imac or mac mini for video editing

I'm actually considering a career in video editing. Right now I'm using an Early 2011 MBP 13". My mac has 4MB of ram. I noticed that the video the I'm editing sometimes does not run smoothly since I only have 4MB of ram on my computer. I'm thinking of purchasing another computer to the job for me. Is it much better to buy an imac for video editing rather than settling for a mac mini?

I've got an iMac and love it. Some tips: max out the graphics card and get the i7 processor. I'd also save money to buy a fast hard drive RAID and extra RAM. I buy my RAM from OWC and love them. I just got 32GB for $300 (and no, I don't work for them, but think their service is fantastic). Put it all together, it really depends on your budget. The MacMini has a weak graphics card, so it's not my first choice for an edit machine. FCPX loves a good graphics card.

Agreed. RAM before RAID, if you're on a budget. 16GB should do you really well, 8GB would be bare minimum. GPU is the single most important component, second to GPU, then drive speed and RAM. They all have an effect on the overall performance.

Thanks for your inputs. Anyway I would have to save up for a 21" imac.I plan to buy this one at macmall.com.

If you plan to go for the 21" iMac get to the MAX in RAM when you buy. This version isn't designed to be upgraded by users. The 27", on the other hand, can upgrade by users no problem.

This all depends on your budget and long term goals, but here are my thoughts.

If you are looking at becoming an editor that gets paid to edit, the computer you buy now will either need to get you through the learning stage, or last you through your first few years of paid gigs.

If you decide to go with the 21" iMac, you will probably have to replace it by the time you start getting paid gigs (maybe 1-2 years from now depending on your connections). It just won't be powerful enough with the GPU.

If you want to get something that will last you then you should go for the 27" iMac with the i7 and 2GB video card and SSD (not the hybrid drive). Then upgrade to 16GB of RAM from OWC. This is basically my setup except it's the 2011 model. Since you would be getting the new 2013 iMac, this setup would easily last you 5 years and you can add a powerful raid setup later. Right now you would be fine with a basic Thunderbolt drive and a Firewire 800 backup drive.

Either find a friend that works at an Apple retail store (they can get you 15% off (25% if the give you their discount). If you don't know anyone, then use the back to school discount which will give you like $100 off and then a $100 app store gift card that you can apply to your purchase of FCPX. Even if you're not going to school it's easy to get this discount through Apple.com or just go into a retail store with an old student ID or with a student friend, the specialists typically don't care (I know I didn't).

On a side note, does anyone with 32GB of RAM notice any difference between that and 16GB? I have 16GB available and FCPX usually maxes out around 8GB, sometimes it's gone up to 10GB, but that's rare. Seems like under normal circumstances 16GB is fine, but what would require the use of up to 32GB?

Thanks for your response. I'm on a tight budget right now so I might have to settle with the 21" imac with 8GB of ram.