Best mac to get for general university tasks?

Im going to university in September and like the sound of the MacBook air. However I'm just worried that I wont have enough memory even though I am doing animal science it will be mainly written tasks than anything more production like...
What would you advise is best?
Thanks

If you want something to carry around campus the MBA is a great computer - I'm totally happy with mine. Dominic's suggestion for the 256GB model is spot on and 8GB of RAM should see you safely thru your undergraduate years.
I've started seeing more and more students carrying iPads with keyboard covers and I took that route myself this spring at a convention. I needed to travel extra light so I left the computer and charger at home. The MBA has great battery life for a full notebook but doesn't come close to matching the all day goodness of an iPad. Add a mini or iMac in the dorm and you're all set.

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Any Mac will be faster than an 8-year old one (especially since that Mac is almost certainly PowerPC-based).
You've posted in the Mac Pro forum, but ironically that's the one Mac that wouldn't really make sense (they're very expensive and are generally overkill for most home applications).
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bboyflames wrote:
can someone tell me what is the best soundcard to get for no more than 00 dollars?. Thank you very much.
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p.s. Is the Search Function disabled in this Forum? I couldn't get it to work.

thewhitedog wrote:
@ Bob: I think you may be have acquired some misinformation somewhere. There is no such thing as "too much muscle" in a Mac Pro in relationship to Lightroom - or any other program. OS X allocates resources to applications as they need them. Unused resources remain idle or are utilized by other applications.
Adobe posts the minimum system requirements for their applications, but these should just be taken as a starting point. In my opinion you should buy the best Mac Pro your budget can handle - and maybe a little bit more. The computer is an investment, after all, not a luxury. That said, what you need to run Lightroom efficiently and what Jay needs to do video editing are not necessarily the same. For video rendering more cores are better. For Lightroom the question of the number of CPU cores is less critical. Whereas, CPU speed is more relevant. For both, the amount of RAM can make a big difference.
I recommend as a starting point, at least a quad-core Mac Pro with 4GB of RAM. That would do if you were looking at an iMac as well.
I can understand, though, how looking at the current line-up of Mac Pros can be confusing. The older Nehalem powered Mac Pros look faster for less money, but this is now old technology. The new Intel Westmere CPUs offer significant improvements in performance. Unfortunately, they are also much more expensive than any previous Mac CPU upgrade. But if you want to "future proof" your new Mac, one with a Westmere CPU is the better way to go. The 8 core model Jay went with seems to be the best value, with two quad-core 2.4GHz Westmere CPUs. However, for just $200 more you can get the 6 core 3.33GHz Westmere CPU. For the purposes of Lightroom, the faster CPUs in the 6 core model will make more of a difference than the two extra cores in the 8 core version. And the 6 core version will handle just about any multi-tasking job you throw at it; that it, using Lightroom in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop, for example.
To confuse the issue a bit more, however, if using Lightroom is your primary concern, a Mac Pro may be overkill. The new iMacs, which came out since you started this thread, are excellent machines. You could get a lot more for your money with a 27" iMac, BTO with a quad-core 3.3GHz Intel Sandy Bridge CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 2TB hard drive for roughly $1,000 less than the Mac Pros you're looking at. Along with a capable computer you get a beautiful 27" screen on the iMac. I'm not sure why you think you need the Mac Pro. The iMac can now take up to 16GB of RAM. If you were to get one with 8GB factory installed by Apple - as a BTO option - there would still be two empty RAM slots available for a future upgrade. You could add an SSD to the iMac and still pay less than you would for the Mac Pro.
And the new iMacs have a Thunderbolt port; in fact, the 27" models have two Thunderbolt ports. These offer much better throughput and greater flexibility than any previous I/O connection. With an appropriate adaptor you can use almost any external device, including eSATA, FireWire 400 and 800, USB 1, 2 and 3 and even Ethernet and an external monitor. Of course the iMac still has a Firewire 800 port and four USB 2 ports, and an SDXC memory card slot. For what it may be worth, I suggest you give the iMac another look. Your budget will thank you.
TheWhiteDog,
Kinda, Sorta, Maybe... :-) The cost differential between the 8 and 6 cores is $200 when comparing new to new. I picked up the 8 Core Westmere 2.4 for under $3000 because it comes up on the Refurbished side... So now we're talking $700 difference. the difference in price can be used for memory (I got 4GB for $50 at OtherWorldCmputing's "Garage Sale), a drive.. any number of things. Since Apple treat refurbs as new for warranty purposes (including AppleCare), I didn't see any reason not to go with the refurbished model..
I agree a higher clock speed is better, but as you said, I also do video so more cores helps (amazingly helps).. Yes, for LR 6 3.33 cores may outperform 8 2.4s, but the 8 core machine flies with LR.
As for iMacs vs. Mac Pro.. the biggest difference is that you find with any desk top vs. a "fixed" machine like the iMac. The upgrade as far a internal (and external) drives on a Mac Pro is so much better as well as to upgrade video if I want to in the future as well. As for Thunderbolt, clearly a lot of potential, but it is a daisy chain design and the slowest device in the chain can slow down everything if not done right. There's also not a lot out there for Thunderbolt yet.. and I'm not 100% sure that there won't be an PCI card for Mac Pros for Thunderbolt (although it could be a system board feature only).
At under $3000 with 6GB of memory and a 1TB 7200 drive, combined with growrh potential and the Mac Pro I think has a longer shelf life vs. the iMac. Without those Thunderbolt adapters in the market place, you're stuck with FW800, which is a lot slower than even eSATA for external drives. Since most all the LR recommendations are to split the catalog away from the cache and away from the images themselves, it's a trickier and more costly venture on the iMac.. The 27" screen in nice, but I'm not a big fan of glossy screens. I don't think any of those allow you a matte finish option like on the Macbook Pro.
Bottom line Bob is there are different choices for different budgets... Heck I went with a 17" Macbook Pro for a long time, using an inexpensive Expresscard 34 to hook up external eSATA drives and a second 24" Dell monitor.. Great combo and I always had the portability aspect of the 17" for client work, being tethered, etc..
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antdude wrote:
, it needs to work well with both English and Chinese
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Not sure which Mac to get for FCP/Avid... Input much appreciated

