slight request for advice

[jeremyshaw]

Hello,

a while ago, I got an iPad, now got an iPhone from someone for Christmas, which has grown on me (one of a very few [perhaps only] high end phones I have used, that have any real focus on music playback quality & experience, IMO) since then.

At this point, even with iOS 5, I'm looking towards getting the cheapest reasonable mac to run an iTunes library for streaming, iPad/iPhone sync (WiFi Sync, too?), and get in the waters of OSX video tools (I have several friends who swear by FCP - would help me learn, at any rate).

So to keep costs down, I am looking at the base, and HD6630m Mac Mini.

The cost difference is not that big of a deal to me, however, I do want to know:

Is the HD6630m of any benefit in OSX? Does it benefit FCP? Would the GPU be of any benefit to the OSX main desktop at 2560x1440.

I decided to keep the Mac Mini Server with the quad core out of it, since I would rather get the MBA11 at that range.

Thank you!!

-Jeremy

 

[Ampsonic]

Yes, the dedicated video will make a big difference, especially while editing.

I'd also load it up with as much ram as possible (but don't buy the ram from apple)

 

[Peteman100]

Yeah, it looks like FCP is GPU accelerated for some tasks

 

[shoota]

For integrated gpus I always recommend getting all that you can afford. With the frequency of new gpu releases getting a good one now can have a big impact on the longevity of the system, especially when video demanding tasks like FCP are in the mix.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Alright, thank you judging by the responses, it seems like gpu is a big amount of help in FCP; not like premier's limited "gpu acceleration."

I'll get the hd6630m version today then.

 

[shoota]

Cool! Enjoy!