{"id":43373,"date":"2018-01-04T11:56:47","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T17:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=43373"},"modified":"2018-01-05T10:23:07","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T16:23:07","slug":"road-to-sundance-turn-an-older-imacmac-pro-into-an-editing-suite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/43373-road-to-sundance-turn-an-older-imacmac-pro-into-an-editing-suite\/","title":{"rendered":"Road to Sundance: Turn an Older iMac\/Mac Pro Into an Editing Suite"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Editor\u2019s Note:<\/i><\/strong> OWC will be attending the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Ahead of the festival, the Rocket Yard will share a series of articles related to all things filmmaking.<\/i><\/p>\n

Macs have been at the center of many creative endeavors since the first Mac took the stage at De Anza College in 1984, at its official unveiling. Since then, the Mac community has been finding new and amazing uses for their Macs. It’s no wonder, then, that you’re likely to find a Mac taking center stage in many professional and home-based film and video studios.<\/p>\n

There are a number of Mac models used in home and pro studio work, but we’re going to take a look at two popular desktop models: 2011 and later iMacs, and 2010 and later Mac Pros. We chose these two model families because of their popularity, cost, and ability to be upgraded with RAM, storage, peripherals, and software that can turn them into film and video editing machines.<\/p>\n

If you’re ready to hit the road to Sundance, let’s get started outfitting your Mac for its new editing role.<\/p>\n

Upgrading RAM in an iMac<\/strong>
\nFor the most part, 2011 and later iMacs have memory that can be upgraded by the end user. There are some exceptions, such as the 2014 through 2016 21.5-inch iMacs, which made use of RAM soldered directly to the motherboard, thus preventing a viable upgrade path. But the rest of the iMac family all has some method that allows you to increase the amount of RAM installed.<\/p>\n

Increasing the RAM is going to allow your Mac to better function as an editing platform. Most editing applications are able to make use of all of the RAM you make available to them, increasing their performance, reducing rendering times, or just making the editing process a simpler one.<\/p>\n

If you’re wondering how much RAM you need, my answer is all that you can afford. If you can max out your RAM, you’ll likely see a nice improvement; at a minimum for small HD-based projects, 16 GB is a good start. If your editing work involves multiple layers, multiple cameras, or 4K and larger projects, then I suggest 32 GB as a minimum, which is more likely to help with performance.<\/p>\n