iMac 5k vs MacBook Pro 13 and apple/lg 5k screen

debric france · Apr 4, 2017

I save some money now to buy a perfect editing station. I am à fCP user for more than 10 years.
I was ready to invest in the IMac 5k and then I read that it is impossible to use the screen as external screen.(iPad,Blue ray,PlayStation used)
On iMac 5k.
So I was asking myself, what will be the best: to invest in MacBook Pro 13-Processeur Intel Core i7 bicœur à 3,1 GHz,16ram- and 5K UltraFine de LG (27")
Or the IMac Intel core i7-5k
Any thoughts?

DronePilotOne · Apr 4, 2017

As part of a roundtable on the future of Mac desktops, the company's Phil Schiller has promised that there will be iMac configurations made "specifically with the pro customer in mind" later in 2017.

Apple is making an iMac with pros in mind

Wait?

BradBuskey · Apr 4, 2017

Look at the video hardware first. That 13" MBP wont touch the video hardware that will be available in the 27" iMac (assuming same generation.) Even the 15" MBP only list the Intel video hardware. And at $2799, no thanks.

You do not want to just have the Intel card, or you will get no real acceleration no matter the rest of the specs. And editing on a 13" screen - I like my eyes and dont like headaches.

Video processing is what made me switch to Windows 10 and Adobe. I was a FCP user as well for many years, but the offerings hardware wise just didn't make sense for me.

Mr.Rogers3825 · Apr 4, 2017

My 5k 27inch just arrived about two weeks ago lol love it, zero complaints.

debric france · Apr 18, 2017

Mr.Rogers3825 said:
My 5k 27inch just arrived about two weeks ago lol love it, zero complaints.

How it is Are you Happy? How the4k editing is doing?

Mad_Angler1 · Apr 18, 2017

The 13" MBP is not in the same league as the 15" or the IMac

The 13" is duel core even in I7 with no 3rd part graphics options.

The 15" is quad with Radeon Pro graphics as well.

The 15" will keep up with the iMac no problem.

I have the latest 15" with touchbar and while the USB thing is a bit of a pita it's an outstanding computer but when your encoding the battery does take a hammering.

The 13" is just not in the same league as the 15 tbh.

BUT just to give you an idea my 2013 27" IMac with 16gb ram and Upgraded SSD will handle 4K no problem so the 13" would still edit fine you would just loose on encoding times.

Mr.Rogers3825 · Apr 19, 2017

debric france said:
How it is Are you Happy? How the4k editing is doing?

Couldn't have asked for anything better, love it.

Kilrah · Apr 19, 2017

BradBuskey said:
You do not want to just have the Intel card, or you will get no real acceleration no matter the rest of the specs.

Recent intel graphics actually already do a very good job at helping with video tasks.

BradBuskey said:
Video processing is what made me switch to Windows 10 and Adobe. I was a FCP user as well for many years, but the offerings hardware wise just didn't make sense for me.

I wouldn't recommend that at all. FCP/Apple platforms are SO much more optimised it's not even funny.
I have a top class PC with Premiere, but edit my 4K videos on my 1kg Retina Macbook on FCP because it runs circles around the PC in interface smoothness/response and overall editing comfort.

To OP: I'd still go at least with the 15" with discrete graphics card if you expect the same level of comfort.

BradBuskey · Apr 19, 2017

Kilrah said:
Recent intel graphics actually already do a very good job at helping with video tasks.

I wouldn't recommend that at all. FCP/Apple platforms are SO much more optimised it's not even funny.
I have a top class PC with Premiere, but edit my 4K videos on my 1kg Retina Macbook on FCP because it runs circles around the PC in interface smoothness/response and overall editing comfort.

To OP: I'd still go at least with the 15" with discrete graphics card if you expect the same level of comfort.

It actually comes down to personal preference at this point anymore. Considering I can scrub through 4K footage with multiple effects and a color grade and still watch the output at full res with no hiccups or pauses, and yet our editor tries the same on his 2016 MBP and has to use optimized media and gets pauses... Think I will be sticking with my rig and am glad I went with what I did at the end of the day.

To each their own, however I wont recommend Mac over PC anymore.

Kilrah · Apr 19, 2017

Funny, I need to try the PC again since I recently did a clean reinstall on it, maybe it had something to do with it.
But with 4K on Premiere I could definitely not scrub smoothly (maybe 5fps or so), and would always get a half-second delay when starting playback for example. It's hugely annoying, especailly when the ultra low power mac gets everything buttersmooth and responds instantly.

PC is i7-5960X overclocked to 4.2GHz, 32GB RAM, RAID0 of 2 SSDs and dual GTX970s. Should be just enough, with about 30x the TDP of the Macbook too...

kave · Apr 20, 2017

I have the highend 15" Touchbar and I can say it is dog slow in Premiere. Playing back when editing is never smooth. I am going to try Final Cut to see if that is better.

Kilrah · Apr 22, 2017

I just gave a try to Premiere on my PC (after today's update), it's okayish but still only getting about 3-4fps while scrubbing and I now remember why I'd ditched it - becasue it's downright unusable, for some reason just creating a new project and dragging a couple of flights worth of 4K Mavic footage somehow casues RAM usage to shoot up to 20+GB and crashing either Premiere or the whole PC, and that's before even looking at the clips, just while it's making thumbnails.
That's even when preferences are set for it not to use more than 10GB of RAM too.

There is absolutely no reason it should need 20GB of RAM just to keep track of 30 clips in a project folder... something's seriously broken in that program, and it's been for a while.