For video editing, is the new 13" MBP enough? Or should I go for 15"?

For video editing, I will be using both Final Cut Pro 7, and Adobe CS5.
Is the new 13" Macbook Pro enough? I'm asking both for the lower-end and higher-end 13". Or should I just go with the 15"?
I'm just seeking for opinions from more experienced mac users, since this is my first transfer from Windows to Mac. Also, I'm taking into consideration in the price difference among these different models.
Thank you very much

It will render much faster on the new quad cores then any other MBP ever made. This new release is really a pretty major deal in the laptop world to my thinking. If I didn't just get a new iMac, I would be probably getting one. I don't do a lot of video and I use FCE not Pro so my need isn't as great, but I do a lot of photography and with several things open at once so the power matched with sufficient ram is pretty amazing. But is it absolutely a must? I had a friend who just until this year was a film music editor and he was using Pro Tools on a G4 Power Book though he had to start working around the machine limitations at the end of the day, but it is possible. Still for the money, the new machines are a great deal at pretty much the same price as what they are replacing. I know I'm advocating here, but I'm just a user not and employee:)

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Seeking Laptop Recommendations For Video Editing On-The-Go (Around $1,000)

Hi there,
I am seeking recommendations for a laptop great for video editing. I am a YouTuber with an on-the-go lifestyle.
Budget is $1,000ish.
I need to be able to physically lock the laptop with one of those holes on the side.
I want to be able to multi-task well by having a variety of programs open at once.
Thanks for the help.

Well that is a tall request Take a look at this factory refurbished starter unit. I acquired a similar refurbished unit just a year ago and upgraded it with more RAM and SSD drives. The upgrade process is extremely simple. You could start with the unmodified unit and as you run into performance problems upgrade gradually. My laptop is now editing three camera timelines of AVCHD 1920 x 1080 with ease. I now have 24 GB of RAM and got rid of the 1 TB 5400 rpm by cloning it to a 128 GB SSD drive and adding a second very good SSD in the available port. Removing one screw gives you full access to do this. Here is a picture of the bottom of my laptop.
Edit, I just checked and it does have a Kensington security slot
You do realize that the only way to do video editing is to have the laptop AC powered.

Computer for Video Editing for the Present and Beyond

In an earlier post I announced that I have been a Premiere Elements user since Day One, and I also mentioned I was looking to have a new computer built from scratch rather than purchase from Dell or HP. I am close to finalizing that build, and am looking forward to upgrading to Elements 8.0. I am also looking forward to becoming a subscriber to Muvipix.com. Becoming a part of the Adobe Premiere Elements Forum coupled with being an eventual subscriber to Muvipix.com has elevated my enthusiasm for video editing. Special Thanks go to Bill Hunt and Steve Grisetti for anchoring this Adobe Pre E Forum. Your advice has motivated me to take my video editing with Premiere Elements to another level.
Speaking of advice, what does everyone think of the following specifications for my new computer? Is this a solid computer for video editing? In some cases some components lack specificity (model numbers, brand names, et cetera). Suggestions and comments will be greatly appreciated as I take this final step. Thanks to all!
ATX Antec     193 Computer Case
X58 ASUS      Motherboard
Core      i7- 930 Processor (1366)
700W     OCZ Power Supply
Triple     Channel DDR3 (6 GB RAM - 3x2GB)
64-bit      Windows 7 Home Premium
(2) Western     Digital 1T HDDs
22xDVD+/-RW      Burner
ATI Radeon 4670 Video Card DDR3 (dual     monitor support)

jcrystal76 wrote:
I read your computer spec sheet. Thanks for sharing. You said the ideal thing to do is use the computer just for video editing. Best way to go. However, you still need an OS, which requires updates. And you need to update drivers, and then there are product updates and add-ons. You need to connect with the Internet to do all of this
I do not have $$ or space to have 2 computers, so my single computer is for day to day work, and video editing as a hobbyist... which of course is not "ideal" for video editing... but I don't make $$ at this, so I use what I have
I am still learning about Win7 64bit, so do not have all the startup process optimized... that is my next project, to figure out what does not need to be running, and remove that un-needed stuff from the startup
You also asked about backup... the IMAGE program I use is mentioned in http://www.pacifier.com/~jtsmith/ADOBE.HTM#SmartOwn
I make a boot drive image to external USB hard drive before installing any new software

What is the best Apple notebook for video editing and pro music creation?

What is the best Apple notebook for video editing and pro music creation?
I know I could opt for the most expensive and probably get what I want that way, but I´m not made of money, so what are your suggestions for minimum criteria and which would you recommend?

