Newbie Needs Advice: Dell e521 or the new iMAC?

[lecterielin]

Hello All

I am a newbie to film editing and cannot make up my mind about the right software. I will be running Avid Xpress Pro HD. I currently have a DELL system but am thinking of getting the new iMAC. Please help me or give some hints/tips as to which system might be better. Here is how they stand:

My Dell E521
AMD Athlon 2 Core X2 4600+
2 GB RAM - PC4200 (this worries me)
256 MB ATI Radeon 1950 XT card
1 MB L2 Cache (this worries me)
250 GB HD (irrelevant as I have an external one too)
19inch LCD monitor
650 Watt power
2 DVD burners
3 Firewire ports

The iMAC
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz Extreme
2 GB RAM (DDR2 @ 667 - will this make a difference?)
ATI HD 2600 Pro w/ 256 MB (is my Dell card better?)
4 MB L2 Cache (vs 1 mb on my Dell)
24 inch LCD
DVD burner combo drive
500 GB HD

Which one is good enough? better? I was burning some DVDs (making video) on Nero on my Dell and noticed that there was an offshoot between sound and picture. Is it because my Dell is too slow? Does cache and bus speed matter that much? Please help. I will greatly appreciate ALL and ANY comments/suggestions.

Thanks

Mike

[TBoneit]

Why does the PC4200 memory worry you? Dell has matched the memory speed to the processor. Most likely 2 1 gb memory running in dual channel mode.

Speed of the computer has no effect one audio/video sync.

[mhar4]

It will come down to the software and OS integration. On this, the Mac is hard to beat.

[terryxpress]

mhar4 has the crux of the real difference, that the first choice for serious video editing is a Mac. There is some brilliant video software for the Mac, a number of these applications being freeware eg MPEGStreamClip, D-Vision, MacThe Ripper, as well as the top-notch commercial software for video editing. If you're ready to update your computer system, then don't hesitate, go iMac, particularly if your system is starting to play up (the Nero problem).

[dnix71]

If you buy the iMac, you can dual boot Windows (with BootCamp) or run a virtual OS in Parallels or VPC. That way you don't have to "choose."

[lawnman]

I bet if you went into the windows forum they would tell you to get the Dell.

[lecterielin]

Thanks all for the reply. I was just worrying that I would be wasting money either way: getting mac or selling my computer which in fact might be good already and there would not be a need for spending over 2000 on a mac...Thanks all again.

[terryxpress]

We won't be offended - please let us know what you decide and what was the final factor in your choice.

[TBoneit]

If you already have the top windows system it should be good enough that you would be throwing money away for a Mac.

If it Ain't broke don't fix it.

Are you ready to buy Mac software and relearn things or if you plan to keep on running your windows software in Xp on the mac, why bother?

Unless you have the $2k laying around un-needed?

[kush]

It sounds as though it's a 'should I replace my Dell with an iMac' question. And while a C2D based computer (knowing nothing much of Apple mind you) will (usually) outperform an A64 (esp so, if you really are talking of a 2.8GHz (more like 2.66 or 2.93 actually) vs the 4600+'s 2.4GHz), I think you're better off just staying with what you've got. IMHO, harddrive space is VERY relevant. I would spend some of the $$$$ saved not getting a Mac, and put it into a 500GB (sweet spot @ ~$100-110) or 750GB HD (or two). If you're going to really get into editing, 250GB (+ whatever external is) will be eaten up VERY quickly, especially w/ uncompressed AVI and/or HD video.

Note that the L2 cache sizes can't be directly compared like you did. The Intel's have their cache SHARED by the cores, due to their (shared) core configuration. The AMD has 2 separate L2 cache's for 2 separate cores. Not that this ultimately makes a hill of beans, even if AMD has made a big point of saying NATIVE dual/quad for a long time now..

[TBoneit]

If you have money to spend then don't go from one dual core to another dual core processor. Go Quad core. Otheriwse It doesn't seem like a big enough delta in performance to be worth it. Big bucks for a incremental increase?