is The 24' M1 iMac Good for Video Editing? - 4K & 8K TESTED!

Should you buy a 4.5K iMac for FCX, Premiere Pro, or DaVinci Resolve 17 Video Editing?

In this video, I edit Canon EOS R5 10-bit 4K HEVC 4:2:2 footage and Sony A7sIII 10-bit 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 video at 4K 24fps, 4K 30fps, 4K 60fps, and 8K 24 and 30 FPS using Final Cut Pro X 10.5 and premiere Pro 2021 Beta for Apple Silicon and Davinci Resolve 17 studio using the 2021 4.5K M1 iMac with 16GB of RAM. I also talk about Fan noise and CPU temperatures and if the iMac has any thermal throttling or overheating as well as what spec to buy.

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[Techrongaming]

My mother was single with 5 kids and only a graphic design degree and no computer to do it with. (Around 1999 I wanna say) a brand new clear teal-ish iMac was delivered to our door, obviously sent by a friend or neighbor who knew there was a need. To this day our family has no idea who sent it, and although we were still incredibly poor, we were able to survive. Those old clear iMacs, odd as they looked, hold a special place in my heart.

[motionfxes]

Hi Max. Great review, as always. As a suggestion, I would like to see how the M1 performs with titles, complex templates, power hungry plugins, etc. Most of that stuff relies on GPU power and there are usually not included in those comparisons. Thanks for the video!

[roguewavecreative]

I have a small creative agency and we got 16gb 8 - 8 and we made sure all software was m1 compatible. We recently ditched Adobe finallyz and went with Affinity and FCP. I am blown away by the performance. We even have m1 mba (8-7 with 16gb) we use when traveling and so far it works really well. My hope for this is at this price point it will work for most creatives. I get people want more gpu and some need it but for a fast majority of not only casual but creatives I sincerely think this can work? Again, I get some people will ned more. We shot a commercial and editing on our m1 imac was super sweet. One thing I noticed to which this could be a personal thing but the 24” screen with smaller bezels feels like more than enough room. It really does. I know some people like bigger or multiple screens. I really enjoy the size and again this is personal but I get overwhelmed by multiple screens or too big.

[OnlyAntonis]

iMac M1 with Final Cut is just so perfect!
iPad M1with Final Cut would be a dream!

[stephenbrowne]

These are my favourite videos of yours, I look forward to the M1X/M2 reviews (MBP, Mini and hopefully a larger iMac) for my next purchase. Knowing how the computers work with compressed codecs is super helpful for those who want to save storage space and record to SD cards without purchasing accessories like external recorders for ProRes etc.

[frankc.]

Glad to see that this is a good option for video editing! I will be picking mine up Wednesday, thankfully I spent the extra $200 and I am learning with Final Cut! I'm excited to start this new journey! Thanks for the info!

[TheJungleDiaries]

This also tells me I should give up on editing in Premiere 😩

[maxone]

On the 8K export part, the chart says 4K. In nearly every video lately, there are mistakes in the charts, very confusing. Please pay more attention to that but other than that, very good job with the work you put in.

[sirkazm]

I ordered this machine to hold me over. ‘Cos I am really waiting for the Mac Pro to get that new chip.

[AstralxProd]

I bought a used 27 inch 2020 iMac, and from what I can see that 5700 graphics card is still more powerful than what the m1 can currently do for heavy video editing. I edit music videos with a ton of layers/effects ect.. so that raw power is very noticeable.

[TheBanterLounge]

Good to have you back Max. Feels like you haven’t posted in years!

[DynamicPhil]

When are you guys going to test an actual real world project with transitions, effects, speed ramping, etc? Every video you show the same few test clips playing on loop. This makes no sense to an actual video editor as no real world project would be structured in such a simple way. True testing is more than just playback speed of the same clip over and over again or exporting of that same clip looped for 5 minutes.

[TheWhiskyExplorer]

Thanks Max! This was very helpful. Ordered my machine today!

[joepineirofilms]

Definitely want to see that video with the two going head to head

[Gamerz.]

test out after effects i would like to see how well the m1 handles it

[cactustweeter]

For what it's replacing I think it is a great improvement.

[noelli]

Reflection rate of the screen on iMac 24 seems to be higher than iMac 27.

[jaimeduncan]

Answer : no for high resolution and / or high production. For more casual work, yes. We have to take into account the future.

[reneskou]

Lovely work you do! - would love too see that you also test professionel codec as ProRes and mxf all-I codec. Personsonally I never edit h264 or h265.

[jamesbridges]

Everyone wait for the 30” IMac…this new one is for consumer only.