2013 Refurb iMac or Red Rocket-X?

[BrendanLeahy]

Hey everyone,

I'm debating which to invest in. Currently, I have both a 2010 iMac and a 2013 Macbook Pro w/ retina. They've served me well for converted 1080p editing of RED footage, but I'd really like to:

1.) Avoid burning out my laptop for the conversions (the 2010 iMac takes an extremely long time)
2.) Wanting to eventually edit everything in 4K and beyond

Right now, Apple has 2013 refurbished iMacs for sale at a great price (which I would add RAM to later).

Alternatively, I could go for the Red Rocket-X at the discounted price, as I'm in line for an eventual Dragon upgrade.

Finally, a third option just presented itself: in September, Apple may be announcing an updated iMac (possibly retina, possibly 4K display).

Does anyone have experience, suggestions?

 

[Saumene Mehrdady]

hardware is NOT an investment. it'll be mostly worthless in a matter of years. get the best thing you can afford, upgrade it fully, and run it till it dies.

that being said, wait for the 2014 imac which is supposed to have a 4K display, thunderbolt 2, and a nvidia 800 series card. hopefully at the end of this year or early next year.

however, for the price of a maxed out imac, you can get an entry level mac pro....decisions decisions

 

[Eric Santiago]

That iMac will have a tough time dealing with 4K.

Still need a ROCKET.

Are you moving up to DRAGON?

I see decent priced ROCKETs in the Market section.

Some as low as 1000.00.

We've had great success using a Thunderbolt chassis and ROCKET for many years now.

And these are on MacBook Pros and Mac mini.

 

[BrendanLeahy]

Hey Eric and Saumene, thanks for the replies. I was wondering how quickly, though, the new Red Rocket-X might then become obsolete? It seems like machines are getting faster and more powerful, especially with the OpenCL and GPU acceleration RedCine-X is providing now.

 

[ericyoung]

That iMac will have a tough time dealing with 4K.Still need a ROCKET.Are you moving up to DRAGON?I see decent priced ROCKETs in the Market section.Some as low as 1000.00.We've had great success using a Thunderbolt chassis and ROCKET for many years now.And these are on MacBook Pros and Mac mini.

Original Rockets don't currently work with Dragon - and Red have made no indication of whether that will ever change, although many people with original Rockets have asked for a firmware upgrade to allow them to extend the life of the old cards.

 

[Saumene Mehrdady]

Hey Eric and Saumene, thanks for the replies. I was wondering how quickly, though, the new Red Rocket-X might then become obsolete? It seems like machines are getting faster and more powerful, especially with the OpenCL and GPU acceleration RedCine-X is providing now.

A rocket only makes sense if most of your projects have fast turnaround times, or you're on set and the producer is breathing down your neck etc, and you need to get stuff rendered out quickly. If you're working on mostly personal projects and stuff like that, the newest iMac w/ 780m nvidia card is more than adequate. Everything is moving towards the direction of the GPU these days. Snagging a used rocket card for under 1000 (i saw one for 500 a while ago) would be nice to augment your MX footage workflow, won't work with dragon though. But ideally you should wait for the 2014 iMac....

 

[BrendanLeahy]

A rocket only makes sense if most of your projects have fast turnaround times, or you're on set and the producer is breathing down your neck etc, and you need to get stuff rendered out quickly. If you're working on mostly personal projects and stuff like that, the newest iMac w/ 780m nvidia card is more than adequate. Everything is moving towards the direction of the GPU these days. Snagging a used rocket card for under 1000 (i saw one for 500 a while ago) would be nice to augment your MX footage workflow, won't work with dragon though. But ideally you should wait for the 2014 iMac....

Awesome. This helped me make up my mind - holding out for an iMac!