Best place for new PC

thomasross20

chrispy108 said:

Surely you're using a USB soundcard for recording anyway?

You don't need to upgrade the video card for recording music.

You'll almost certainly be able to put a SSD and more RAM. What make/model is it?

If your machine could do what you wanted when you bought it you can do it now with a software re-install, and it'll be even better with £100-150 of upgrades.

Will check. If so, great. 

But I was thinking more about playback of videos in Lightworks which is really crap on my PC. Not sure if I need a proper video card for that. 

This is what I was saying - I really need to talk to somebody at PC Specialist or the like. 

Jalapeno

I usually get a barebones from Overclockers, last time I got a complete system.

Use Mac & Pc

thomasross20

I think I also need to review what video editing software I use. Light works is OK but not massively intuitive

ToneControl

Fuzzdog said:

ToneControl said:

they are not all that bad, but any custom PC will normally have noisier and over specified cooling

I've almost always found the complete opposite, personally - all the custom PCs I've had were fitted with nice almost silent coolers, whereas most off the shelf ones came with the horrendously noisy OE stuff.  

Also, an 'over specified' cooling system will almost always be quieter - the ones in my current PC can dissipate more than twice what it could ever put out, but that means fans rarely come on, and when they do they're barely idling.  It had the standard heatsinks and fans which the manufacturers recommended before, and sounded like someone was flying a small aircraft around the room whenever I did anything remotely taxing.

It's the one thing I never scrimp on, as fan noise drives me nutty.

sorry, didn't make myself clear:

I'm meaning that "normal" non-brand PCs, to your own custom spec have (in my experience) by default had noisy fans

I too buy the quietest possible, and build that into my own custom spec

my point is that, you won't get the quietest ones unless you ask for them, and the OP is not an experienced buyer

Axe_meister

Just replaced the fan on my i7 with a small water cooler.
Finally no more freezes was becoming a real pain in the arse. Oddly enough it would only freeze at night when nothing was running. I guess a background job kicked in a CPU core turbo boosted up for too hot and the whole thing froze.

bob21

I am a professional AV Engineer in my day job.. Currently sat on my desk are a Mac Pro and 3 Macbook Pro. I really wouldn't use anything else these days. Yes, they're expensive, but so are the multi-thousand pound cameras, thousand pound microphones etc that are just a cost of professional production. 

They are easy to use, and quick. Time saved is cost saved, cheaper prices to the client/more profit.

The three laptops are show machines that run video/presentation graphics in sync for big corporate shows as redundant backup. Never once during a show has a machine gone down. Whereas every windows machine I've used on shows in the past 5 years has had a fairly serious failure at some point!

thomasross20

@bob21 are the Apple laptops good enough to edit and watch back videos using programs like Lightworks without any judder, or would you recommend a Desktop? May I also ask what video editing software you use? 

bob21

Yeah, I use the little MBPs for capturing and editing uncompressed full HD (think several Gb per minute!) sometimes. They do pretty good for laptops - not a patch on the mac pro tower mind! The only real difference is some of the longer projects (4-5hrs of video) they start to struggle with. A lot of it comes down to hard drive size though, because render can be done offline. (The pro obviously renders faster than the laptop too, but I usually do renders overnight for long projects anyway)

We use Adobe Premiere Pro exclusively. Look at the Creative Cloud subscription plans they offer on these - they're really neat.

Axe_meister

thomasross20;908126" said:

@bob21 are the Apple laptops good enough to edit and watch back videos using programs like Lightworks without any judder, or would you recommend a Desktop? May I also ask what video editing software you use? 

thomasross20;908126" said:

@bob21 are the Apple laptops good enough to edit and watch back videos using programs like Lightworks without any judder, or would you recommend a Desktop? May I also ask what video editing software you use? 

Depends on the spec. If you get a lowly dual core with 4GB you may struggle.
Get a Quad core with 8+GB and an SSD and you will be fine.

bob21

I should also point out for honesty we do spec our MBPs up - they're the highest processor available and always have the extra RAM added.

The key thing is that my show machines are clear - they don't have unnecessary crap on them! Today as part of shutting down for christmas and preparing for the new year, I have cleared down to what comes installed on the machine, plus office, Blackmagic software and Premiere - they are bare bones, and that's how we keep them fast!

thomasross20

Thanks, guys. Lots to think on.

Mac Pro looks cool but £3k+

Top end iMac looks to be about £1200 which isn't too bad.

