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Egurrola
Participating Frequently
December 20, 2017
Question

Which is better for 4K editing? Windows or iMac

  • December 20, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 1232 views

Which is better for 4K 24-bit editing? Windows with i9-7960X (2,8Ghz) or iMac with i5 (3,4Ghz). We are looking the best comfort solution for us.

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    1 reply

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    RjL190365
    Legend
    December 20, 2017

    Between those two, Windows by far. That's because the iMac with i5 that's currently available is based on a Kaby Lake CPU (only 4 cores and 4 threads), and is incapable of being upgraded to more than 32GB of DDR4 RAM. As such, that iMac will absolutely choke on 4K material, and is barely suitable for even 1080p.

    E
    EgurrolaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    December 21, 2017

    Ok, I have got the message about performance in "preview mode". Some ppl says that the main reason why they are using iMac is a ready-to-go hardware/software platform (real colors in retina display) and better optimalization in that order. Is anyone there who can confirm what is the best for 4K editing (smooth and comfort work in preview mode).

    R
    RjL190365
    Legend
    December 21, 2017

    It's not the OS or software platform. It's the hardware – the CPU and disk setup, in particular.

    No quad-core i5 system, whether Windows or Mac, can come anywhere close to comfortably handling 4k content for editing. Sure, you might be able to circumvent the weak CPU by using lower-rez proxies, but when it comes to exporting the video, that iMac would still have to render the 4k original – and that's where lesser CPUs such as that quad-core non-hyperthreadable i5 will become choked.

    And most iMacs have, and can only accommodate, a single internal disk for absolutely everything, which severely handicaps the practical disk I/O throughput. The only way that you can add even a second disk to an iMac would be via an external Thunderbolt or USB 3.x connection.

    And when you heard others say they use iMac for video editing, they typically use one of those configurations that include an optional and more expensive i7 CPU and not one of those with an i5.

    And stay away from the cheapest current iMac configuration if you're going to perform any serious video editing: Its i5 is a lower-power mobile CPU with only two physical CPU cores.

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