apple imac ram upgrade at DVinfo.net

Mike Butir · October 16th, 2011, 06:12 PM

Hi everyone,

I have an apple iMac 24 inch with these specifications:

I want to upgrade the ram to 8 gigs.. do you think that i would notice a huge improvement in video editing processing speeds? i dont want to spend roughly 2 grand on buying a new iMac or even spend more and buy a mac pro if that will be a good solution to hold me over.

I shoot video with a sony NX5U and that uses the AVCHD format which can be a little rough here and there to edit.

Let me know your guys thoughts if this is worth it or not

Thanks,
Mike

Drew Wallner · November 27th, 2011, 11:29 AM

This question probably would fit better in another forum, as it's not so much about display hardware as about the computer that happens to be integrated into your monitor...but to get you started what you really need to research isn't what more or less RAM does for video editing generally, but specifically how much memory would be optimal for your specific situation (given your video format, editing software, CPU speed, hard drive capacity and speed, etc).

There is no one generic answer that's going to be true for all editing projects, because applications differ and the requirements for handling one kind of video (DV, HDV, AVCHD, etc) compared to another can be night and day.

R Geoff Baker · November 27th, 2011, 03:26 PM

Though in general I would always encourage more RAM, you might want to pursue converting to ProRes as part of your edit workflow -- even if you purchase software to do the conversion (you don't have to, there are free programs that will do it) it will cost less and give you immediate speed gains ... at the expense of increasing your prep time.

Cheers,
GB

October 16th, 2011, 06:12 PM	#1
Mike Butir Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Chicago Illinois Posts: 102	apple imac ram upgrade Hi everyone, I have an apple iMac 24 inch with these specifications: I want to upgrade the ram to 8 gigs.. do you think that i would notice a huge improvement in video editing processing speeds? i dont want to spend roughly 2 grand on buying a new iMac or even spend more and buy a mac pro if that will be a good solution to hold me over. I shoot video with a sony NX5U and that uses the AVCHD format which can be a little rough here and there to edit. Let me know your guys thoughts if this is worth it or not Thanks, Mike Attached Images Last edited by Mike Butir; October 16th, 2011 at 08:50 PM.

November 27th, 2011, 11:29 AM	#2
Drew Wallner New Boot Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Kailua, HI Posts: 24	Re: apple imac ram upgrade This question probably would fit better in another forum, as it's not so much about display hardware as about the computer that happens to be integrated into your monitor...but to get you started what you really need to research isn't what more or less RAM does for video editing generally, but specifically how much memory would be optimal for your specific situation (given your video format, editing software, CPU speed, hard drive capacity and speed, etc). There is no one generic answer that's going to be true for all editing projects, because applications differ and the requirements for handling one kind of video (DV, HDV, AVCHD, etc) compared to another can be night and day.

November 27th, 2011, 03:26 PM	#3
R Geoff Baker Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Ottawa, ON Posts: 471	Re: apple imac ram upgrade Though in general I would always encourage more RAM, you might want to pursue converting to ProRes as part of your edit workflow -- even if you purchase software to do the conversion (you don't have to, there are free programs that will do it) it will cost less and give you immediate speed gains ... at the expense of increasing your prep time. Cheers, GB