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Configure a 2019 iMac for Video Editing [u]

Posted on June 11, 2017 by Larry

[ Update: On March 19, 2019, Apple released updates to both 21.5″ and 27″ iMacs. These new systems feature improved CPU and GPU options, though the display and storage remain the same as earlier versions. I’ve reflected these new options in my recommendations below. ]

At their WWDC, in June, 2017, Apple announced and released new iMac computers, designed to meet the needs of professionals. These new systems sport a variety of very exciting features. However, if you are on a budget, how do you determine where to spend your money?

This article is designed to help you make more informed choices when you don’t have a lot of money to spend.

NOTE: I have not purchased any of these systems. My recommendations are based on past experience, current system specs and talking with informed individuals.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

If money is no object, buy the top of the line iMac. It will work great and you’ll have bragging rights over all the other systems.

But, if money IS an object, then you need to make trade-offs, balancing the performance you need with the money you have. However, you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a system today that can meet your editing needs for the next several years.

ALSO: Here are two other configuration articles you may find useful:

YES, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE IMAC PRO?

Holy smokes! What a system.

This review covers the iMac. Click here to read about the iMac Pro.

YES, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MAC PRO?

Given the latest iMac releases, there are very, very few reasons to purchase a Mac Pro right now; especially given its price. Keep in mind, however, that Apple has already announced they are working on a new, top-of-the-line Mac Pro which will ship sometime in 2019.

Given what Apple has announced for the iMac Pro, however, that upcoming Mac Pro will need to be a true screamer to compete. I’m looking forward to seeing what Apple creates – but, as I mentioned earlier, I still need to pay my bills today.

And that leads us directly to the latest updates to the iMac.

WHAT SIZE SCREEN?

Both Final Cut Pro X and Premiere interfaces work best on larger screens. This is not to say they work poorly on smaller screens, but both of these display a LOT of elements on screen. More screen room is MUCH better.

I recommend a 27″ display. Plus, all the new 27″ iMacs now share the same 5K Retina Display.

NOTE: One of my iMacs is an older 5K iMac. I’ve discovered, that while seeing a 5K image is nice, the on-screen text is often very hard to read. So I’ve lowered the screen resolution using System Preferences to make the text larger. I prefer to easily read the text to seeing every pixel in my image.

However, if the purpose of the new system is video compression, you don’t need the bigger screen size. In which case, you can save money and improve performance with a 21″ system.

NOTE: Both H.264 and the up-coming H.265 video codecs are hardware-accelerated in all the new hardware. While this won’t help when transcoding into ProRes, hardware-acceleration will significantly speed compressing files for the web.

WHAT SPEED CPU?

UPDATE Intel’s latest 8th-gen and 9th-gen Core processors, including up to a 3.2GHz six-core 8th-gen Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz for the 21.5-inch 4K iMac and up to a 3.6GHz eight-core 9th-gen Core i9 with Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz for the 27-inch 5K iMac.

While CPU speed is important, it is not critical for video editing; remember, iMacs that were current as recently as last month, were easily able to edit almost all forms of SD, HD, and 4K media.

Any of the processors in any of the new iMacs will be fine for video or audio editing.

UPDATE: The choice in the 21.5″ iMac is between i5 and i7. The i7 is worth the money because of its support for multi-threading. The choice in the 27″ iMac is harder: between i5 and i9, because it’s a $500 differential. Unlike the i5, the i9 supports multithreading. If you are doing multicam, 4K or HDR editing, or lots of video compression, the i9 is worth the money.

HOW MUCH STORAGE?

I really like that Apple has put Fusion drives into all but two of their iMacs. I own two iMacs with Fusion drives and I remain very impressed with these systems. They are an excellent balance between the speed of an SSD with the storage capacity of spinning media.

Keep in mind that the SSD portion of a Fusion drive is only a part of the total storage. For example, the 1 TB Fusion uses a 32 GB SSD, while the 2 and 3 TB Fusion drives use a 128 GB SSD. The OS watches what you do and moves files onto the SSD based upon what you are using most. Which means that a Fusion drive works fastest with files you access over and over.

NOTE: Here is an updated article on storage speeds and media requirements that explains the load your storage system needs to carry.

If you want maximum performance AND you plan to store media on an external drive, get the 512 GB SSD. All the files in macOS will take less than 30 GB, leaving plenty of room for working files and immediate storage.

If you want an excellent balance between performance, price and capacity, stay with the 1 TB Fusion drive. Again, store media externally.

If you don’t plan to purchase external storage – and you will, you just don’t know it yet – get the 3 TB Fusion drive. (An extra TB for $100 makes this a better value than the 2 TB Fusion drive.)

One of my systems has a 3 TB Fusion drive. Currently, I’m using 600 GB of it. The rest is sitting around idle. When using external storage, you really don’t need lots of internal storage.

