Computers and editing questions for a noobie

[Lees23]

I am considering buying a new computer since my wife's laptop is 5 yrs old(Macbook Pro retina 15") and the home desktop is 7 yrs old(iMac 21") and seems to be very slow. I am trying to decide between a desktop (iMac 21" 4K or 27" 5K) or another MacBook Pro. If they made the MacBook with 4K monitor I would be all over it but I think I would like a screen that is 4k, I just know that I won't use the desktop a ton as it isn't portable. My wife and I have iPhones and iPads as well so I am pretty much all in on Apple. I do have a work PC/windows comp but it isn't even running windows 10 so my knowledge of the latest Microsoft offerings is virtually 0. I am not the most computer savvy person in the world as you can probably tell by my use of almost exclusively Apple products but I can learn. I work with implanted pacemakers and defibrillators as a profession so I do have some technical ability.

I would like to start editing as a hobby.. I am SUPER new to this and know nothing about it. I would start out just piecing clips together and maybe eventually start trying to correct color/sharpness etc. Is there a editing software out there that is beginner/user friendly that still has reasonable functionality?

My aresenal of camera equipment consists of a "premium" point and shoot/bridge camera Panasonic ZS100 that has a 1" sensor and shoots 20mp stills and 4K video and my Mavic. The wife and I vacation a lot and we wakesurf and boat often so that would be 90% of my pics/vids.

Any recommendations or thoughts are greatly appreciated.

TL;DR: Need rec's on an Apple comp and editing software for beginners.


Thanks!!!

 

[The Flying Geko]

Hi Lees23!

If you're going for a Mac, you don't have a lot of choices as far as editing videos is concerned: iMovie (straight into the Mac you'll buy usually) or Adobe Premiere Pro.
That's about it, but in the same time, these are two gems, each in their domain.

iMovie is mostly for beginners, even if you can do some pretty good work with what you have in mind here. I'd suggest you start with it and maybe you won't need nothing else to be happy. The great benefit is that it is an Apple software, so it's optimized to work on a Mac.

If your needs grow bigger with time, Adobe Premiere Pro would be the best (only?) choice as it is the same kind of reference for video as Photoshop is for still. But it's not a free app, by far. And the learning curve is steeper too (as with any professional tool).

Hope it helps!

 

[asnaptoremember]

Nice! Is your iMac a 2010 model? The reason I ask is mine is a 2011 21" iMac and I successfully edited my Mavic's 4K video using Final Cut Pro X on it . It worked great! Actually it was just as fast as working with 1080p. The only time it slowed down a lot was when it came time to finalize (render) the transitions/effects/etc. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that you might be able to add some RAM or extra storage space and use the iMac you have.

If not, an iMac will get you much more horsepower for your buck, but you lose the portability. Deciding which is more important is not an easy task, but that can only be made by you.

All Macs come with iMovie which is quite powerful on its own. Final Cut Pro X is the professional version of iMovie (essentially), works very well, very quick, and is cheaper than Premiere. Just don't forget about FCPX as a video editing option.

Davinci Resolve is another free option for a Mac and its a powerful option, but I've heard it has a fairly steep learning curve.

That's all I can think of currently. Hope this was helpful and let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Lees23]

Thanks gentlemen,

I believe our iMac is a 2010 model. Another reason for considering upgrading is for more disk space. The iMac is 500gb HDD with 180gb free. I am concerned that if I star adding a lot of 4K video and high res pictures I will fill my HDD.

As far as minimum specs I should get, the IMac I was looking at is the 27" with 16GB ram, 1TB fusion drive and the slightly upgraded video card(I can't remember the model number but I think it was the 3rd highest out of 4 choices). I believe his computer as configured was $2199. Is this overkill or just right or do I need more?

It's good to know that a good editing option for beginners is free!!

Again, thank you.

