What Mac and Features should I buy for filmmaking?

I'm going to be attending filmschool in the fall and I will be buying my first Mac(for use with final cut pro) What should I get with what features? Right now it seems like the Mac Pro is the only way to go. I want something profesional that I'll be able to use professionally after I graduate. I'll be making a bunch of shorts and a feature over the next 3 years with it. What processor speed, memory, hard drive(s), Graphics Card, Display, and other features should I order when customizing it? What should I buy seperately? (the monitor for example?) I don't want to spend more money than I have to, but I also don't want to sacrifice what I need for a cheaper price. Any suggestions? I'm looking for detailed recomendations of what setup I should get. Also does anyone know what I can use from my pc with it? Are my internal hard drives compatible with it? Oh, and I want to be able to run windows on it too, so I can run software that isn't mac compatible. Thanks for your help.

Greetings,
I'll be attending the MFA program in filmmaking at the New York Film Academy in LA. <</div>
Way to go... good luck
Ive heard that if I buy the monitors seperately that I should find two with 1920x1200 resolution, contrast ratio of at least 1000/1, and responce time of under 5 ms. <</div>
I really can not agree with that. I think it's a bit of an overkill. I run 20" Cinema at 1680x1050 and 17" Studio at 1280x1024 and it works perfectly. I can not imagine that video work would require anything more. I remember people editing in FCP on iMac and 15"CRT without any problems...
Also, is it a good idea to get two internals from apple and then an external for transfers, or should I just get the 250 gig and an external? How much space total will be a good place to start for school? <</div>
Given the HD prices nowadays, you can always add more drives. External for transfer is a good idea. At least 160G. Internals you could easily add another 500G later. As you know, MacPro has for slots internaly. You can easily save some for later 250G to start and an external at least 160G, and than later you can add and RAID two more 500Gs as a scratch... the possibilities are endless...
And how different from working with a pc is installing memory and other hardware on a mac? Pretty much the same? <</div>
Extremely easy. You can add memory and drives within minutes. Just make sure you follow the directions (memory directions are even printed inside of the front panel) and discharge any electrical static from your body (a simple static discharge wristband is highly recommendable). When installing memory make sure to follow the recommended configurations for different sizes.
Oh, and I might be a newb for asking this but whats a RAID, and what do I need to set it up? < </div>
RAID = Redundant Array of Independent (Inexpensive) Drives/Disks
Basically, it is combining multiple drives into a single unit, either in hardware or in software for the sake of gaining in speed and transfer OR data protection.
Search the forum for RAID, and you will find many useful information.
Best wishes,
H.

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See this page for the official minimum system requirements for Premiere Pro.
See this page for the official minimum system requirements for After Effects.
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These resources are also excellent starting points for informing such decisions:
"Hardware performance white paper: tips to configure or upgrade a workstation for video software"
What PC to build? An update... (Premiere Pro Hardware forum thread hosted by Harm Millaard)
What PC to build? (Premiere Pro Hardware forum thread hosted by Harm Millaard)
After Effects CUDA benchmark testing results (from Danny Princz)
After Effects CUDA benchmark testing results (from Teddy Gage)
Premiere Pro Benchmark test and performance reference materials
Resources for choosing a graphics card for Premiere Pro
Specific to the questions of certain kinds of components:
hard disks: Optimizing Hard Disks
CUDA/OpenCL cards for Premiere Pro: CUDA, OpenCL, Mercury Playback Engine, and what it all means
OpenGL in After Effects CS5.5 and earlier: GPU: OpenGL
CUDA and OpenGL in After Effects CS6 and later: GPU (CUDA, OpenGL) features in After Effects CS6 and later
Also see these resources:
optimizing for performance: Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects

As David and Hal said
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Hello friends!!
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Thank U!!

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thnak you
sorry for my bad english ..

Maximum Memory
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Memory Slots
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Message was edited by: halfwit iPod user

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LRay

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What Mac and Features should I buy for filmmaking?

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