If you just want maximum performance from your storage, get the 1 TB SSD. It’s pricey, but it’s speed will make you giggle.

Apple notes: “For the best performance, iMac systems with 32GB or more of memory should be configured with a 2TB or larger Fusion Drive or all-SSD storage.”

NOTE: Apple’s marketing materials now define a terabyte as one trillion bytes. This means that when a disk is formatted, its storage capacity will be less than 1 TB because of the differences between how marketing and engineering calculate disk sizes.

WHICH GPU?

Configuring the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is now done when you pick the initial iMac, rather than as a build-to-order option within each iMac family. So, much though I would like to pick the mid-range system and add a high-end GPU into it, we no longer have that option.

Which is a shame. Because while we don’t need the high-end CPU system for most video editing, we would significantly benefit from the high-end 580 GPU in any system.

Both Final Cut and Premiere are increasingly using the GPU for most editing tasks, because the GPU is much faster than the CPU at rendering bitmapped images. Therefore, the best choice is the high-end GPU. The high-end GPU also includes 8 GB of video memory (VRAM).

However, the mid-range system with the Radeon Pro 575X is a perfectly adequate choice.

NOTE: The difference between the 575X and 580X is performance. The 575X has a peak performance of about 4.5 Teraflops, while the 580X supports up to 5.5 Tflops. Both will handle video just fine. All of the Radeon chips support OpenCL and Apple’s Metal and up-coming Metal 2 GPU computing API.

Here’s a link to learn more about Radeon’s GPU chips.

NOTE: Again, if you are principally doing video compression, the GPU speed is less important than the CPU speed. So, compressionists don’t need as high-performance a GPU as an editor.

UPDATE: When looking at GPU performance, use the specs for Metal or Metal II. OpenCL will not be supported going forward. Also, while eGPUs are attractive, I don’t see them, yet, as a big enough benefit for iMacs. eGPUs are principally designed for laptops.

HOW MUCH RAM?

Both Final Cut and Premiere will use as much RAM as you can afford.

Based on my tests with the 2016 MacBook Pro, I recommend a minimum of 16 GB of RAM, though, all my systems here have 32 GB. Again, if you have the money, max out the RAM. However, 32 GB of RAM will be sufficient for virtually all projects.

HOW MUCH SHOULD I SPEND?

You are going to be using this computer for four years. Spend what you can afford, but don’t be stingy in areas that matter: GPU and RAM.

All the base systems are fine, But, depending upon your needs, you can tweak the configurations to better match what you want the systems to do. All systems feature wireless mice and keyboards; though, in my office, I prefer my mice and keyboards wired.

NOTE: Apple has not yet delivered the Touch Bar on any stand-alone keyboards.

If it were my money and I was doing video editing on a budget, here’s what I would get:

Total: $2,499 (you’ll still need to spend additional money for 3rd-party RAM)

However, I wish that Apple made the Radeon 580X available on the mid-range unit.

If it were my money and I was doing mostly video compression, I’d get the high-end Mac mini. (This, in fact, is what I did personally.) Here’s an article that explains this in more detail.

As always, I’m interested in your opinions.

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346 Responses to Configure a 2019 iMac for Video Editing [u]

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  1. douglas melo says:
    January 26, 2018 at 8:02 pm

    Hi Larry !
    I wanna buy the 27″IMac 5k 2017 with processor 4.2GHz i7, 8GB RAM(I will buy more 32gb to make it 40) 2TB fusion Drive and Readeo Pro 580(8GB) and my problem is in my storage… I have the gopro 6 and I gonna use the IMac to editing videos in 4k and 2.7k videos. So which one will be better to go for? 1tb or 512ssd or the 2tb fusion drive will be fine for me? I really don’t know which one to get as 1tb ssd is expensive and 2tb fusion will be great price ! Thank you!
    Looking forward for your replay!

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      January 26, 2018 at 8:16 pm

      Douglas:

      Get the smallest SSD, and plan to purchase external media to store your files.

      Even a 2 TB Fusion drive will run out of space, external media storage for libraries, projects and media is a must.

      Larry

      Reply
      • douglas melo says:
        January 26, 2018 at 10:42 pm

        Thank you so much Larry, you gave me some peace cause I was lost! I really appreciate it! Thabks a million

        Reply
      • douglas melo says:
        January 27, 2018 at 5:15 am

        Larry
        AS you said to use the 512gb ssd gonna be good I would like to know if the processor 4.2 i7 will make difference or the 3.8 i5 will be the same ? And for a computer to use for several years. What do you think as I just gonna use for editing videos ! And if I buy I good external hd to storege my media, project and libraries do you think for have a good pc for long time to go with 512ssd or the 1tb ssd makes the difference ? Sorry for more these question!

