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07/17/2008 02:25:35 PM · #1 |
| I am buying a new computer, and I will be doing video editing as well as photo editing. My budget is around the $1,000 area---give or take---I won't be doing anything professional---just home movies, and the mixing of photos and video for slide shows, etc.. Any suggestions?.... things to look for? ...things to avoid?? |
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07/17/2008 05:56:33 PM · #2 |
A lot of people will suggest you go the route of Mac; I, however, recommend you don't. Not for your budget. A grand will build an awesome PC with plenty of power for the things you need to do. Macs, however, you can get... A Macbook, which is crap, hardware-wise.
My computer is as follows:
Antec P182 case
500W modular power supply
Core2Quad Q6600
Some motherboard with a bizarre model name I forget
4 gb of RAM
EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512mb
500gb SATA 7200RPM HDD
I spent around $800, and it's a very fast build. If you want to trim a few bucks off the processor, you can get a nice Core2Duo for a bit less than the Q6600. But if you shop deals and do rebates, you'll save a ton of money. |
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07/17/2008 07:53:20 PM · #3 |
I believe in choice, and there are three options I can think of;
1) Building your own PC, as  Anti-Martyr outlined above. You also need to add the cost of the operating system (e.g. Vista, which starts at about $130 for Vista Home) and any video or photo editing software.
2) Purchasing a pre-built PC from somewhere like Dell. I picked the cheapest Dell (the Inspiron 530) and went through the configuration steps to add things like the monitor. It works out at $939. You need to add the cost of video and photo editing software to this, and DVD-burning software etc.
3) Apple Mac. The 20" iMac is $1199, this includes the operating system (OSX Leopard) and entry-level video and photo editing and DVD burning s/w (iLife)
You must also consider which operating system you'll be most comfortable using. If you've been a Windows user up to now, you might be happier sticking with a Windows OS. If you have existing Windows software (e.g. Photoshop) it'd make sense to stick with Windows so you don't have to buy new licenses. |
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07/17/2008 08:40:53 PM · #4 |
I've built and OC'd mine since the beginning of time... but it almost (really isn't) isn't cost effective to build em anymore, except so you can babble some parts and brands you got in it with your friends.
Vista 64bit SP1, AMD 9550 Quad Core, 6G RAM, ATI HD3450 (I'd prefer the nVidia 9600 which is in the $1K model) all for $729
//www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883113073
Gateway has gone back to producing (they got lost for a while) computers, GW is using off the shelf mobos again (not asus, abit or the big names but ECS (elite group) is a start)... unlike dell that waters their mobos down with cheap parts and missing options in design.
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07/17/2008 08:58:30 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by jhonan:
...3) Apple Mac. The 20" iMac is $1199, this includes the operating system (OSX Leopard) and entry-level video and photo editing and DVD burning s/w (iLife)... |
A bit of an understatement, perhaps? iMovie, iPhoto and iDVD come pre-installed. |
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07/17/2008 09:09:50 PM · #6 |
If we're quoting the price of systems without the screen then it's only fair to include the often forgotten Mac Mini in the list;
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
120GB hard drive
DVD Burner. Wireless. Bluetooth. Firewire
OSX Leopard, iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD etc. included
$799
(The Mac Mini range is due an overhaul about now...) |
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07/18/2008 06:21:45 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by jhonan:
If we're quoting the price of systems without the screen then it's only fair to include the often forgotten Mac Mini in the list;
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
120GB hard drive
DVD Burner. Wireless. Bluetooth. Firewire
OSX Leopard, iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD etc. included
$799
(The Mac Mini range is due an overhaul about now...) |
That would need to be one heck of an overhaul-- I used to do video editing for school projects on my old Windows system with similar (though sliiiiiiiiightly better) specs, and it was SLOW. Only having 1gb of RAM is a major impediment.
For video editing, you need a fast processor and a good amount of RAM. Depending on your OS (either OSX or a 64 bit version of Windows), you should have at the bare minimum 2gb of RAM. If you DO end up with OSX or a 64 bit Windows, then I would actually recommend getting 4gb as your minimum. As for processors, any Core2Duo or Core2Quad with a minimum clockspeed of 2.4ghz should be fine, especially if you do what awpollard does and overclock.
If you're getting a prebuilt, I'd stay away from Dells. awpollard touched on that briefly with his correct statement about their motherboards. Dell also tends to install power supplies with just enough juice to scrape by. That means if you want to upgrade any of your components, you're stuck buying a beefier power supply as well :/
And I don't know if you've built a PC before, but if you haven't, don't fret. Though the technobabble may sound a bit intimidating, building a custom PC is a cakewalk, even for first timers. There's tons of great guides online and if you've got friends who've done it they can help as well. I've probably helped build 3 or 4 systems for friends, and after that, none of them have ever needed my help again :) |
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07/18/2008 07:07:16 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by Anti-Martyr:
And I don't know if you've built a PC before, but if you haven't, don't fret. Though the technobabble may sound a bit intimidating, building a custom PC is a cakewalk, even for first timers. There's tons of great guides online and if you've got friends who've done it they can help as well. I've probably helped build 3 or 4 systems for friends, and after that, none of them have ever needed my help again :) |
My experience differs. Recently I replaced the PSU in my main PC, and it was far from a cakewalk. By the time I'd disassembled the thing enough to allow me to prise the old PSU out of the case (past the motherboard and a bar which was blocking it) I then had to ensure the spaghetti of connectors coming out of the PSU all went to their right places in the motherboard, the CD drive, the HDDs, the power switch and the fan.