TBH the spec differences between MacBook Pro and iMacs isn't all that different at first glance.

I wonder if the 4k retina display option is worth paying for.

Comparably these machines all seem cheaper but I don't have time now to check the major differences:

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/desktop-pcs/video-editing-computers/

--> I'm not buying anything until I go through all specs with a tooth comb!

hywelg

bob21 said:

We use Adobe Premiere Pro exclusively. Look at the Creative Cloud subscription plans they offer on these - they're really neat.

Only if you want to be in hock to Adobe for the rest of your life. You stop paying you lose the ability to edit your project files. Think very carefully before going that route. A business doesn't think like that but you should.

Sony Vegas? I have heard from some guys who do professional video work that its very good. But like I said, find the software you need, buy the hardware to run it. Not the other way round.

bob21

hywelg said:

 A business doesn't think like that but you should. 

Yeah, that'd be us - it doesn't really matter to us as a company - the flexibility to move on to other tools/versions etc is more useful to us; plus we use several other of the adobe package applications which would amount to a huge license cost..

Vegas is reasonably well thought of - though for most in the industry it's Premiere or in some cases Final Cut. Bit like DAWs though - Logic and ProTools are both excellent, it comes down to what works best for you, and what the people you work with use..

thomasross20

Went to John Lewis and Apple store. 

Didn't like the Apple Mouse. 

iMac was cool but I'd rather get a laptop so can do my guitar in the other room. 

TBH they seem very powerful. 

John Lewis have 3 year warranty (free!) which runs out TODAY. 

VERY tempted but about £2k....!! Think of the ampage I could buy for that. 

ADVISE ME!

I think MacBook Pro would be as robust as iMac. Would a Windows laptop be as good and cheaper?

UnclePsychosis

You can use a "normal" mouse on a Mac.

Hardware wise you'll be able to get something equally robust from either Apple or PC land.

You should choose based on software- do you want Mac OS or not, basically?

thomasross20

I really fancy the Apple. It reeks of quality and no bloatware.

Just have to decide on model as price rises steeply depending on spec.

--> I'm sitting here thinking... do I really need a £2k laptop. How often will I really be editing videos..

thomasross20

What's the deal here? Intel Apple and £500 cheaper?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-MJLT2B-15-4-Inch-Laptop-Intel/dp/B00YAE55CA/ref=sr_1_15?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1450876296&sr=1-15&keywords=macbook+pro

thomasross20

Jesus, Apple Care for a MacBook Pro is twice that of an iMac. 

£250 for 3 years!

No wonder John Lewis warranty is a good deal. 

All very expensive... 

I CAN do videos on the home desktop but it's very jumpy. Also read Line 6 Toneport has issues interfacing with Apple. 

Got to decide soon lol

Danny1969

There isn't a PC laptop that's as well built as a Macbook Pro, or as well designed. They could make one but they wouldn't be able to sell it as there isn't a PC brand that has anything like the loyal customer base of Apple. So they wouldn't be able to charge enough for it. 

Apple care is essential as parts for a Macbook Pro are expensive, the motherboard being the most expensive item. 

If you think your gonna be doing a lot of audio work and video editing then get it. They really are the best machines for this kind of thing and that's not me being an Apple fan boy, it's a cold hard industry fact. In 5 years of running a studio I never worked with any other producers who used anything other than Macbook Pro's running Protools or Logic. All the guys syncing the audio to vids used Premier Pro, Avid Composer or Final cut. 

Think hard if your going to really be using the Macbook Pro enough to justify the expense though, you can edit several lanes of video on a decent PC using something like Sony Vegas

I wouldn't worry about your Line 6 Toneport thing, your probably gonna outgrow that anyway. 

crunchman

thomasross20 said:

I really fancy the Apple. It reeks of quality and no bloatware.

Depending on your point of view you could argue that the no bloatware thing is completely untrue.

These days iCloud comes as part of the OS.  As someone who would rather use a 3rd party cloud solution rather than commit myself to Apple for the rest of my life that is a piece of bloatware I never use.

The latest OS has all this stuff that syncs things with you iPhone and iPad all the time.  It means that when you open the browser on one it will have all the same tabs open that were open on the last thing you look at.  Again unnecessary bloatware on something that is bought as a music computer and you don't own any other Apple devices.

Personally I'd call iTunes bloatware as well.

By all means make the software available for free download, but it should be optional, not part of the OS.  Obviously for some people it's wonderful and they love this stuff, but for me it's bloatware.