Computer/software recommendations please

G

gallogly

Registered User
Messages
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afternoon all,
a neighbour approached me yesterday for a computer recommendation for his 14 year old daughter who is interested in 'making/editing' movies.....
while I know something about computers I know nothing at all about the type of software/hardware one would use to make/edit movies.
I was wondering if say a mac would come with the software already installed to do this (therefore I could recommend a mac) or is should he expect to be buying a laptop/desktop and then buying some movie editing software?

I suggested that his daughter maybe could see what was on offer at her school but he seemed to think that the computers in the school were pretty old and useless....
any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Gallogly
 
gallogly said:
while I know something about computers I know nothing at all about the type of software/hardware one would use to make/edit movies.
Click to expand...

Regardless of the software, the PC hardware will need to be considered carefully, e.g. as many GB of RAM as can be fitted, plus video/graphics accelerator(s). And a capacious hard drive, e.g. 1TB. External storage is an option, but the transfer speed to/from an external HDD may be a limitation.

Go have a walk around PC World, or equivalent, and ask the staff. If this interest in video editing is through a club, ask them. If there's a risk that this is a passing fad, make sure you get value for money and aren't left with an expensive 'white elephant' when the fad has passed.
 
Personally, and I openly admit to 25+ years of bias, I would select a Mac. For tasks like video editing, photo editing, music editing and combining any or all media into a project a Mac is the de facto standard in a lot of professional set ups.

If portability is important and if funds are up to the onslaught, a MacBook Pro; forget about a MacBook Air for any kind of serious video editing.

MacBook Pro & pre-installed software

If portability is not important then an iMac has the advantage over the portable range in display real estate out oif the box and usually offers more options for expanadibility.

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If you want a budget "design and build your own" then, my current "desktop" of choice is that incredible little brick the MacMini. Bear in mind when making a purchasing decision that you must add your own keyboard & mouse, display etc to the base system here.

MacMini

For me the choice would be clearly between the iMacs and whatever additional software is deemed necessary to achieve the owner tasks easily. This to me is where Apple and the Mac OS score over every other hardware / software combination every time - ease of use and consistency, the true power of everyday computing.

All of the systems I have listed have sufficient built-in software to hit the ground running with a minimal learning curve for the novice film-maker / editor. As soon as the built-in tools begin to lag behind the power and ingenuity of the user, then there's the option of installing professional grade software (also from Apple) to close the gap, with the assurance that the earlier learning & acquired skill-set can be applied to the new but very familiar set-up.

N.B. Apple also offers decent educational discounts - check with their pre-sales / sales telephone support numbers listed on the web-site.

HTH
 
As a longtime PC user married to someone who does lots of video stuff (on Macs), I agree wholeheartedly with mathepac. Go into any professional video setup and you'll see pretty much everyone using Macs!

It's unfortunate that Apple equipment is more expensive, but buying a PC for someone wanting to do video/editing is a completely false economy which would be regretted sooner rather than later.

Perhaps it might be possible for your neighbour to get a second hand Mac for his daughter to get her started? Or even a lend of one to see how she gets on? But please ask him not to get a PC for her, she could become disillusioned very quickly with the slow speed, never mind the regular crashes!
 
IMHO I would select the software you want to use first and then get recommended spec'ed hardware to fit. Also contact clubs to get some advice.
Making and editing movies can be anything own recording, CGI animation so encouraging the interest can be a good thing but make sure it's not a fad before splashing out to heavily. Any real talent will come out regardless of equipment being used, limitations in sw and hw will serve ingenuity at first, then if the need is really genuine you can choose to invest more seriously. Be careful not to splash out and then end up with a shiny toy that gathers dust.
 
michaelm said:
... Apple offers poor value and high-end Apple software like Final Cut Pro is rather expensive. ...
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In your opinion. My opinion differs, because:

A couple of us have been trying to help a poster on another internet discussion board who has experienced his very first problem in 7 years with his Mac. He has musical key-boards and recording equipment plugged into it and uses software on the Mac (Apple's Logic Pro / Studio) as a very high-end mixing/editing/ desk and recording studio. He eventually tracked the problem down to a piece of 3rd-party software he'd installed. He simply removed the offending software and everything was back to normal.

7 years of faultless operation only interrupted by a piece of bad/buggy 3rd-party software. In my opinion that's great value.

And by the way all high-end professional software products are expensive which is why I suggested starting at a lower end of the scale.

gallogly said:
thanks a million everyone....
Click to expand...
you're very welcome.
 
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