I then had to re-arrange the order of the drives, as one of the PSU cables wasn't long enough to reach, Before re-connecting the data ribbon cables I'd had to remove in step one. And on powering up the thing it now sounds like a jet engine taking off and irritates the hell out of me.
I was actually considering buying the Mac Mini myself, forget performance issues - I just want something that runs quietly enough that I can hear myself think.
In fact, guess what PC I now use for my day-to-day tasks like emails and docs? The most dependable, portable, quiet, and easy-to-use PC I've ever used in my life.... My €300 Asus eeePC.
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07/18/2008 10:52:17 AM · #9 |
I'm looking at this HP model (Elite d5000z ATX) which I customized:
Configuration Summary
Selected Features:
AMD Phenom(TM) 9550 quad-core processor (2.2GHz)
4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)
640GB RAID 0 (2 x 320GB SATA HDDs) - performance
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS, DVI-I, VGA, HDMI
Integrated 7.1 channel sound w/front audio ports
15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, 1394, TV video
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
HP keyboard and HP optical mouse
802.11 b/g USB Wireless LAN card
Blu-ray writer & Lightscribe SuperMulti DVD burner
SAVE $10! Norton Internet Security(TM) 2008 - 15 month
ATSC-NTSC TV tuner with PVR, FM tuner, remote
Included Features:
Online exclusive series! Personalized high performance and high value.
Full-sized ATX chassis and motherboard
Total memory slots: 4 DIMM
15 in 1 memory card reader
HP Easy Backup Button - instantly backup files
6 USB (2 front, 4 back), 2 IEEE 1394 (1 front, 1 back), 2 PS/2
Front headphone, mic (7.1 speaker capable using front ports)
1 PCI Express (x16) graphics slot, graphics card included
3 PCI Express (x1), 2 PCI
460 watt power supply
Modem or wireless or Bluetooth card (optional)
Integrated 1
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07/18/2008 02:16:31 PM · #10 |
You could try this place as well. They have been around a long time. I mostly build my own PC's but have bought from them as well as referred other people.
Alot of people buy from HP, Dell, and while this is understandable, they really cheap out on the more important aspects of the PC (Motherboard, Power Supply ....) Like BOSE your only buying the name.
//www.cyberpowerpc.com |
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07/18/2008 02:44:03 PM · #11 |
If you are wanting to do mainly only photo and video editing you have to remember that having a powerful and expensive graphics card will do next to nothing for system performance over a cheap graphics card. The reason is that these cards are designed to render 3D and not the 2D of photos and video. The only way to gain the speed in rendering is to have lots of RAM and lots of processor muscle. So save some cash and select the lowest graphics card (don't get the integrated one though) and put the saved money into the CPU. The more data you can throw through the processor, the faster you'll be able to render video and photos.
Another thing to consider is the clock speed of the memory. As the CPU speed increases higher and higher, the bottleneck in the system will become the speed that the memory will be able to give the CPU data to crunch. So try and find the fastest you can afford. I think DDR2 1066 is the new thing. There is DDR3, but it's epensive. Once you get past this, the next thing to consider is your hard drive's speed. But a normal 7200rpm SATA 3.0gbps will be good for you. If you really want speed though, consider the WD Raptor line which goes at 10k rpm and 3.0gbps but these are expensive.
What other people have said is true though, building your own is easy enough to do. For the most part, things really only fit in one place inside the computer. :) You can also find great manuals and handbooks online on how to put one together as well. Or you can even ask around here.
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07/18/2008 03:26:31 PM · #12 |
| Build your own is the only way to get a good one. Don't underestimate the power of a good motherboard. Make sure your programs will run in 64bit mode before you decide to go that route(which will be faster if you can). Any of the quad processors are good. Look at a raptor hard drive to use along with a secondary. |
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07/18/2008 03:48:21 PM · #13 |
I would stay away from a RAID 0 configuration. It does help performance, but by making a stripe across both drives, it doesn't have the nice RAID redundancy built in, so if one of your harddrives go, there's a good chance it's going to hose the OS. I've had a client have this happen, and the data was alot more difficult to recover than it should have been. (I'm an IT technician)
Going RAID 1 or 5 (with a third drive) adds that redundancy, with minimal performance loss and only aslight increase in cost.
Aside from that, alot of good thoughts going out in this thread.
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