Buying My First PC (seeking advice)

[MattWard99]

Hey Everyone,

As a life-long Mac user, I think I'm ready to take the plunge and buy my first PC... unless anyone can propose any last minute arguments in favor of staying with Apple?

My primary motivation for switching to Windows is because I want to work with Premiere Pro (that, and I don't have a ton of money to spend), and from what I can tell, it runs the same on both PCs and Macs, but the render time is a lot faster on PCs (correct?).

To be honest, I'd probably stay with Apple if I could afford it -- as I mentioned, I've been a Mac user all my life, so I'm way more familiar and comfortable on that platform. But as I also mentioned, I don't have enough money to upgrade to an iMac with enough juice to run Premiere Pro.

So my first question is... does anyone have any specific PCs (make and model) that they recommend I get?

My budget is around $1,400 - $1,600.

Second question... I'm aware of what the "minimum system requirements" are to run PP on Windows, but when shopping for my first PC, should I just be looking for a unit that meets these requirements, or something that goes "above and beyond"? And if it's the latter, how much "higher" should I aim for (and why)?

Lastly, as a (soon-to-be) first-time Windows owner, what other questions should I be asking? What other considerations should I be considering, system-wise or otherwise?

Thanks! I really appreciate any and all advice that anyone can provide.

Best,

Matt

[Peru Bob]

Moved to the Hardware Forum.

[MattWard99]

Apologies for posting in the wrong forum, and thanks for moving to the right one!

-Matt

[RjL190365]

Matt,

You should get the most powerful-performing PC build that you can get in this price range. If you cheap out and get a system that just barely meets Adobe's minimum requirements, your editing experience will be very frustrating because although the program will start up, you might not be able to perform any tasks at all within the program because the performance then would have become excruciatingly sluggish.

On top of what I stated above, Adobe has not really updated its minimum hardware requirements in some time. Thus, the minimum system might not even run Premiere Pro at all.

Randall

[MattWard99]

Randall,

Thanks for taking the time to respond and, no, I certainly do not intend to "cheap out" and will definitely go for the most powerful build that I can get in the price range mentioned.

Since you say that Adobe hasn't recently updated their system requirements, what level of system specs should I aim for if I want a guaranteed quality performance from Premiere Pro (no sluggish-ness, etc.)?

For example, should I assume that I need DOUBLE the minimum system requirements listed (e.g., 32 GB of RAM instead of 16 GB?, etc., etc.), just to be on the safe side?

I know I'm asking newbie questions, but when it comes to PCs, I'm definitely a noob.

Thanks again!

Matt