Final Cut Pro Minimum Requirements/Mac Pro alternatives

I'm buying a top spec Mac Pro and I will run FCP Pro on this. However I'd also like another cheaper machine on which to run FCP Pro on. I acept it will run a little slower, but that's fine. I want to avoid the iMac as I've already got a screen and don't want to take up more space. Which Apple laptop would do the job and what spec should I look at? Alternatively would a Mac Mini run FCP Pro, if so I assume this would need to be at full spec.
Thanks.

The MacBook Pro is generally recommended for FCP use.
When talking about the MacBook and Mac Mini, there is the issue of the integrated Intel GMA video card with a paltry 64Mbs of RAM. This isn't sufficient for using Motion, and is not officially supported by Apple.
People do report being able to run FCP on their MacBooks. However, it's generally not considered a fast or professional solution because the system aren't really specced for heavy video editing. I would be more hesistant about recommending the Mac Mini, though, because it still has not upgraded to the Core 2 Duo processor.

Similar Messages

Cannot install Final Cut Studio on new Mac Pro

When I go to install Final Cut Studio on my new Mac Pro, it tells me that "Final Cut Studio Installer requires that your system have a Quartz Extreme capable video card."
I have the ATI 5870 and, just a wild guess here, I'm betting it does support Quartz Extreme.
A software update doesn't help me here because I cannot get the software installed the first place to be able to update it. What should I do?

FCS 1...Final Cut Pro 5.0? Won't work on an Intel. PowerPC only. You need at least 5.1...which wasn't a free upgrade, so updating won't work. You need FCP 5.1, FCP 6 or the most recent FCP 7. Those are the only versions that will work on the newer macs.
Shane

How can I use Final Cut Express in a Mac Pro

I want to know how could I use my Final Cut Express HD programm (Version 3) in my new Mac Pro.

FCE 3.0 was not designed to work with Intel based Macs when they were introduced years ago so you have no chance with a modern Mac.
You must upgrade to FCE 4 unless you want to move onto Final Cut Pro X which is designed to be used with the latest technology.
Final Cut Studio 3 will also work OK.

How can Install Final Cut Studio in my Mac Pro Early 2009 ??

I have Final Cut Studio 7 NOT installed yet and Mac Pro Early 2009 with OSX 10.9.5. I have Final Cut Pro X Version 10.1.4 installed. Can I installed Final Cut Studio here together with FCPX ?? Maybe not. What is the best way to install FCP Studio??
Do I need to make a partition? How? If so, what is the best OSX Version for FCP Studio ?? 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9 ??
Thanks for any help I can get
Alberto Marban

Here is the Best Practice Guidelines from Apple:
Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4: Installation best practices - Apple Support
MtD

Final Cut 5 On A Mac Pro

I'm considering getting a mac pro 2.66 quad.
I have final cut studio and final cut HD wich came with my Power Pc.
The version of final cut pro is 5.
If i get the mac pro with the intel processor. can I use the final cut studio that I got with my power PC on it?
Thanks in advace
Dave

hi, Davemilton90:
Apple has a very special deal for us who has Power Mac version of Final Cut Pro (5.0 and older), before December 20 (post marked), we can paid 49.00 plus tax, and get the universal version of the new Final Cut Pro 5.1 (which works on both intel and IBM based Mac), it's called Final Cut Studio Corssgrade program.
You can find details on Final Cut Studio's hoomepge, just download the pdf form, send 49.00 + tax and the old final cut install DVD back to Apple, in return, we got the new version that works natively on both Power Mac and Mac Pro.
It's a good deal, don't miss it!!
KC

Installation of Final Cut Studio on new Mac Pro

Hello all,
I have just purchased a new Mac Pro, and am preparing to install Final Cut Studio upgrade. The wrinkle for me is that I have Final Cut Pro 3.02 installed on an old G4 Power Mac. I have two video projects on the old computer, also backed up on external drives, that I want to be able to edit on the new computer.
I am planning to install my old FCP software on my new Mac Pro, then install the FCS upgrade software. Is there anything I should know or do before doing this to make sure that I will not have any trouble either 1) installing Final Cut Studio upgrade, or 2) accessing my old FCP files.
Many thanks in advance for your wisdom and assistance.

I've successfully installed Final Cut Studio. Thanks, David, for the installation tip.
Now I am holding my breath that I will not have any trouble copying scratch files for my most important projects to my second hard drive, or opening these projects on my new computer.