Hello,
My question is...
I work in television production and I am making the move to get into editing and I plan on purchasing a Mac in the next few weeks, and I am looking for a bit of advice.
Basically I would like to run FCP on the Mac, and if possible I would like to be able to run a version of Avid Express. The projects that I will work on at home will probably be run through FCP, but if possible I would like to be able to install some version of Avid on the same machine to help me learn.
My main question is... I actually have a television that I purchased about 2 1/2 years ago that has an easy option to use it as a computer monitor, and first off I would like to see if you can tell if this will work for a Mac Pro... Secondly, would it make more sense to shell out $2500 for the Mac Pro and use my existing monitor, or should I go with an Imac and not use my monitor. Basically I would like to know if there is a major difference between a low level Mac Pro and a higher end Imac. I am just a bit uncertain what would be the best way to go. My limit would be $2500 but I would really like to keep it around $1700.
I am not sure if my tv/monitor can handle graphically what would be done so I have included a link for the model that I have.
Any input would be appreciated.
Westinghouse LTV-27W2 27" Widescreen Progressive-Scan LCD TV

You might - just - get a Mac Pro for $1700, if you bargain-hunt, but bear in mind that you'll likely need to upgrade the RAM, and certainly get hold of a decent amount of HD space for your media and renders for both programs. Check lowendmac.com regularly - they have a good range of vendors with used and refurb models.
Avid no longer sells Xpress Pro - it's all Media Composer now. Note that Avid does have very specific hardware requirements for supported systems. Not even every Mac Pro is supported (which doesn't necessarily mean it won't run, but you may have problems with it). Pay close attention to which graphics card you're getting, and check that table. Also, Media Composer requires specific versions of OS X and Quicktime, so you'll either have to settle on one system (and avoid Software Updates) or have different systems (eg, two partitions) for the two programs.
Your television has a DVI input, which will work fine with either a Mac Pro or an iMac. Note that Mac Pros still have one DVI port; for an iMac, you'll need the separately-sold Mini DisplayPort to DVI adaptor. Either way, it will be fine for video editing.
Matt
Message was edited by: Matt Clifton

