[ 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.
346 Responses to Configure a 2019 iMac for Video Editing [u]
← Older Comments Newer Comments →-
Mahmud says:
July 13, 2018 at 5:35 am
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Larry says:
July 13, 2018 at 10:39 am
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Dinu says:
August 2, 2018 at 1:37 pm
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Larry says:
August 3, 2018 at 7:58 am
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Dinu says:
August 14, 2018 at 1:09 am
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Larry says:
August 14, 2018 at 8:09 am
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Jim says:
September 29, 2018 at 5:22 pm
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Larry says:
September 29, 2018 at 6:32 pm
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Jim says:
September 30, 2018 at 3:45 am
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Larry says:
September 30, 2018 at 3:59 pm
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Dan Wilder says:
October 8, 2018 at 9:16 pm
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Larry says:
October 9, 2018 at 6:56 am
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Lysonchaps says:
October 15, 2018 at 7:10 pm
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Larry says:
October 15, 2018 at 7:15 pm
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Craig T Fall says:
October 20, 2018 at 1:05 pm
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Larry says:
October 20, 2018 at 1:49 pm
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Harry Pallenberg says:
October 22, 2018 at 10:37 am
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Larry says:
October 22, 2018 at 6:34 pm
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DANIEL says:
October 26, 2018 at 4:59 pm
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Larry says:
October 26, 2018 at 5:03 pm
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N. Moby says:
October 30, 2018 at 8:33 am
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Larry says:
October 30, 2018 at 9:36 am
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Chuck says:
November 26, 2018 at 9:29 am
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Larry says:
November 26, 2018 at 9:48 am
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Chuck says:
November 26, 2018 at 10:12 am
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Larry says:
November 26, 2018 at 10:21 am
← Older Comments Newer Comments →hello bro i want to make animation movie through i clone 7 and cinema 4d software.my current pc rendering speed too much slow. i want to buy imac pro.
3.2GHZ 8-core intel Xeon W processor
32 GB 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory
1TB SSD
Radeon Pro Vega 56 with 8GB of HBM2 memory
this configuration is ok for rendering speed fast ?
thank you bro
Mahmud:
This should provide you lots of rendering performance. The speed of the CPU is less important than the speed of the Graphics card.
Larry
Hi, Larry, I bought iMac
3.8GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
8GB 2400MHz DDR4
512GB SSD
Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB video memory
Can you help me, I need to do partition on this 512GB SSD?
This iMac is for video editing.
Thanks.
Dinu:
You would use Disk Utility to partition the SSD, the same as a hard disk. What I would do is partition the SSD using Disk Utility. Since all SSDs are converted to APFS using High Sierra, you many need to create more than one APFS Container.
The bigger question is why are you creating multiple partitions?
Larry
I thought the first to be for the system and the second to work, I moved from PC to Mac. And in Windows I worked like that. Or better to leave one partition? Can you help me with this issue?
Thanks
Dinu:
There’s no need to partition unless you need to run multiple operating systems. The Mac is designed to have the OS and applications on the same drive.
Partitioning WOULD be required if you wanted to run both Windows and Mac on the same computer.
Larry
So I just bought an iMac tonight. I don’t see anywhere where it says anything about that Kaby Lake or Fusion. It’s an iMac 21.5 Retina 4K display. 3.0 GHZ quad core Intel I5 With 6MB shared L3 cache
8 GB DDR4, 1TB, Radeon pro 555 with 2 GB of VRAM
I don’t know much about video cards etc. so even though I bought it new it has the Intel instead of the Kaby Lake? Can I use Premier Sony Vegas on this?
Thanks
Jim
Jim:
Smile… I’m sensing some confusion here. Radeon is the GPU, which would also be considered the “video card,” It’s made by AMD. Kaby Lake is the CPU, it’s made by Intel. Premiere and Sony Vegas are two different video editing software programs. You can run Premiere natively on a Mac, but Sony Vegas would require you to buy Boot Camp, which installs Windows on the Mac.
Fusion is the internal hard disk – this is a combination of both an SSD and a spinning hard drive. My guess, since you have 1 TB of storage, is that you have an all-SSD internal drive, not a Fusion drive.
Larry
It says 1 TB 5400-rpm hard drive.
I would say you’re right with all the information you sent, and you’re right I do not understand a lot of this. I guess mainly what I’m searching for … I am producing a movie, but I am working with a multiple Emmy Award winning producer that will probably do the editing on this one. But I may want to start doing editing myself, would I be able to get premier or another editing software and edit a movie on this iMac?
Thanks!
Jim:
This will be a fine system to learn how to edit. Both Premiere and Final Cut Pro X will run on it easily. I would avoid running Boot Camp on it.
Larry
1st off, I have to say that out of all the articles ad videos I came across, your article helped me the most.
I am coming off a mid 2014 Macbook Pro to an Imac. The difference this time is my video card crashed on ,my Macbook Pro so I was forced to get a replacement immediately. I’m used to planning.
I was able to afford the 27 inch iMac (2017) with the i5 quad core processor, 8gb of ram and 1TB fusion drive. I’m used to having 16 gb of ram with an i7 processor. I edit radio & video commercials. My average video commercial is 60 seconds and for Instagram while the rest are 1080p for TV. Am I in a safe zone until I can afford to upgrade the ram? Also with 8gb of ram, should I get an external thunderport drive to edit on before upgrading the ram?
