What is the cheapest (Used) mac solution to get editing in CS5.5 at 1/4 res ?

[Joesef o.]

OK so I'm new to all of this, so please bare with me...


Right now I have a 13" MacBook Pro 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo ( a few years old now) with 8gigs 1067 DDR3 ram

I can barely get my Scarlet files to play back in CS5.5 at 1/8th res - let alone trying to get them to play back smooth with editing and things like that....


What is the minimum mac spec to get CS5.5 playing back smooth as glass in 1/4 res ? I was considering buying a new MacMini or some kind of used but newer iMac ... do those have the power to play back or am I kidding myself?

Also my other idea was to buy a used Mac Pro quad core tower (the ones with XEON 2.66 processor) I used to have that computer. If I load it up with ram would that handle this well or do I need to look somewhere else?

Ideally I'd be buying used, whatever Mac I'd buy, but if the price matches something new that can handle, I might wanna buy new... if its say, a macmini or iMac



Sorry for the stupid question, but I'm super new to handling R3D files, I'm used to XDCAM type footage which runs perfectly on my little 13" mbp

 

[Joesef o.]

nobody?

 

[Alexander Mejia]

I'm not as familiar with the Current Apple lineup for comptuers, but you could build yourself a $500 PC to do some screaming editing if you don't mind being attached to a desk to do work.

Of course I'm not sure if you can call adobe to switch a license, or if licenses are cross platform.