        Reply
        • Larry says:
          January 27, 2018 at 7:52 am

          Douglas:

          You won’t notice the CPU speed for editing, you will notice it on video compression. Any computer you buy today will last for 3-5 years. And the size of your internal drive is up to you. The SSD will be faster, the Fusion will hold more – but remember, that’s why you are buying external storage.

          None of these are a mistake – its simply what you can afford, or prefer.

          Larry

          Reply
  2. Configuring an iMac Pro for video editing - Randi Altman's postPerspective says:
    January 31, 2018 at 11:33 am

    […] Configure an iMac for video editing […]

    Reply
  3. Jeff says:
    February 2, 2018 at 10:15 am

    I have the 27″ i7 iMac with 32GB RAM/Radeon 580 and 2 TB fusion drive. I’m experiencing painfully slow saves out of After Effects (CC2018). Any thoughts as to why? Plenty of room left on the drive. Media for the files is on an external USB3 drive connected directly to the Mac as well as through a USB 3 hub. I’m at a loss. It’s slower saving than it was on my 2011 i7 iMac that I just replaced.
    Thanks for any thoughts.

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      February 2, 2018 at 10:21 am

      Jeff:

      There could be a number of factors here, my first suspicion – always – is your external drive. Here are things to try and, if these don’t work, contact Adobe Support.

      * Try a test where both media and project are stored on your desktop (internal drive). If things are MUCH faster, then its your external drive
      * Try using a different codec for export – my recommendation is ProRes 4444 with an alpha channel. See if that is faster
      * Make sure nothing else is running – again, as a test – use Activity Monitor to verify that nothing is taking up excess amounts of Disk or CPU time
      * Do a Safe Boot and Repair permissions – read this article to learn how:

      https://larryjordan.com/articles/trouble-shoot-your-apple-final-cut-pro-x-system/

      If those don’t work, it’s time to call Adobe Support.

      Larry

      Reply
  4. Elizabeth says:
    February 5, 2018 at 7:13 am

    Hi Larry, this article was so helpful and insightful. Is it possible to edit raw 4K footage with the first computer set up you mentioned? I have a Canon 300 Mark II and I’m no longer able to edit anything on my 2013 MacBook Pro, so I know that I need to upgrade. But it would be great to know if I will be able to edit the native 4K footage on this first computer set up, or if I will still need to edit in proxies or transcode the footage? Thanks again.

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      February 5, 2018 at 7:05 pm

      Elizabeth:

      Either system should be able to edit 4K files – though 4K HDR might be a challenge.

      And there’s nothing wrong with a proxy workflow, if you need it. Switching between high-quality masters and proxies is a single switch.

      Larry

      Reply
  5. Bill says:
    February 27, 2018 at 10:24 am

    Hi Larry! Always love your insight and humor in your lessons!!

    Anyway, I appreciate the info on a budget edit system. I have been using an external 3.5″ usb 3 drive for editing now and I love the throughput, BUT it’s editing P2 footage at 1280×720 (on a 2012 Mac Pro!)

    My question is regarding external drive speed for the system you mentioned;
    What is the connection of choice these days – USB 3? On your system, would a single (non-RAID) 3/5″ drive be fast enough to edit 4k?
    If not, what choices would you recommend?

    Thanks a million!

    Bill

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      February 27, 2018 at 10:26 am

      Bill:

      Thanks for writing. No, a single drive is not fast enough to edit 4K or HDR material.

      You will need a RAID, which connects via ThunderBolt. USB and FireWire are not fast enough. Thunderbolt 2 will be fine, as Thunderbolt 3 requires a fairly new computer.

      Larry

      Reply
      • Bill says:
        February 27, 2018 at 11:57 am

        Thank you Larry! I just checked out the specs on Thunderbolt 2 and 3 and they are FAST!!

        One last question; Since Thunderbolt is also used for other peripherals, does that mean that you will “use up” the bandwidth? i.e. if I have 3 monitors, backup drive, mouse, keyboard etc. hooked to Thunderbolt, will I have less throughput for my RAID?

        Thanks again!

        Reply
  6. Ryan says:
    February 28, 2018 at 11:57 am

    Hi Larry, about to purchase a 27″ iMac for video editing (Avid / Premiere) and wondering if my 2 TB G-Drive (GD4 2000) is even going to be useful for storing media. It has USB 2.0 and FW and eSATA connections, but… is this just a dinosaur now? Thanks for your time.

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      February 28, 2018 at 12:06 pm

      Ryan:

      It will be fine for backups, but not day-to-day editing. Far too slow. You’ll need a converter from Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2, then a second converter from Thunderbolt 2 to Firewire – all available at the Apple Store.