MacBooks Pro are great Macs with a good hardware, so all of them will work for the use you want, but I think that you want the biggest display possible because of your uses. In this case, it has to be a 15-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro, with the settings you want. Note that, after buying the Mac, you can upgrade the HDD and memory without voiding the warranty, so you are free to install as much memory and the HDD size you want after buying it. It's my opinion, but you are free to do whatever you think it's better

Which Macbook Pro for Video Editing

I'd like to buy a macbook pro for video editing on the go and with all the available features, I can't tell which is best.
I use final cut pro 7 and all footage is HD.
RAM?
7200rpm vs. 5400 ?
DUAL CORE vs. QUAD
INTEL GRAPHICS?
RETINA?
It's all very confusing, especially since I haven't looked into buying another mac since I purchased an iMac in '07 (which still rocks).

- Get either a 7200 or SSD internal drive
*You'll need an external hard drive that runs at least 7200rpm for your media (scratch disk)
- If you can affor it, go with a Quad Core
- For graphics, I believe all the new MacBook Pros come with Intel HD Graphics 4000
- As for CPU speed and RAM, they really go hand in hand with video editing.
- CPU speed doesn't help if you do not have sufficient RAM cover all of needed video/audio/effect editing and rendering processes.
- Slower CPU with more RAM means that procesess get covered by the additonal RAM, but will take longer to render and preview during editing.
*So when choosing CPU and RAM, do not sacrifice one for the other.
You can always upgrade RAM later if you can't afford it now.
- Retina? Doesn't make much of a difference for you. You're not editing 4k video so chose what you like better, or can afford.
Here a post that goes over some basics

Advice on Pc build for video editing with Premier Pro

I have recently managed to save up £1500 for a new PC for video editing. The following are the specs I am considering for the build:
Intel Core i7 3770K,1155, Ivy Bridge, Quad Core, 3.5GHz, 5 GT/s DMI, 650MHz GPU, 8MB Smart Cache, 35x Ratio, 77W,Retail
256GB Samsung 840 Pro Series Basic, 2.5" SSD 7mm 3-core MDX, 21nm Toggle NAND, Read 540MB/s, Write 520MB/s
850W Corsair Professional Series Gold 850AX, Modular, 90%Eff', 80 PLUS Gold, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX, PSU
16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Jet Black, PC3-17066 (2133), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 10-11-11-31, XMP, 1.5V
2TB WD WD2002FAEX Caviar Black, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache OEM
Pioneer BDR-207EBK Blu-ray Writer Quad Layer 12x BD-R, x8 DVD±DL x16 DVD±R Up to 128GB Retail
Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two V3 Mid Tower ATX Case, USB3, With Side Window w/o PSU
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D PCI-E Soundcard 5.1Ch THX/Dolby Optical In/Out OEM
Asus P8Z77-V, Intel Z77, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 3.0 (x16), DisplayPort/ DVI-D/ HDMI, ATX
2GB EVGA GTX 670, 28nm, PCIe 3.0 (x16), 6008MHz GDDR5, GPU 915MHz, Boost 980MHz, Cores 1344 +Free to Play Bundle
Edimax EW-7722PnD N600 Wireless Dual-Band PCI Express Adapter Dual 300N
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit SP1, Operating System, Single, - OEM
I have been advised to get a full size case rather than a midi. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated!

The advice to get a bigger case is correct. That GTX 670 will be a very tight squeeze inside that Antec 902 case due to the way the interior of that case itself was designed: The hard drives will interfere with the motherboard's expansion slots, restricting the length of those cards that will fit to only 9.5 inches long. Unfortunately, although a reference GTX 670 is about 9 inches long, higher-end GPUs will not fit if the PCI-e x16 slot is inline with an installed hard drive.
Speaking of the GTX 670, it is clearly overkill on any system that's equipped with only 16GB of RAM total. Plus, you will need a third-party CPU cooler in order to perform any overckocking whatsoever of the CPU. Unfortunately, the Corsair Vengeance heat spreaders are extremely tall (over 50mm high!) that they will prevent proper installation of any decent tower-style CPU air cooler, especially if all four DIMM slots on the motherboard are being used. You will need 32GB of RAM plus at least a good third-party CPU air cooler such as a Cooler master Hyper 212 EVO (and overclock the CPU to over 4.0GHz) in order for that system to utilize anywhere near the performance capability of the GTX 670.
Third, you do not need that particular Sound Blaster card at all: Its sound quality is surprisingly poor for a such a pricey discrete add-on sound card (or put it this way, it does not sound anywhere close to sufficiently better than on-motherboard audio to justify its cost).