Final Cut Express HD and Mac Pro Issue

Howdy all,
I have Final Cut Express HD version 3.0 (LAST year's version not this year's version). I've been using it for some time now on my G4 iMac, but just acquired a 2.66 GHz Mac Pro. I copied over the application and support files to the Mac Pro but when I try to run the program I get an error that I don't have an AGP graphics card. I tried following the advice in this thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=445909&tstart=60
But none of those suggestions work. Hitting the escape key just stops the program. Changing the plist file does nothing. The program attempts to start and then just stops.
I'd really rather not go out and buy this year's copy if I don't have to as Apple is probably going to be releasing a new version in a couple months anyhow and then I'll upgrade.
Please let me know if there is a work around for this. I would have posted in the other thread so as to not start a duplicate thread, but it had already been archived.
Thanks,
Jon
2.66 GHz MacPro, 30 GB iPod Photo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

if the OP used Migration Assistant or disk cloning
software to make a copy oif his system drive it is
possible to copy the app without using the
installation disks, although these methods of
transferring apps from PowerPC to Intel macs will
undoubtedly cause problems.
This doesn't make sense now that I think about it. If the Application is purely a PowerPC app, then copying to an Intel machine it or re-installing it from scratch should make no difference. The same stuff is all going to be installed anyhow.
To Ian,
It can be copied w/o installing, of that I am sure. You can't just copy the application package though. There's a number of support folders in both the /Library directory and ~/Library directory. Somewhere in there is the licensing info.
Anyhow, I'll try deleting all the plist files you suggest and starting over. If I have to, I will call Apple to see about getting my orignal code. After all, I have registered and they should be able to see each product I have purchased...

Final Cut Studio 7 and Mac Pro RAID recommendations

I have a Mac Pro (early 2008) with 4 x 750gb SATA drives and 1 Promise DS4600 eSATA, decked out with 4 x 1TB 7200 RPM drives.
I am considering the following setup for the disks. I am trying to make sure there is enough redundancy in the setup to survive a hard drive failure and enough performance to satisfy edit and uncompressed HD capture needs over a BlackMagic Intensity card (120mb/s required):
1 x 750gb RAID1 System Drive - Macintosh HD (internal drives 1 & 2), block size 32kb
1 x 750gb RAID1 for FCP Scratch - ScratchDisk (internal drives 3 & 4), block size 128kb
1 x 2tb RAID10 for FCP capture - FCP Capture (Promise DS4600), block size 128kb over eSATA
…purchase something for Time Machine backup or use CCC (external firewire800)
Anything I've missed or anything I should or should not do? Thanks for the input.

I know of audio folks that use mirror for live recording and editing, yes, but there they need multiple drives and to spread out their tracks and libraries and plug-ins, not HD video.
There are excellent RAID6 card setups that make sense. And stick with quality drives.
Audio high-end anyway use to mean SCSI and FibreChannel.
So yes, move project files to RAID6 would be a good move. And do 'torture' the drives to death - BEFORE they are used - for like a week at least, to work and break them in and iron out any bugs.
Use Enterprise RAID Enabled drives, stay off bleeding edge and use safe trusted and reliable equipment (drives, controller, software). One of the real "killers" is if you need new hardware, are forced into an OS that hasn't had a year of testing and your applications usually take 6-12 months (or more) to really be certified.
There aren't a lot of RAID6 controllers, but there are some, and some SAS/SATA.

CS4 Production Pro installation with Final Cut on same drive (mac)

Can the CS4 suite be installed and coexist with Final Cut Suite (not Final Cut X) on the same hard drive with mac os? Do not plan to open FCS apps while I am working on a project in CS4. Just want to see if I like the CS4 suite to make the transition from Final Cut Suite.
Will there be conflicts, bottlenecks, etc.
Thanks in advance.

no, I know that final cut pro 4 wont run on the macbook pro. I am wondering about the media files, capture scartch, quicktime etc. If I have final cut pro 5 on the macbook pro will it recognise those files and update them? Not the application itself but the files from the media created.
Basically I have projects I made in final cut 4 on the old system, that I want to work on in final cut 5 on the mac book pro. How do I do that?
sorry for being unclear.

Will Final Cut express work with MacBook Pro??

I am new to Mac and got my first Mac, MacBook pro. 2.4GHZ - 2.o Gig Memory.
Will this be enough or is there an hardware requirement that macbook pro does not come with?
iMovie 08 does not have the effects I was using in the old PC. Slow motion, combining many audio tracks, cross fade etc.
Thanks

Final Cut Pro is the same program (to all intents and purposes) as Final Cut Express and requires the same power of computer - no more, no less.
For most people, FCP will not do anything that FCE can't - apart from allowing you to use formats such as DVCPRO etc. that amateurs are unlikely to use. All the filters and transitions are exactly the same except for a couple of insignificant ones.
The only reason for buying FCP is in order to get all the other programs that are bundled with it.
Ian.

