OT- Computer for internet HD video editing... iMac vs iMac Pro ?

I know the spec differences*...but real world speed...comparing ($1,300) iMac Intel i3 Quad Core...... to ($5,000) iMac Pro w/ below specs for example... would the Pro blow it away in processing speed or just be slightly faster ? Getting tired of seeing that rotating beachball on the former..

• 3.6GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core i3 processor
• 8GB 2400MHz DDR4 memory, configurable up to 32GB
• 1TB hard drive¹
• Radeon Pro 555X with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
• versus...

• 3.2GHz 8-core Intel Xeon W processor
• Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
• 32GB 2666MHz ECC memory, configurable up to 256GB
• 1TB SSD storage¹
• Radeon Pro Vega 56 with 8GB HBM2 memory

======================

Alternatively, a high end iMac in the $2,500-$3,000 price range ?

*Although I have only vague notion of what some of the specs actually "mean"...like "turbo boost"...is there also a "super charger" chip ?? And all this time I've gotten by with a naturally aspirated processor...

The biggest speed improvement is due to SSD storage, secondly by increased processor memory up to 256GB. My 4 year old MacBook Pro with SSD blows away my much higher spec brand new I Mac with same 8GB RAM and typical hard drive rather than SSD. Single biggest performance improvement on any current computer is an SSD drive.

Does a external ssd drive run as fast as a internal one. I am way behind in knowing the latest and greatest drive connection interfaces.
Bill D

It’s all about the graphics card with video editing. Yes, the cpu clock speed matters, but the graphics card is doing all the heavy lifting.

If you’re really serious about editing 4K video, spend the money on the pro.

Depending on what you’re using for editing software, you can put together a pretty tricked out PC for half the money of the Mac. My buddy is a freelance videographer and he uses Adobe Premiere on a PC, ever since they gutted Final Cut into basically iMovie pro.

Unless you want to pay five times more for the same performance, do not get an Apple product.

Milacron said:

Getting tired of seeing that rotating beachball on the former..

Click to expand...

Then it is the Operating System you need to alter or drop for a better one, not the hardware.

"Alter" is a RBK PITA, even for a Unix Wizard, but there is plenty about it out there online in Apple-serf land.

man top

Then use it.

Grown men are allowed to cry.

Or at least they are NOW that Apple has made a hash of a Unix variant and sucked-up all the hardware's resources playing silly-buggers with itself.

On Macs, (and possibly other platforms) some edit systems can make use of external graphics processing units, that you can plug in when required. Lets you get a more portable machine but still have power when you need it.

How complex of an edit are you planning? Just fade up, title, title, cut, cut, cut scenes with titles, fade to black and post? Or are you going for multiple layers, image stabilization, tracking motion graphics and logo deletion, complex editing and color grading at the end, all in 4K, then get all the horsepower you can.

If I was not doing this on a much cheaper self built PC I would get the pro for a number of reasons the key being upgradability. I used to edit in the days when pre trashcan pros were a thing and that seemed to be the defacto machine. Of course those were the days when apple was trying to make final cut take on avid. Get as much storage and ram as you possibly can.

have a look on the apple website they list speed comparisons for various programs, or ask in a apple store state your requirements, type of software etc get a opinion of what they recommend if it does not do what you ask of it, you may look into a refund/return for a better unit if you can as advise given by salesperson influenced your decision making, wrong information given is their fault,not fit for purpose, computer cannot do what you asked of it, wrong advice.

see how that goes for you check your local laws if that scenario will stand up on a return / refund / or upgrade to better unit situation.

unless someone here uses the same programs as you doing the same things as you on a machine which is a possible candidate your asking a bit much of the group.


I use a mac but don't do those things with it.

What video editor are you using?

Final cut pro and iMovie leverage quicksync pretty heavily, which is a cpu feature, and the i3 is a low end cpu.

However, 8GB of ram is simply not enough for recent versions of MacOS, even if you're not doing video editing. It's extremely simple to upgrade the ram in an imac so I recommend you do that first. 32Gb would be a good bet if you're working with 4k video.

Also if you have a Fusion drive (I'm assuming you do, because it seems like you have the entry level imac), the hard drive component will flat out fail to provide the bandwidth required for scrubbing / editing uncompressed 4k video streams. This is possible to upgrade on an imac, but you have to take it apart, which is not a task for most people. If you're working with less than 4k streams or compressed footage, this is probably not so much of an issue.

Bottom line; If you actually decide to upgrade, you really probably don't need an iMac Pro, one of the higher end iMacs (i7 or i9, 32Gb ram, 2TB SSD, 580X or Vega 20) would be a big upgrade for your purposes.

Upgrade the memory first, then decide if you still need an upgrade.