I know this was a lot and I would truly appreciate your feedback to calm my anxiety.
Dan:
Thanks for writing and the kind words!
Take a deep breath – your new system will do what you need. Yes, you should upgrade the RAM at some point, but, given the short duration of your projects, do this when you can afford it; it is not a crisis. Also, look for good 3rd party RAM – such as from OWC – because the upgrade is easy, even for inexperienced users.
I always recommend external storage – always – for media projects. It just makes your life simpler. And, yes, it should connect via Thunderbolt.
Larry
Hello dear, l need to purchase Imac 27 inch i5 3.4 ghz 5k 8 ram Radeon pro 555
I edite video less than 30 minutes , l normally edit videos from 60 sec to 3 minutes.
Should l buy that imac l don’t have enough money to buy with SSD
should l use external ssd when im editing?
Please help me…
Lysonchaps:
External media is always a good choice when working with media. However, it need not be an SSD. If you are shooting HD, a single drive connected via Thunderbolt will generally be fine.
Your system will be fine for most HD media editing. If you are editing 4K media or RAW files, more RAM will help.
Larry
Hi. I wish to purchase a Mid-2017 5K iMac. Can you recommend a good 2T SSD for this particular unit? Thanks so much, ctf
Craig:
Talk to the folks at OWC – http://www.macsales.com.
Larry
Larry, Thanks for years of service to editors all over. You replied to a post of mine on the Adobe boards and basically the upshot was my Late 2013 iMac with GXT775M graphics card was getting too old to handle the newer versions of premiere (2018) and 4K from a GH5 – even though the older 2017 premiere could do it.
SO – I’m looking at a refurbished 2017 iMac with the Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB card. I assume that will allow me to cut the 4K on a HD timeline NO PROXIES without endless beachballs?
Harry:
While I am not saying your 2013 system WON’T work, at some point you’ll find it seriously underpowered; so budgeting for a new system makes sense.
From what I’ve been told, 4K and higher resolutions requires a minimum of 8 GB of RAM. More would be better. Also, “4K” encompasses both HDR / RAW video as well as more pixels. I am very reluctant to promise that every version of 4K and HDR and RAW files will process on ANY system with no beachballs – this was the main reason that a smooth proxy workflow was invented, after all. However, I would expect 4K (non-HDR, non-RAW) files to edit smoothly on a system from 2017 without using proxies.
Larry
Hi Larry,
I have just bought an iMac 27″ i5 with AMD Radeon 580 in order to test if I could edit 4k material in Premiere Pro. I bought this since my MacBook Pro (15″ late 2013) with 16GB RAM is not able to do it. Unfortunately, however, I can tell you that the iMac 27″ with the base configuration of 8GB RAM is preforming not much better. Perhaps it’s because this is due to the lack to RAM, but I’m pretty tempted to go back to the store and simply get the iMac Pro. Do you think that upgrading the RAM will sort this?
Daniel:
4K requires more RAM, so adding RAM will help. But, if you can afford it, a 10-core iMac Pro will make handling 4K MUCH smoother.
You don’t need the 18-core version. Experience has shown the 10-core to be the best balance between performance and budget.
Larry
Hi Larry-
Thanks for providing this. Do you know how an iMac 2017 27″ could function with two additional monitors AND a thunderbolt connection to the footage drives?
Is there a dock system that provides Thunderbolt 3 ports that can power 2x monitors, while leaving another port open on the iMac for the drives.
The iMac definitely seems hampered by the lack of Thunderbolt ports as a true edit machine
N. Moby:
Remember, the Thunderbolt architecture supports six devices attached to one port. So connecting storage and monitors to the same port should not degrade performance. I have six RAID attached to one Thunderbolt 2 port with no degradation in performance. So, I don’t find the lack of ports a big problem.
Current Thunderbolt implementations support connecting one 5K monitor, or two 4K monitors. I attach monitors at the end of the storage, since storage has loop-through Thunderbolt ports, but monitors, generally, do not.
Larry
You provide great advice. Hope you can help me today – looking to purchase an IMac to upgrade from MacBook Pro (2013) 2.8 GHz i7, 16GB RAM, GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB. I annually produce an amateur family movie utilizing FCPX (video, photos, music) of 30 – 50 minutes in length. Current MacBook is too slow rendering! I’m a avid videographer and photographer of my family and work consistently through the year on those elements. I can afford a great system but don’t want to overspend for my needs. I’m thinking 27″ monitor, 3.8GHz, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD. More RAM? Which GPU? Thank you!
Chuck:
You are picking a good system. 16 GB of RAM is fine, the SSD is fine, get the best GPU you can afford – that’s where you’ll save the most time.
Larry
Thank you! A follow-up question – in your article you made a distinction: ‘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.’ Can you perhaps elaborate on this point? Something like – Compressionist do ‘this’ primarily thus requiring CPU power and Editors do ‘this’, thus requiring GPU power. Being an amateur, perhaps I just don’t understand what they do differently from each other. Sorry!
Chuck:
Changing the color of a pixel or resizing an image uses the GPU. Most compression codecs, however, are not GPU aware, so they only use the CPU.
For example, color grading, rendering, visual effects and exporting all leverage the GPU.
Larry