      Larry

      Reply
  7. Dennis Squad says:
    March 2, 2018 at 1:22 am

    Hi Larry,

    thanks for your great advice! Would you also recommend this IMac for After Effects? I do mostly Motion Graphics,4k Video Editing (with Premiere), but also do some work with the Trapcode Suite. Thanks!

    Reply
  8. Lloyd Lemmermann says:
    March 6, 2018 at 10:48 am

    Larry, many thanks for your years’ worth of generous experience-based advice.
    Question: Is a new 27″ 2015, (32G/2TB) at 2200 (OWC) highly outperformed by the 2017 above? $400 savings is useful, but only if it really is a true savings.
    Background: I haven’t considered iMacs for a long time, being relatively happy with my custom dual SSD 2012 MBP (with external drives too) for photography, video, and audio work. But it’s long in the tooth, portability isn’t the priority it used to be for me, and your observations have me convinced a recent iMac is more than viable. Context: I’ve been mostly single cam FHD editing in the Adobe ecosystem. Obviously I need to accommodate more 4K, and perhaps more AVCHD transcoding rather than P2.
    Many thanks.

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      March 6, 2018 at 11:32 am

      Lloyd:

      Well, maybe. It depends upon what you are doing – and your definition of “highly.” For HD editing in Premiere, both systems are excellent. For images larger than 4K or HDR, the 2015 will work harder than the 2017 version.

      There’s no advantage to the 2017 version unless you also upgrade to the high-end GPU. Otherwise, I don’t think the difference is big enough to justify the cost.

      If you make a living as an editor, get the 2017 version with enhanced GPU. If editing is a hobby – even a serious hobby – the 2015 version with extra RAM as you indicate – will be a solid choice.

      Larry

      Reply
      • Lloyd Lemmermann says:
        March 7, 2018 at 10:20 pm

        Thanks this is very helpful. I foresee more client editing work over the next couple of years, so the 2017 with upgraded GPU makes sense. Best regards.

        Reply
  9. K. Guru says:
    March 6, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    Hi Larry,

    We would like your advice on this. We have C300 and now acquired Canon C200 mainly for 4K shoot and edit, All the MBPs and iMacs were of 2011, but maxed to SSD & RAM. These system were all fine until we faced 4K RAW workflow, and we know that major upgrade is must now. however we are bit perplexed, to chose between (A) iMac latest27 “, i5, 32 Gb, 3.5Ghz, Radeon 580 & (B) base level iMac Pro 27” 8 core. the iMac pro is double the cost. we want to have future proof system say min 5 years from now, which can handle the workflow like of Canon C200 4K RAW @ 12 bit, 1 Gbps, HDR and FCPX. shall we first buy the (A) to start with and later add (B) option ? or better go for (B) iMac pro straight way although its costs double? your opinion will be a great help for us. Regards K. Guru

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      March 6, 2018 at 10:07 pm

      K. Guru:

      I don’t think anyone can realistically predict what gear will be “future proof” for the next five years. If you continue to edit exactly the same formats and frames for the next five years, your computer will easily last that long.

      However, if we know anything, we know that frame rates are continuing to increase, resolution and frame size continues to increase and bit depth will definitely increase as we move more aggressively into HDR and RAW media. So, your future-proof expectations need to be tempered by an understanding that it is impossible to predict the media formats that you’ll be making money on five years out.

      Second, storage capacity and bandwidth are even more important than the speed of your computer. Many people focus on the computer, when they SHOULD focus on their storage. You will not be able to edit any significant media using the internal storage of your computer. This means that the speed of your storage will determine, in large part, the speed of your computer.

      Another determinant is what NLE you use for editing. Final Cut Pro X is optimized for the iMac Pro, Premiere is not; yet. Once Premiere is optimized for the iMac Pro, given what you want to do, the iMac Pro 10-core with 32 GB of RAM and top of the line GPU is the ideal choice. However, if your budget can’t afford that, the 27″ iMac with 32 GB of RAM and top-of-the-line GPU is an excellent second choice.

      If a major part of your work involved video compression, the 27″ iMac will be a better choice. If the major part of your work is editing 4K / RAW media the iMac Pro is a better, but more expensive, choice.

      There’s no perfect answer, it all depends on the media you are editing, the software you are editing it with and the speed of your storage.

      Larry

      Reply
      • gurudas says:
        April 11, 2018 at 4:51 am

        Many Many Thanks Larry. Your detail opinion has really helped me to take a final call. My most of the work is 4K/Raw edit and FCPX, I think as you well said iMac Pro base level would serve me better in long run. thanks again. Guru

        Reply
  10. Jonathan Keys says:
    March 17, 2018 at 9:43 pm

    Hi Larry what external drive would you recommend for 4K editing on a 2017 iMac

    Reply
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