If you have any intentions of using an AVCHD device, buy FCS. HD is ok on the 24″ iMac if it is captured from tape in the HDV format; however, I believe the AVCHD codec will bring your Mac to its knees. I just abandoned Premiere Pro CS4 and switched to FCS because the ProRes codec will allow me to edit without upgrading my iMac. Mine is a 24″ with a 2.93 ghz processor. It works fine but the encoding is still long and painful. Gerry in Calgary.
