Mac Computer for video -- suggestions please

[supthecreek]

Surfbum buget

Needs.... I love making videos of all kinds.... duh
I put 30,000 pictures on my computer every year (minimum) and I edit them

What I have now:
Early 2009 Mac Mini  - 2 GHz intel Core Duo - 2 Gig memory - OS X 10.8.5 upgradable to latest

My problem:
Movies.... it works, but patience is a virtue... finalizing a 10 minute movie takes 6 hours.... optimizing a clip  for slo-mo  means a lunch break
Pictures.....most of the time. just clicking to the next picture requires slamming my head into the desk, followed by a low moan.

I am looking for a used Mac that can handle movie and photo editing without inducing a coma.

Tech heads.... what specs should I be searching for?
Don't need overkill... I'm not gaming or rendering in 3D.... I just want to work at a respectable pace with no intestinal damage

Suggestions?

[surfcowboy]

Man, I've made my living building professional video rigs for 15 years, all Mac based.

Any current or late model Mac is fine but, there are tweaks, a lot of ram, 8 to 16 gb at least, a 64 bit operating system (10.8 at least, a huge thing) and the fastest drives you can get. SSD boot and then fast externals.

Rendering is more of a drive throughout thing these days, processors are all really fast but a lot of people have really slow drives attached. (No USB 2!!!!) that hobbles your really fact processor since I'd you can't access the files, you can't "process" them.

The good news? Most any new-ish Mac will have all this. If you're buying a home machine, any iMac is awesome these days.

Thunderbolt or USB3 drives for external storage. Boom.

[PonoBill]

Apple doesn't make easily upgradable laptop anymore. If you buy a used 17" Macbook Pro (they don't make 17" anymore either) it can be nicely upgraded though even stock it will be quicker than what you have. Look for a late 2011 on ebay (about 700-1200) You can inexpensively upgrade it to 16 GB. You can upgrade the internal HD, but it makes more sense to pull the optical drive out and replace it with an SSD--as big as you can afford. You can buy a terabyte thunderbolt drive for a few hundred bucks or get a really good one for 800-1200 that will be faster than the internal drive (though not as fast as the SSD.

All of the updates you might do can be staged as you choose. I'd start with a 2.2 or 2.4 dual core 17--most come with 4GB of memory) and just add a thunderbolt 1-2TB drive and see how that goes. Next is memory upgrade to 16GB, and last is SSD--even though that will have the biggest effect.

You'll need a good geek to do the work, or the right tools and lots of patience--there are lots of good upgrade videos on the web. I have a maxed out MacPro 17, and it's really hard for me to contemplate anything new except a Mac Pro or maxed out iMac. For the things I do they would only do a few things faster.

[supthecreek]

Thanks for the input.... it helps narrow it down.

I should have added that I am a desktop guy... I have a 17" laptop, but don't like the "small" format

I like to spread out all over the desk with a big keyboard and wireless mouse.

What year did Imac turn the corner? What year is the oldest (most affordable) that is still a good beginning?

I am not afraid to tackle upgrades myself. I just need more understanding of why things work.

I won't be adding any top end thunderbolts 

Been looking for a nice used Mac Pro tower... feels like lots of scammers out there....

[kayadogg]

Creek, keep an eye on Craigslist.  I've purchased a few Macs back in RI and out here in CA and have scored some sweet deals, as long as you know what to look out for and can run it through some tests before buying.  The Cape doesn't have a great selection but RI or Boston should get you something depending on your budget.  Here's an example of an iMac with an i5 and a TB drive.  You would need to add ram and an SSD drive, like the other recommendations, but this would give you a pretty solid setup for under a grand.

http://providence.craigslist.org/sys/4588487821.html

If you do find something, I'll be on the Cape in late August and can give you a hand with the upgrades, if you need one.

[Dwight (DW)]

Have you looked into just replacing your Mac mini hard drive with a SSD?

For me, SSD did more for speed than anything else.

[surfcowboy]

DW is right, an SSD will change your life but if your machine is older than say 2012 you'll see a speed boost by getting a newer one.

Look for i5 or i7 processors as opposed to the core duo 2 ones. That'll put you into the right range.

I love minis but they do skimp on videoRAM and graphics power. iMacs although not very user upgradable, are a little better for video.

Macs are great used machines. Find a company going out of biz and you can do alright on craigslist. But if you're not too geeky, buy from a dealer even if it's used.

Apples refurbished store on their site is excellent and fully protected by warranty.

[Board Stiff]

SSD is very fast for random read /writes,  but not much better than a fast conventional disk for sequential access. On a defragmented disk with plenty of free space,  I'd think most video editing would involve sequential access,  so a conventional disk would provide comparable performance at a much lower price per GB than an SSD. .

[supthecreek]

Great info... I'm starting to understand a bit better...

Thanks kaya.... I have been scouring craigslist all day.... but that one never appeared in my RI or Boston search. I relied to that ad.... we'll see...