Which iMac to buy for DaVinci Resolve?

Get answers to your questions about color grading, editing and finishing with DaVinci Resolve.
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kipcraft

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Which iMac to buy for DaVinci Resolve?

PostWed Aug 08, 2018 11:50 am

Hi,

I'm looking into buying an iMac to use for editing (using Premiere Pro) and colour grading with DaVinci resolve.

I couldn't use DaVinci on my last computer as the graphics card wasn't good enough, but now that computer's broken I'd like to make sure the new one I buy is able to use DaVinci.

Are all iMacs able to run DaVinci? I'd imagine so but just wanted to check!

And also, which is the cheapest iMac people would recommend? I'm currently looking at the iMac with 4k Retina Display, but would the Mac Mini be good enough?

Thank you!
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Uli Plank

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Re: Which iMac to buy for DaVinci Resolve?

PostWed Aug 08, 2018 4:44 pm

The Mac mini is really outdated and not good enough.

If 4K is on your horizon, I'd go for the iMac 27" with the Radeon 580 Pro GPU.
If you will be happy with HD, the Radeon 560 is plenty.
My disaster protection: export a .drp file to a physically separated storage regularly.
Please visit digitalproduction.com/author/uliplank/

Studio 19.1.3
2017 iMac, MacOS 13.7.4, eGPU
MacBook M1 Pro and M4 Pro mini, MacOS 14.7.5
SE, USM G3
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JPOwens

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Re: Which iMac to buy for DaVinci Resolve?

PostWed Aug 08, 2018 4:54 pm

kipcraft wrote:which is the cheapest iMac people would recommend?


For reference:
https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/ ... _Guide.pdf

https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/ ... arison.pdf

If you are considering 4K+ workflow, then the BMD eGPU (Thunderbolt3) 580 is the matching parallel unit that should be part of your budget.

jPo, CSI
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Uli Plank

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Re: Which iMac to buy for DaVinci Resolve?

PostThu Aug 09, 2018 3:33 am

Second that.
While I can work in 4K just fine, the eGPU gave me (only had it on loan) about 80% more speed on rendering.
My disaster protection: export a .drp file to a physically separated storage regularly.
Please visit digitalproduction.com/author/uliplank/

Studio 19.1.3
2017 iMac, MacOS 13.7.4, eGPU
MacBook M1 Pro and M4 Pro mini, MacOS 14.7.5
SE, USM G3

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