Hi,

Currently I am using a 20" iMac 5,1 Intel Core 2 Duo 1GB 2 for Final Cut Studio 3. My video card is ATI Radeon X1600 VRAM 128 MB. I need to edit a TV movie in HDV shoot with a Sony Z5. Would my iMac hold for the job? Would the Motion and Color programs could run on my current machine specs?

On the other hand I am considering buying a Macbook Pro. Would the 15" Macbook Pro 2.66GHz Intel Core i7 / 4GB / 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm run Final Cut Studio 3 without any problems? Would I be able to run programs like Motion and Color?

Thanks!!

On a new Macbook Pro I'm sure they would run fine.

On your current iMac, I think the editing shouldn't be a big problem, depending on from which disks you run from, and with how many layers and stuff you work. But I think Motion could run very slow on your iMac now, and Color officially needs more VRAM (but it could very well be that it will run anyhow).

Also consider an i7 iMac. I have one from the previous generation (i7, 2,8ghz, 8GB RAM) and it is lightning fast in rendering in comparison with a Mac Pro from a couple of generations ago.

Rolando, for the Macbook Pro, make sure the video card has at least 512MB or more for Motion & Color. And upgrade the hard drive to 7200rpm. If you want to go all out, Seagate is selling 640GB and 750GB 7200rpm 2.5" laptop drives. Even better ditch the CD/DVD drive and replace it with a 2nd drive. If you're unsure about doing it yourself, Best Buy will install the drives for around US$40.