Hi folks, I'm another FCP wannbie to make the switch from PC. Currently looking out for a decent system to invest in for handling HD and HDV with FCP. Would like to know what is recommended as it is going to be a big investment. Thanks!

I understand Mac Pro is recommended and Macbook Pro as well. I'm leaned towards the Macbook Pro for the portability.

-Would external 1TB Firewire HDD work with the Mac? I have a Maxtor.
-Would 2Gb Memory be sufficient? I have never touched FCP b4 and doing a lot of research now
-Any DVI enabled monitor sould work with a MAc Pro right? Say if I am looking at having HDMI preview via a Full HD capable LCD TV, I would need to add something like a Blackmagic Card right?
-Does the memory of the GPU affects the performance of FCS2 softwares? Will 128MB and 256MB see a big diff in performance?

Hi,

I'm looking at making the switch too, so I don't know perfect answers, but I think I can help somehow:

- I think working with a external firewire drife should present no problem. If it's formatted in NTSF however, the 'PC' format, you can only read and copy from the disc on a mac, but you can't write it. You have to format it for Mac...

- Don't know for sure if 2GB if enough, but I've cut HDV in Premiere Pro on a 1GB machine without problems, so I think you won't have a problem. If you are doing heavy work in 'Motion' or 'Color' (both part of Final Cut Studio 2), you maybe want to invest in extra RAM, but it's very expensive for a Macbook Pro!

- Don't know about the monitor.

- if I'm correct, don't know for sure, Color needs at least a 256MB for it to run smoothly. if you Don't I think you still will be able to run Color, but it will be a bit slower, some frames will have a delay, etc...

If you want to monitor HD from a Mac, investigate the Matrox MXO (http://www.matrox.com/video/products/mxo/home.cfm).

This is specifically designed to do this, with a low cost (read: computer) display - e.g. Apple 23" or Dell 2407 - with the colour look-up table and interlace handling to allow proper HD colour correction and monitoring at a fraction of alternative costs. As it works via the DVI output, it also works with MacBook Pro. Look it up here, and on Apple's own FCP forums.

I should think going for the Mac Pro would be a better choice. Its a hugh investment in my country to get the system up. Oh but my current system is not formated in NTFS.. argh....

If you want to monitor HD from a Mac, investigate the Matrox MXO (http://www.matrox.com/video/products/mxo/home.cfm).

This is specifically designed to do this, with a low cost (read: computer) display - e.g. Apple 23" or Dell 2407 - with the colour look-up table and interlace handling to allow proper HD colour correction and monitoring at a fraction of alternative costs. As it works via the DVI output, it also works with MacBook Pro. Look it up here, and on Apple's own FCP forums.

Just be aware that at this time the MXO is incompatable with Mac Leopard.

Thanks for that heads-up, David.

Matrox are in beta with the MXO/Leopard driver, with progress being discussed here (http://forum.matrox.com/mxo/viewtopic.php?t=493).

Oh yes.. so what it means is the current DVI output would not be accurate in terms of colour. The MAtrox would be required to do the trick right?