Please help deciding what to get

Hello everyone!

I do need your help deciding what machine would fit me best.

What I do: FCPX

• 1080p 60fps mainly.
• Two layers of video, maybe three.
• Subtitles sometimes.
• 2 or 3 audio tracks, WAV.
• The 85% of my exports are to H264.

Current machine: Mac Mini 6,2

• 2.6GHz Quad Core i7
• 16GB RAM
• Intel HD4000 graphics
• 256GB SSD in which I run the app, although all my media is in a 5400rpm 1TB drive.

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Problem: A 30 minute video with the characteristics I mentioned above might take up to 5h, including render + export to H264.

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Options?

1. nMP: €4,849.00 ($5,947.00)
   • Hexacore
   • 16GB RAM
   • Dual D500
   • 1TB SSD
   
   
2. New Retina iMac €3,479.00 ($4,267.00)
   • 4GHz QuadCore i7
   • 32GB RAM (Configured to 16GB + 16GB that I currently have installed in my Mini)
   • Radeon R9 M295X 4GB
   • 3TB Fusion Drive
   
   
3. Old iMac €2,929.00 ($3,592.00)
   • 3.5GHz QuadCore i7
   • 32GB RAM (Configured to 16GB + 16GB that I currently have installed in my Mini)
   • GeForce GTX 780M 4GB
   • 3TB Fusion Drive

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For what I've found out, the Retina iMac would probably be best. H264 exports are way faster in i7 than in Xeon cores due to hardware acceleration, so... I'd also like to note that I'm maxing it out due to the fact that one it's done, it's done. You can never upgrade the GPU or processor again.
Oh, and the Retina over the non-retina because it's much newer and it has such a wonderful display for around €600 more.

Any thoughts?

Thank you all very much!

I think you have perfectly answered your own question

At this moment the new Retina iMac would indeed be your best choice.

- Ronny

ronny courtens wrote: I think you have perfectly answered your own question

At this moment the new Retina iMac would indeed be your best choice.

- Ronny

Thank you very much Ronny.

I was talking to a friend of mine before, and he asked me something that made me realize I had forgotten to state something important in my OP:

I do apply several effects to the footage, usually to 1 layer of video, but sometimes to both. I usually do:

• Keyer
• Luminance Keyer
• Gaussian blur
• Manual color correction
• Manual exposure

Does that change anything?

Thanks a lot! I was going to edit my first message but found your reply. Sorry about that!

The keys and the color correction won't make much difference because they are realtime effects. The rendering of the Gaussian Blur effect will be faster on the new MP because of the dual GPUs, but for your type of work the new iMac is still the better choice.

- Ronny

ronny courtens wrote: The keys and the color correction won't make much difference because they are realtime effects. The rendering of the Gaussian Blur effect will be faster on the new MP because of the dual GPUs, but for your type of work the new iMac is still the better choice.

- Ronny

Thank you very much Ronny. One last question and I promise this one is easy.

I'd expect the iMac to last -at least considering its price- 5 years. After doing my numbers, the nMP should last at least 7. Should I still go for the iMac?

Again, thank you very much.