iMac In The House

I’ve got a visiting computer — a brand-spanking-new Apple 20″ iMac. By and large, I really like it. A lot.

This particular iMac belongs to the church I work for. There are a few reasons I’m playing with it. First, it’s the computer that we’re going to be using to replace the aging PC in the sound booth, and so I have to learn it and the special software we’ll be using to manage the visuals during services.

The other reason it’s home is because I wanted to evaluate the machine itself. We’ve pretty much gone well beyond what we can reasonably expect from our current PCs, and it’s time for a new “production” machine for photo, audio and video work. As my time at GTV draws to a close, I’m finding that more and more production houses are using Final Cut Pro software, which is a Mac-only application. And, if I want to be able to get work in that field, I’m really going to need at least some basic knowledge of the software.

The mid-level iMac will run Final Cut Express, which is a version of the software that includes all the basics of the full-blown package. So, my plan now is to move to the Mac, instead of a new PC, and use it for all the visual and audio work, which will allow my PC laptop to function as a basic word processor/e-mail/web machine.

Fortunately, my Adobe Lightroom license can be easily transferred to a Mac, and I have access to a legally licensed version of the Adobe CS3 Production Suite, so my software costs will be fairly low — just the Final Cut software, and a couple of other applications.

Now, if I can just get that PA system sold …