Which Mac to get for FCP/AVid work.... Input appreciated

Hello,
My question is...
I work in television production and I am making the move to get into editing and I plan on purchasing a Mac in the next few weeks, and I am looking for a bit of advice.
Basically I would like to run FCP on the Mac, and if possible I would like to be able to run a version of Avid Express. The projects that I will work on at home will probably be run through FCP, but if possible I would like to be able to install some version of Avid on the same machine to help me learn.
My main question is... I actually have a television that I purchased about 2 1/2 years ago that has an easy option to use it as a computer monitor, and first off I would like to see if you can tell if this will work for a Mac Pro... Secondly, would it make more sense to shell out $2500 for the Mac Pro and use my existing monitor, or should I go with an Imac and not use my monitor. Basically I would like to know if there is a major difference between a low level Mac Pro and a higher end Imac. I am just a bit uncertain what would be the best way to go. My limit would be $2500 but I would really like to keep it around $1700.
I am not sure if my tv/monitor can handle graphically what would be done so I have included a link for the model that I have.
Any input would be appreciated.
Westinghouse LTV-27W2 27" Widescreen Progressive-Scan LCD TV

You might - just - get a Mac Pro for $1700, if you bargain-hunt, but bear in mind that you'll likely need to upgrade the RAM, and certainly get hold of a decent amount of HD space for your media and renders for both programs. Check lowendmac.com regularly - they have a good range of vendors with used and refurb models.
Avid no longer sells Xpress Pro - it's all Media Composer now. Note that Avid does have very specific hardware requirements for supported systems. Not even every Mac Pro is supported (which doesn't necessarily mean it won't run, but you may have problems with it). Pay close attention to which graphics card you're getting, and check that table. Also, Media Composer requires specific versions of OS X and Quicktime, so you'll either have to settle on one system (and avoid Software Updates) or have different systems (eg, two partitions) for the two programs.
Your television has a DVI input, which will work fine with either a Mac Pro or an iMac. Note that Mac Pros still have one DVI port; for an iMac, you'll need the separately-sold Mini DisplayPort to DVI adaptor. Either way, it will be fine for video editing.
Matt
Message was edited by: Matt Clifton

Best Mac Pro Configuration for Editing

Hey guys. I'm looking to upgrade my editing capabilities from a iMac G5 to a Mac Pro computer system. I pretty much want to go all out on this thing, as I don't look to upgrade again anytime soon. I will be working with a fresh copy of Final Cut Studio 2.
I was wondering, however, about what would be a good configuration for the hardware itself, more specifically the video cards that are available now.
Which video card would be the best for HD video editing and manipulation? I was thinking about just getting the most expensive one, but I have heard some video cards are made for one thing more than another, and I want to make sure that I get the right configuration the first time.
Again, money is not too much of an issue as this will be an expense for my business.
Any help would be appreciated.
Message was edited by: Troy Minassian