 

[asnaptoremember]

That sounds like a nice machine! I'd definitely get at least 16GB of RAM. I'm running 12GB and it works well for my needs (Final Cut Pro and Adobe Lightroom), but I think 8GB would be too little. 1TB fusion drive will be nice and fast if somewhat small by today's standards, but you always have the option of external drives down the road. The upgraded graphics card is a good idea for the 27" since it has a ton of pixels to push around (I think its a 14MP display), its not required but it's nice to have.

Anyway, no matter which iMac you choose it will be far and away a huge leap in performance over your current setup

 

[dsd317]

In my opinion, with the amount of money you'd spend on the latest MBPr 15" with 16GB Ram (max), you could get a very powerful iMac 5K 27" with 32GB Ram (3rd party) and a much better graphics card.

For me, since I travel quite a bit...AND this is just a hobby....the MBPr 15" is more than adequate enough for my non-sophisticated editing (photo/video) style. I would LOVE to have the iMac 5K 27", but it would not be practical for my traveling needs. My mobileness is more valuable to me than having a powerful work station locked in one location in my computer room.

 

[Lees23]

Thx for your suggestions.. all are greatly appreciated.

 

[billm0066]

Im just getting started with learning how to edit videos on my macs as we speak. I wanted to chime in on Apple products and how I acquired mine. I purchased an early 2015 13" Pro that was full decked out. 3.1 i7, 16gb ram, iris 6100 grahics, 500gb hdd. It was originally a $2,100 laptop and bought it 11 months old from Craigslist for $1,100 and it was mint condition. I chose not to buy Apple care on it but it was eligible at that time.

I just bought a 27" iMac 5k that was listed on ebay but it was a local pawn shop selling it. It was the lower spec one that was originally $1,700 when new, plus the owner had apple care so the total was about $2,000. The original owner bought it in November 2016 from Best Buy and needed money so he sold it to the pawn shop. I bought it for $1,250 which I thought as a good deal. (have the receipt from Best Buy too).

Keep an eye on Craigslist and ebay (local) and you will find a good deal. For ebay offer cash and to buy local in a public place. It saves ebay and paypal fees for them and no waiting for their money. The deals tend to be better on the higher priced stuff because less people have the cash to buy them. Apple products hold their value well, but the computers lose 40-50% in the first year on the pricer stuff. Meet people in a public place like Starbucks, test it out throughly, make sure the OS was wiped clean, no passwords on it, and dont be afraid to haggle with your cash. If its less than a year old you can buy apple care for it.

I will say this. My iMac has a standard hdd and it's slow to open things compared to my Macbook that has an ssd. The screen is beautiful but the macbook is lightning fast. If you get an iMac try and find a fusion drive or ssd. I'm going to research into upgrading the hdd on my imac and see if it's possible or worth it. Apple was incredibly stupid for putting a standard drive into a $1,700 computer.

 

[Lees23]

Im just getting started with learning how to edit videos on my macs as we speak. I wanted to chime in on Apple products and how I acquired mine. I purchased an early 2015 13" Pro that was full decked out. 3.1 i7, 16gb ram, iris 6100 grahics, 500gb hdd. It was originally a $2,100 laptop and bought it 11 months old from Craigslist for $1,100 and it was mint condition. I chose not to buy Apple care on it but it was eligible at that time.

I just bought a 27" iMac 5k that was listed on ebay but it was a local pawn shop selling it. It was the lower spec one that was originally $1,700 when new, plus the owner had apple care so the total was about $2,000. The original owner bought it in November 2016 from Best Buy and needed money so he sold it to the pawn shop. I bought it for $1,250 which I thought as a good deal. (have the receipt from Best Buy too).

Keep an eye on Craigslist and ebay (local) and you will find a good deal. For ebay offer cash and to buy local in a public place. It saves ebay and paypal fees for them and no waiting for their money. The deals tend to be better on the higher priced stuff because less people have the cash to buy them. Apple products hold their value well, but the computers lose 40-50% in the first year on the pricer stuff. Meet people in a public place like Starbucks, test it out throughly, make sure the OS was wiped clean, no passwords on it, and dont be afraid to haggle with your cash. If its less than a year old you can buy apple care for it.

