MacBook vs. MacBook Pro - Video editing

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Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Would the 2.16 MacBook Pro be significantly superior to the MacBook (black) for video editing.



I'm thinking of a little more than iMovie, maybe the level of Final Cut Express...



What do you think?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    buddhabuddha Posts: 386member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dulcimer47 View Post


    Would the 2.16 MacBook Pro be significantly superior to the MacBook (black) for video editing.



    I'm thinking of a little more than iMovie, maybe the level of Final Cut Express...



    What do you think?



    The processor speed will make a very subtle difference, I highly recommend getting 2GB of ram for whatever model you choose. A black MacBook with 2GB of ram would probably be better for editing than a 2.16 Ghz MacBook Pro with 1GB of ram.



    Ram>Processor Speed
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  • Reply 2 of 8
    sennensennen Posts: 1,472member
    screen size will be a factor - without an external monitor of some kind, you might feel that the MB screen is too small. with an external monitor, however, the smaller MB really should be virtually as good as the MBP for running FCP, as the GPU doesn't really come into play using FCP. if you are planning to use motion (part of the FC Studio), however, MBP is the way to go.
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  • Reply 3 of 8
    ibuzzibuzz Posts: 135member
    I have a G5 iMac rev c. My first imac G5 was a rev A that died. It had 64Mb vram i believe. when I got the rev C replacement everthing else was virtually the same except the vRam. I thought I could tell a big difference in video playback. I ran tests of HD trailers and the frame rate went from about 5-8 to 12-18 as I recall. I'm not up on the technology of why, but I thought the extra vRam made a big difference on playback of video. May not affect editing per say but may affect the playback of your DVD's.

    cheers

    buzz
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  • Reply 4 of 8
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sennen View Post


    screen size will be a factor - without an external monitor of some kind, you might feel that the MB screen is too small. with an external monitor, however, the smaller MB really should be virtually as good as the MBP for running FCP, as the GPU doesn't really come into play using FCP. if you are planning to use motion (part of the FC Studio), however, MBP is the way to go.



    It should be noted that the new Final Cut Studio does not support integrated graphics cards.



    http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/specs.html



    So if you ever plan on upgrading to FCPS 2, keep this in mind.
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  • Reply 5 of 8
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jonecat View Post


    It should be noted that the new Final Cut Studio does not support integrated graphics cards.



    http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/specs.html



    So if you ever plan on upgrading to FCPS 2, keep this in mind.



    Final Cut Express, however, does work with the integrated video. So maybe it is Motion that raises the requirements for Final Cut Studio.
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  • Reply 6 of 8
    sennensennen Posts: 1,472member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jonecat View Post


    It should be noted that the new Final Cut Studio does not support integrated graphics cards.



    http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/specs.html



    So if you ever plan on upgrading to FCPS 2, keep this in mind.



    the old FCS was the same, i'm pretty sure you'll find, but it still installs and runs perfectly well - according to those who have done it. Final Cut Pro should be fine, it is Motion that requires the GPU, though haven't read enough about Color to know if it has similar demands.
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  • Reply 7 of 8
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,954member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sennen View Post


    the old FCS was the same, i'm pretty sure you'll find, but it still installs and runs perfectly well - according to those who have done it. Final Cut Pro should be fine, it is Motion that requires the GPU, though haven't read enough about Color to know if it has similar demands.



    It makes sense that Motion would be the biggest issue. Color shouldn't be a big deal, there is a 3D representation of colors but every demo I saw was very low intensity 3D. It was mostly particle-like with a few line-art like primitives. I've seen a few demos of Motion, I don't think it's a program that you want to do without if you go to the expense of buying FCS2.
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  • Reply 8 of 8
    sennensennen Posts: 1,472member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    It makes sense that Motion would be the biggest issue. Color shouldn't be a big deal, there is a 3D representation of colors but every demo I saw was very low intensity 3D. It was mostly particle-like with a few line-art like primitives. I've seen a few demos of Motion, I don't think it's a program that you want to do without if you go to the expense of buying FCS2.



    the cameras and 3d in motion 3 look great, what i've seen so far. FCS is quite an amazing bundle now. same price as what FCP stand-alone used to be, isn't it? whilst its something you'd (eventually) want to make use of it, i suppose what i was getting at was that if you want to edit in FCP, then a macbook -is- a decent option. if you want to make use of the whole suite, an MBP is the way to go...
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