Multiple Hard Drives for Video Editing with Premiere Elements 8?

I'm using Premiere Elements 8 for video editing. These are the specs I'm using:
The camcorder I used to shoot the footage is a Sony Handycam with model number HDR-SR12. It's a digital HD video camera recorder that shoots in NTSC 1920x1080i HD recording. The footage was shot with AVC HD 9M (HQ), which records in higher image quality mode. The video camera is connected to my computer through a USB cable.
The computer itself is a Windows 7 desktop computer. The CPU is an HP Pavilion Elite HPE-150f PC with Intel Core i7-860 processor. I imported the video into Premiere by selecting "File" --> "Get Media From" and then choosing the third option from the top.
My import option is NTSC/AVCHD/Full HD 1080i 30 5.1 channel, which matches the specs of the camera I shot the footage with.
Even with the patch 8.0.1 that should be preventing crashing, the program keeps crashing upon startup with one specific video project. Using the exact same video files for that project, I recreated the video, with Elements, and never ran into the problem. Both times, I had the patch installed.
At the moment, I am using only the single internal hard drive for everything (software, OS, video editing, etc.). It is 1 TB in size. However, I am informed that one hard drive is not recommended for video editing, and that I need at least two hard drives, one for OS and one specifically for video editing. I was also informed of FireWire 800 and eSata; however, it does not appear that my computer supports eSata.
Can this problem be resolved if I have an external hard drive and connect it to my computer with FireWire 800 (which the computer supports)? If not, what can be done so this problem doesn't arise in the future?
Thanks for the help.

staring-into-space wrote: My import option is NTSC/AVCHD/Full HD 1080i 30 5.1 channel, which matches the specs of the camera I shot the footage with.
When you import the footage is there a red line across the whole of the timeline?
staring-into-space wrote:
I recreated the video, with Elements, and never ran into the problem.
As you have the recreated project working fine I'd be inclined to put this down as a one-off glitch. If it happens again on a different project then it may be more worrying. You may want to consider using save-as to create multiple versions of your project (note this does NOT duplicate the source clips - so you won't be eating up much extra disk space). You could for example use save-as to create a daily version - ProjectName-Mon, ProjectName-Tue etc....
Cheers,
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

LCD Monitor for Video Editing: Resolution Concern

I am trying to select an LCD monitor for my newly built computer. I have zeroed in on the DELL SP2309W, 23" Full HD Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor with Webcam. The optical resolution is Higher than Full HD at 2048 x 1152.
It is my understanding that Higher than HD Resolution is good for multi-tasking (but DVD movies get stretched and therefore the quality of your videos goes down.), but is it good for video editing with Premiere Elements 7 or 8? Should I be looking at monitors with 1920 x 1080 resolution?

If you run in anything other than the LCD's native resolution your graphics card will be resampling the image. This inevitably distorts the image as pixels must be discarded to create the display. Typically this softens the image.
Cheers,
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

The new i mac is it good for video editing

apple just release 2 new models of imac they still looking very good but they are considerable cheaper so i wonder if any of these models good for video editing.

some say the pice cut is not worth it
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/07/1099-imac-review-lose-50-of-your-performanc e-to-save-18-of-the-money/

IMac vs the new Mac Pro for video editing in FCPX?

Hi.
I am currently using a macbook air for all my editing and rendering of videos in FCPX. The editing process is reasonably smooth when dealing with shorter clips, but when I tried to edit multicam clips, things started to slow down. Also, the rendering and compression processes are tedious. I am planning to edit and process a much larger number of videos in the next years to come, so I have decided to do a serious upgrade of my system.
For the moment, I am torn between a maxed out iMac 27", which would be the cheapest alternative, and the 6 core Mac Pro or 4 core Mac Pro.
When I look at benchmarks of the new Mac Pro's in Geekbench, the iMac is never very far away in terms of performance. Does tests like this tell anything about how well the Mac Pro will perform in FCP? Does the hardware in the Mac Pro have features which makes it superior to the iMac, in other ways than for example the "pure power" of the CPU and GPU?
Christopher.

