New Mac Mini and FCS2 at DVinfo.net

Marshall Staton · June 24th, 2009, 03:07 PM

I know color and motion won't work with the integrated graphics but is the Mac Mini acceptable for editing 2-3 minute projects? It would be a 2.0 C2D with 4 Gigs of ram.

William Hohauser · June 24th, 2009, 06:59 PM

Yes, it will work but you'll need to use an external FireWire drive for the video files. The MacMini's drive isn't robust enough for drop-out free full resolution video playback

Thomas Smet · June 24th, 2009, 07:31 PM

integrated graphics are not a bad thing. Just like any other device it depends on the make and model. The Nvidia 9400 is still a Nvidia graphics device and is not much different then a Nvidia 9400 graphics card. Yes it shares ram but if you have enough ram to begin with then this will not be a problem. The integrated Intel graphics chips have given the term integrated gpu a bad name because they were so bad.

I can tell you from experience that I have worked in FCP with the Nvidia 9400 and it works great. I have used Motion as well and while the Nvidia 9600 is of course faster it didn't really have a huge impact with Motion. I'm not sure about Color but the gpu being integrated would have nothing to do with it working or not. If you want to know for sure try it out at a Apple store. You may not find a Mac Mini with FCS on it but you can find another system with a Nvidia 9400 to try Color with to see how well it works.

On another note while a 2.0 cpu may seem slow keep in mind that it is only 20% slower then a 2.4 MBP. While that may or may not make a difference in system operation it surely doesn't make or break your editing experience. Rendering may be pretty slow but again a system at 3x the cost may only be 20% faster anyway except for the Mac Pro of course.

June 24th, 2009, 03:07 PM	#1
Marshall Staton Major Player Join Date: May 2004 Location: Myrtle Beach, SC Posts: 241	New Mac Mini and FCS2 I know color and motion won't work with the integrated graphics but is the Mac Mini acceptable for editing 2-3 minute projects? It would be a 2.0 C2D with 4 Gigs of ram. __________________ www.marshallstaton.com

June 24th, 2009, 06:59 PM	#2
William Hohauser Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 2,650	Yes, it will work but you'll need to use an external FireWire drive for the video files. The MacMini's drive isn't robust enough for drop-out free full resolution video playback __________________ William Hohauser - New York City Producer/Edit/Camera/Animation

June 24th, 2009, 07:31 PM	#3
Thomas Smet Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 1,719	integrated graphics are not a bad thing. Just like any other device it depends on the make and model. The Nvidia 9400 is still a Nvidia graphics device and is not much different then a Nvidia 9400 graphics card. Yes it shares ram but if you have enough ram to begin with then this will not be a problem. The integrated Intel graphics chips have given the term integrated gpu a bad name because they were so bad. I can tell you from experience that I have worked in FCP with the Nvidia 9400 and it works great. I have used Motion as well and while the Nvidia 9600 is of course faster it didn't really have a huge impact with Motion. I'm not sure about Color but the gpu being integrated would have nothing to do with it working or not. If you want to know for sure try it out at a Apple store. You may not find a Mac Mini with FCS on it but you can find another system with a Nvidia 9400 to try Color with to see how well it works. On another note while a 2.0 cpu may seem slow keep in mind that it is only 20% slower then a 2.4 MBP. While that may or may not make a difference in system operation it surely doesn't make or break your editing experience. Rendering may be pretty slow but again a system at 3x the cost may only be 20% faster anyway except for the Mac Pro of course.