HD space, i could always get an external firewire disk. The only thing i might need to look into is music as i would like to (one day) compose my own for my video work. Would an eMac be good enough for basic sound stuff like that???

I hear there's likely to be big announcements from the Apple camp early '03. The 'e' is due for a revision by then (6 months), surely????
 
I've got an eMac and I haven't had any problems with it at all. I do use it a lot with Photoshop, MS Office and iMovie and it works fine for me.
 
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