Well I'll try not to be too vague here but I think it's going to be easier for me to give you a few hints but mostly talk about where to do more research.
First: Formats -
With good ol' DV, any off-the-shelf, completely stock, Mac Pro will handle it - absolutley NO sweat. Just add 1 (or more) iternal SATA drives for capturing media, and you're off to the races. HDV...this could go either way. In theory, again, a basic Mac Pro can handle this. The format's total throughput is no more than DV. However, my thought is that using straight HDV in it's "native" format can be a real pain in the butt. Cruise over the Final Cut forum and do a search for a phrase like "HDV" & "Yuck" and you'll end up with a big long list of issues. I'll not go too far into detail, but HDV is a highly compressed format with a GOP-structure. Dealing with GOP-structured media in an NLE is not pretty.
The good news is if you're even considering something like an Io HD then the HDV issues can be conquered with it. You would use the Io HD to transcode the HDV to Apple's ProRes codec on the fly. That's what the IoHD does. It's an external capture card whose form factor makes it nice and portable. So you'd come out of your camera or deck - into the Io HD - and out via firewire to your computer. The one "trick" is: you're married to ProRes. That's the one & only codec this box does. (To the best of my knowledge, that is.) Anyway, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Just good to know going into it. Here's a review of the Io HD over at the creativecow.net. And by the way, if you've never hung out over there, note that it's a great resource for help. Tons of in-the-know pros hang out there.
As far as AVCHD, I'm personally not too familiar with it. I know that it too is not very intensive to deal with - per se. But the whole tapeless concept is still somewhat new and as such has it's share of "gotchas". For that I'd do a search over there on Apple's Final Cut forum. I know a search for AVCHD is going to turn up many many posts.
Regarding the RED. Again, it's so new it's got it share of workflow bumps to be aware of. (Personally, I love the concept of what this camera is all about. I checked it out and NAB and was really impressed with where they're going with it.) But for better info on that, I'd steer over to the Final Cut forum here and the Final Cut form over at the COW. Further, the camera has it's own forum over at the COW. And another great source of info is reduser.net. This camera is sweeping the industry. But it's changing the workflow quite a bit too.
Second: Processing -
As far as overall CPU power goes....Sure! A higher clock speed is basically going to be a faster machine. Here's some stats. But what's the cost? The 3.2 is faster than the 2.8. Is this worth $1600 to you? Only you can answer that question. For me: I just spent a month vacillating over a new machine purchase. I had originally "decided" months ago to get a new Mac Pro Eight 2.8. Then I thought I might save some loot and buy a G5. Then I thought, No! That's a dumb idea.... I could spend only about $600 more and get a refurb'ed 2.66 Quad core. Then I figured I could spend $800 more than that and end up - right back where I started - with a new 2.8 8-Core. So for me, the $1400 more, to go from a used G5 to a new 2.8 Octo, just made sense. But the point is: it's a completely personal decision. For me, that overall margin of money/performance made a lot of sense! On the other hand, did it make sense for me to spend $1600 more and get the 3.2 instead of the 2.8? Not at all! So only you are going to be able to decide if $1600 buys you enough of a performance hike.
Then, Extras -
Too, you're going to want to add as much RAM as you can afford. The other big question is storage. You've mentioned a spectrum of formats. On the one hand you've got your DV. Again a single SATA drive will be more than enough to capture to and playback from. But with ProRes HQ you're getting more demanding on the drives. For this, you'd want to now add, let's say, 3 more internal drives and stripe them together into a capture RAID. But you could even go up a few steps and get something like the CalDigit HD Pro and get multiple streams of HD playback with the security of a hardware-controlled RAID 5 scenario. So there's a couple of different ways to go here....However, if you start with very very fast, reliable drives, you're setting yourself to handle higher-end formats. Drive speed can be a killer. But if you start at the top you can basically head off any format woes for the future. (For a while....Nothing's completely future-proof in this game.)
Finally, Monitoring -
You've got to figure out how to look at/hear the media outside-of-the-computer. Meaning - you're going to need external monitoring equipment: Video and Audio. Again this will open more questions for you. But these items are key to your knowing what you're REALLY working with. So you really need a NTSC monitor, an audio mixer/control surface of some sort and some powered speakers. The Final Cut forums will be good places to research what others are using in these arenas.
Anyway, good luck with it all! You've already discovered a great resource: this forum. If I were you, I'd start to spend more time on the Final Cut forums. These types of queries will get solid answers over there. I'd recommend establishing the habit of performing a search when you've over there though. The chances of someone else, already asking the same thing that you're investigating, is quite high. Almost guaranteed. Enjoy!

What's the best MacBook to get for dual boot (SL & Lion)

I want to get a MacBook pro i7 13" that I can set up with both a Snow Leopard & a Lion boot partition so I can test apps on both. (Plus maybe add a bootcamp partition).
Can I just buy a new machine with Lion and be able to repartition and add Snow Leopard, or should I look for a previous generation one. (I'd like to configure it with an SSID and max out the RAM. I also want to be able to hook up an external monitor to it).
Are there any "gotchas" I need to worry about.
Thx
Frank

If you create a Boot Camp partition, then you can only have it and the OS X partition. You cannot add a third partition. If you do then Boot Camp can no longer restore your disk if needed.
Not all of the newest Macs are able to run Snow Leopard or require a version of Snow Leopard that is not publicly available.
You can find out all the rest by just going to the Apple Store and examining the technical specs for each model.

Best mac to get for general university tasks?

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