I will say this. My iMac has a standard hdd and it's slow to open things compared to my Macbook that has an ssd. The screen is beautiful but the macbook is lightning fast. If you get an iMac try and find a fusion drive or ssd. I'm going to research into upgrading the hdd on my imac and see if it's possible or worth it. Apple was incredibly stupid for putting a standard drive into a $1,700 computer.

Thanks for he info. I will say that one think I won't buy used is a computer. Just seems odd and a little unsafe(security) to me.

 

[billm0066]

Thanks for he info. I will say that one think I won't buy used is a computer. Just seems odd and a little unsafe(security) to me.

Meet in a public place so the security concern would be minimal. Probably about the same odds as getting robbed while walking out of Best Buy or the Apple store with a new computer. I meet at a Starbucks with plenty of people around, and I also conceal carry as well. I just cant see paying full price for something when I can get it so much cheaper and lightly used. I saved close to $2k between the two that I bought.

 

[Lees23]

I am concerned about some corrupt program that shows up later or malware being installed thay broadcasts my info. I sell all kinds of stuff on CL and I carry as well... that's not what I am worried about.

I started looking at windows based laptops

 

[billm0066]

I am concerned about some corrupt program that shows up later or malware being installed thay broadcasts my info. I sell all kinds of stuff on CL and I carry as well... that's not what I am worried about.

I started looking at windows based laptops

Never heard of it for a Mac. The three used Macs I bought were completely wiped to factory settings and I had to set it up. I then did a complete restore with my backup. I dont see how anything could be installed that I wouldnt know about. Not much out there to mess with Mac OS

 

[Lees23]

I think I am going to buy a windows based PC. I hope I don't regret it.

2017 HP x360 Spectre 15" 7th gen i7, 16GB ram, 1TB SSD, 4K touch screen. $1699

 

[folk_me]

I think I am going to buy a windows based PC. I hope I don't regret it.

2017 HP x360 Spectre 15" 7th gen i7, 16GB ram, 1TB SSD, 4K touch screen. $1699

Lees23, what has been your experience with your HP Spectre? Before I purchased the Mavic, I had the 13" (Kaby Lake 16GB RAM 1080p) Spectre. I haven't started toying with editing 4K video yet and I was hoping you haven't had too hard of a time importing/exporting/processing. Please share your thoughts!

 

[Lees23]

I just received my computer yesterday. I guess they custom build the computers ordered with the 1TB SDD. I spent most of last night tinkering.

Verdict, no impressed so far. It went black as locked up on me as Inwas getting it set up. Also had 3-4 lock ups last night. The track pad sucks compared to my 5 year old MC Pro.

I downloaded a trial of photoshop elements and premier(which took aboit 3x 5$3 effort it takes to download and install a Mac program) and had the program not respond 3 times. I am going to give it a week or so but if this behavior continues, I will be sending it back to HP.

 

[folk_me]

I just received my computer yesterday. I guess they custom build the computers ordered with the 1TB SDD. I spent most of last night tinkering.

Verdict, no impressed so far. It went black as locked up on me as Inwas getting it set up. Also had 3-4 lock ups last night. The track pad sucks compared to my 5 year old MC Pro.

I downloaded a trial of photoshop elements and premier(which took aboit 3x 5$3 effort it takes to download and install a Mac program) and had the program not respond 3 times. I am going to give it a week or so but if this behavior continues, I will be sending it back to HP.

I haven't had any issues with my Spectre (Kaby Lake) but I am interested in how your computer holds up with Adobe CC or any 4K editing once you get the laptop worn in a bit.

But as far as general performance goes, I'm happy with it. It's snappy and runs well. Hoping the 16GB RAM and embedded graphics card (can't remember what it is) plays well with video editing.

Sent from my Pixel using MavicPilots mobile app