FCP X 10.1, Motion 5.1 Updates w/Dual GPU Support (new Mac Pros) (from Thursday)
Apple released Final Cut Pro X 10.1 Thursday with support for Dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro and more.
Long list in the Final Cut Pro X 10.1 Release Notes that also links to info on How to back up important FCP X 10.0.x files before updating. (Today's Apple docs listing also has more related to Final Cut Pro X 10.1.)
Also out today are Compressor 4.1 and Motion 5.1. Full release notes below but here's a clip from the App store Motion 5.1 changes:
Optimized playback and rendering using dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro
FxPlug 3 with custom plug-in interfaces and dual-GPU support
Faster project loading, especially for complex projects
Share directly to YouTube at 4K resolution
Spanish language localization
Dual FirePro Dxxx Rendering FCP-X
http://www.barefeats.com/tube05.html
Intel Xeon processors are designed to run 24/7 and stay cool and under load.
Mac Pro so far hold up strongly for years, easy to add and upgrade RAM and processor, and maybe, hopefully, even the twin GPUs. Thunderbolt2 for all your projects and storage as well.
6 or 8-cores is going to walk away from iMac which is breathing hard and not designed for constant heat. Haswell was designed to conserve and reduce.

Recommended ExpressCards for new 17" MBP for video editing

Ok, so after sitting on the fence for months I had to buy the new 17" MBP. I just couldn't wait any longer and my trusty PB G4 is getting slow.
After reading the enormous amounts of posts I can see why people are so upset about losing the ExpressCard slot in the 15" models.
But, for the 17" models does anyone have any good suggestions of Expresscards? And what is the optimum set-up I should go for?
I am an Avid and Final Cut editor using a 4-pin Firewire Sony DVCAM deck and two Western Digital External Drives daisy-chained together.
Would love some advice.
thanks!

The Sony DVCAM is FW400 (aka iLink, aka IEEE1394a), so a 4-pin-to-6-pin or -to-9-pin cable will do. I'd get the 4-pin-to-9-pin (FW800 is fully backward compatible with FW400) so you can connect directly to the MBP's FW800 port, if needed. You can just get a FW800 ExpressCard, since it's backward compatible.
I'd recommend this one:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fw800expresscard34.html

Thinking to buy a new 15inch macbook pro retina display. Aim to use it for video editing and compositing... Is ıt worth for it?

Hi... I am a freelance filmmaker. Now I have 2008 model mac pro and I am thinking to buy a new macbook pro 15 inch retina display. Do you think its worth for it? I aim to use the macbook mainly for video editing, video compositing (after effects) and photo editing. My current old mac pro has 12 GB and the graphics card is ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB (Yes I still use it). My main question is, do you think its better to move to macbook pro or upgrading the old one? Making it 32 GB of RAM and buy a new NVIDIA cuda capable graphic card? I dont have enough budget to make it together... Want to hear your suggestions...

I'm not sure, I've seen pro animators use MBPs but usually with a large monitor. Especially doing video editing, compositing and editing it might make more sense to upgrade the Mac Pro to an SSD as the boot drive. What kind of CPU setup is in your Pro?
Check these out:
mac pro SSD upgrades?
SSD as system disk while users folder + data on HDD
Early 2008 8-Core Mac Pro GPU Upgrades
I deal exclusively with OWC. I'd call them and walk them through your system and see what they say.
What you do takes a lot of CPU, RAM, graphics and boot disk power.
I've upgraded my two computers to SSDs and the first thing I noticed was that Photoshop CS6 opens in 7 seconds vrs. 50 seconds when the application was on a HDD.

Better for Video Editing? MBP 13" or 15" w/9600M GT

I am planning on purchasing a Macbook Pro for relatively extensive use of Final Cut Pro (HD video) along with possibly some light Motion work and video transcoding. In addition I will be using it for photo editing and web editing. I don't plan on using it for any high-end gaming.
I will be purchasing a $200 24" external monitor to use most of the time along with external keyboard and mouse (so MBP screen size isn't an issue), but I need the portability and don't have the funds to purchase an additional dedicated desktop yet.
I am having trouble deciding between the 13" and the 15", mainly due to conflicting opinions I've been hearing over the importance of a dedicated graphics card for video editing. Salespeople at the Apple store tell me it's important and I should get the 15". Research online yielded heated forum arguments over whether it really makes a difference or not.
The price difference is quite significant though at the configurations I picked ($765) so I am seeking advice here for whether people think the cost difference is really justified for my needs. Note that both configurations include 4GB of RAM, smallest hard drive option (i've got external drives) and AppleCare protection.
Pricing with education discount after tax:
13" 2.26GHz - $1520
15" 2.66GHz w/9600M GT 256MB - $2285
*Is there a real difference in video editing performance and if so, is it really worth an extra $765? Or is there a better option that I'm not considering?*