I can't get Final Cut back on my Macbook Pro

When I first installed Final Cut Studio on my Macbook Pro back in 2007, I manually removed the apps I didn't use that often to save space b/c my hard drive was almost full. I eventually removed all the apps from Studio, dragging them all to the trash can. Also deleted their folders in Library -> App Support to make room on the hard drive.
But now when I try reinstall these apps from the installation discs, Final Cut and others (like Soundtrack, Motion, etc.) are grayed out on the list, so I can't install them.
Did I go about deleting them in an incorrect manner that is now preventing me from adding them back?

Adwiz wrote:
needless complaining
You're wasting time because you have chosen to without provision. The first act performed upon receiving Final Cut installation disks is to create disk images of the application disks. Not only for backup but for time saving. Then if/when the time comes that you have to re-install the application you simply mount the disk images and perform the installation from them. This saves you the time of having to manually be there to swap through the DVD installation disks and the application is installed much faster because the installation is being read from your HD vs. the DVD's. Not to mention the time it takes to create the disk images in the first place mind you. Just do that during your off time. Create one when you wake up, one during your morning bike ride, one during your lunch hour, one during your evening bike ride, one during dinner, one while you're watching Survivor, and one before bed. Then boom - the next time you come into trouble and have to re-install everything from OS up you're optimized for a quick turnaround on your FCS re-installation. I do this for Macs in the classroom that need to be wiped clean for new lessons.
It takes about 15 mins. to install Snow Leopard on a blank HD and about and hour and a half to install FCS3 from the DVD's. Hardly a day or two. You can cut the FCS3 installation down to about 15 mins. if the application is saved to disk images on a mounted hard drive. So within 30 mins. you'll have a fresh OS and FCS installation using the method described.

Error messages I when install final cut studio on my Macbook Pro

Why am I getting error messages, I when install final cut studio on my Macbook Pro? The Mac book Pro is a 2.5 ghz 17'. The software; FC Studio is about a year old.
Boe

What error message(s) are you getting?
Also, if you don't get an answer here, you might post in the FCS discussion.

Which final cut is best for macbook pro with snow leopard?

which final cut is best for macbook pro with snow leopard?

Probably FCP 7 which is part of Final Cut Studio 3.

Final Cut Studio Vs Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.

What are the best reasons for purchasing Final Cut Studio over Adobe Premiere Pro CS5?
Thanks!

Hi friends i'ven reading your coments and my conclusions are CS5 is faster and has the same features and quality than FCP, i like to ask to Studio X if you know more FCP and you are a pro why? with facts because if i have to buy or say to a friend or client go and use one or another with real facts.
Example FCP has better color calibration, better final quality, more features or so.
Another curious thing is that jhon 1 in 2 said is better AVCHD compatibility or handle these are to consistent points that i can undertand as a normal person.
I can understand a point if you can say me why FCP is better with examples because i know much of hardware but a little of this software, i can give a big point to a software tha can use mi machine at full capacity because if i spend 10K$ in a computer i'd like a blazing fast one, if not is better to spend only 2.5K$ and wait the same amount of time for the same results.
Sorry for my english i'm not from USA so my vocabulary is short.

Why Final Cut X and Not Premier Pro?

I've been using FCP for many years and was shocked when FCX first came out. Thought it was just iMovie with a few more features. I know there was a big update to FCX which added a bunch of features that pros need (why Apple would didn't just wait 6 mos. and release THAT version first is beyond me, but that's another thread in itself).
I can't use FCP 6 forever, but I'm nervous to make the leap. I have to say, Premiere Pro CS6 is tantalizing and is fully supported people seem to love it.
I make :30 sec. TV/web spots mainly, with the occasional longer project thrown in. We already have CS5 so upgrading wouldn't be too bad.
Why Final Cut X and Not Premier Pro?
Any advice is appreciated.

Alex Campuzano1 wrote:
Why Final Cut X and Not Premier Pro?
Any advice is appreciated.
first of all: I'm no pro - my personal enthusiasm about FCPX doesn't help you
maybe some 'real world' examples from professionals using FCPX:
http://fcp.co/final-cut-pro/news/906-making-a-music-video-shot-on-red-composited -in-after-effects-graded-in-resolve-and-edited-in-final-cut-pro-x
http://fcp.co/final-cut-pro/tutorials/784-final-cut-pro-x-real-world-use-on-the- iditarod-sled-dog-race
or this example from the Ripple Team:
http://fcp.co/final-cut-pro/tutorials/905-lightning-fast-organisation-of-media-i n-final-cut-pro-x
... to illustrate the very different GUI and workflows of FCPX.
it's probably crucial when youre used to the 'old' (no offense ment!) metaphores.
I assume a perfect integration of Premiere with AE and PS ... (which would completely overstrain an hobbyist like me - way too much options ) - FCPX is in its actual version more an island (even no integration with/to Motion5)
best advice was already given twice:
test on your own - keep in mind: it is very different ....

Final Cut Pro Minimum Requirements/Mac Pro alternatives

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