Thanks everyone for the feedback!
Studio X wrote:
Are you planning on making any money at this or are you only in it for fun? Have you ever edited before? Have you ever edited with FCS before? What of the 44 billion HD formats are you planning on editing? Do you have a camera? What format does it record? If it's a flash media based device, what's your back up strategy? How are you planning to externally monitor the HD material ? What are you planning to use as media drives as the system drive should not be used for media capture or playback?
Still, I guess I come down on the side of "it doesn't matter as neither one is a serious editing machine". If I was in the market for a laptop and was limited to the current apple lineup, the only machine of interest is the 17" MacBookPro. The other two MacBookPros you are considering have no expresscard slot and come only with glossy screens - both are serious deficiencies in my world.
I do plan on using this computer professionally. I am a recent college graduate but do have professional FCS editing experience under my belt. However my work was done using both school and employer resources. I do have an archive of work in Mini DV(HDV) and AVCHD formats. I don't currently own an HD camera, however will likely be purchasing one in the near future. As far as externally monitoring HD material, what else would I need other than the 24" external monitor (perfectly capable of full HD) or a separate HDTV? In addition to several older usb2 external drives for backup I do have a 1TB 7200rpm external capable of FW800 and eSATA that I would use as a media drive.
I currently have an old 17" dell notebook with a glossy screen. The screen hasn't really bothered me, but the size and weight of the notebook has. And while the 17" MBP is a little lighter and smaller than my old dell, I would still prefer a 13" or 15". But from the opinions I've been hearing I'm steering away from the 13" and fully realize the downsides to the lack of ExpressCard slot in the current 15" as well. Still wondering while Apple decided to remove it.
MartinR wrote:
If budget is a primary constraint, then consider a refurbished 15" or 17" MBP from Apple, or a used MBP from a reputable supplier.
I hadn't checked into the refurbished options, but now that I did, I found a nice 15" (late 2008 unibody) configuration that would provide a lot more value for the buck. For about $550 more than the new 13" config I would get a faster processor, 2" bigger screen, 9600M 512mb GPU, double the internal storage, removable battery as well as the ExpressCard slot (even though its not listed in specs, it's there). The only trade off I can see is battery life.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC026LL/A?mco=MjE0NjE5MA

MBP for video editing

Hi,
I am planning to purchase a MBP for editing HDV video while on the road using Final Cut Studio. My plan is to also use a G-Raid external HD for storage of content and backup.
My Question is regarding the internal HD..FCS2 takes up over 50G to install the entire suite, which really eats into the 160 gig internal HD. Will the 250 gig HD be more appropriate?? Any suggestions for seeting up a new MBP for video editing??
Apologies if this is in the wrong forum!
Cheers
SJH

Will the 250 gig HD be more appropriate?
If you're comparing it to the 160GB 7200rpm drive then you will get similar (though not better) performance. The best drive, assuming it's large enough for you is the Hitachi 200GB 7200pm drive. It has the best mix size and performance and comfortably beats the rest. Unfortunately it's not only the fastest but it's also the most expensive drive you can get at the moment. This might help…
http://www.barefeats.com/rosa06.html
EDIT : Be aware that this drive will require you to do your own installation and hence, potentially void your warranty. However, I do think it will be worth it in your case. I have one on order myself.

13 inch 2.9GHZ MBP or 15 inch 2.3GHZ? for video editing

Hi, everyone. im looking to buy a new MBP but i don't know which one to buy, the 13 inch 2.9GHZ MBP or 15 inch 2.3GHZ? i will mainly use the computer for video editing and sometime photoshop. i'll be using Adobe Affter effect, and premier. i have a samsung and i think i already had enough of it. it takes me 40-60 min to render a 7 min video and if i have effects from after effects in it, it take even more to render my videos. im thinking about buying the 15 inch mainly beause of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory. but i don't know if the money is really worth it. i have the budget to buy these computer, so the budget is not a concern, but i still don't want to throw the money around.
i also been thinking about the 15 Inch 2.6GHZ but i don't see that big of a jump from the 2.3GHZ. BTH forgot to mention i want to buy the non-retina Display MBP
Which one wold you guys recommend.

that's an easy answer.
go with the 15' for what you'll be using it for. it has it's own discreet graphics.
the 2.3GHz is better because of the quad core design. especially true for video editing.
the 13' will also do what you want but slower because of the built in intel video which is driven by the processor and uses part of the system RAM.
if you're not worried about speed and are more concerned about portability, then you can stick with the 13'.
whatever, you decide to buy, you'll be happy with either macbooks. just make sure you max out the RAM for your purpose.

For video editing, is the new 13" MBP enough? Or should I go for 15"?

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