MBP 15": Good enough to run FCP?

I am running FCP 5.1 on an old PowerMac Dual G4 and need to upgrade.
I'd like the portability of a MBP but was told that for almost the same amount of money I should go for an older PowerBook and Dual Quad.
My questions are:
Does the suggestion makes sense?
Any one of you wishes he would NOT have bought a MBP 15" to use FCP?
Of course budget IS a concern. (I am eligible for the student discount)
I have 2 external monitors, keyboard and mouse, an external HD

This is my 2 cents. I'm sure others will disagree.
I had a Dual G4 and the motherboard went glitchy. I wasn't able to get much money for it. Quite a loss of investment.
Going for older, used computers may lead to distasters. When I buy any electronics, I'd like to sell it within 2 years to upgrade. It will soon become defective.... "Get your money and run" Older computers get outdated quicker not able to handle newer apps.
There's always a cheaper route but you'll be paying for a heartache.
The MBP sounds better to me. May not do to work as fast as the Dual Quad, but will it last?
You need to find out what you really want out of the computer. Will the MBP do it all?

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MBP 13" i7 be good enough to run FCP or Cs5 for video editing?

Hi, I am doing some research into buying my first Mac/video editing setup, but am finding it hard on deciding which one to go for. Will a 2011 Macbook Pro 13" i7 be able to handle editing video with Final Cut Pro 7 or Adobe Cs5? I don't want to go for the 2011 15" if I don't have to..I like the potability of the 13" and would rather not have to splash out more if i don't have to..?
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JFLA wrote:
Think the 15" 2.2 is abit out of my price range if i'm going to be getting a monitor as well.. and the mac pro sure is. Will FCP 7 work on the 13" ?
Sure and it will run on the Mac Mini too, like molasses.
Perhaps you better wait until you save up some more dough, doing video is NOT cheap, there are so many extras one needs as video takes up a lot of storage space.
The software is expensive too, most people doing it buy the most powerful Mac they can get, this way they don't have to replace the software as often.

Is mac book pro good enough to run final cut and after effects?

is mac book pro good enough to run final cut and after effects?

Yes it is. I have two at my office working fine.
Just note. FCP has already delivered the universal binary so you won;t have any trouble. For After Effects, Adobe has not released the binary yet so the worst that will happen is that you might have a little delay opening the application. We are a professional media organization and we can rely on our intel based macs. Don't worry.

Is This Good Enough To Run Logic?

Hey all,
Just joined here, and I'm loving the amount of information on here, makes a very good read during lunch break
Right, here's my scenario, hopefully some of you seasoned Mac'ers can help me out with this one.
A friend of mine just told me a friend of theirs (blah blah) has a G4 PowerMac for sale, which is the one with two CPU's clocked at approximately 800MHz, and she's upgraded the RAM to 3GB. I'm not sure what OS version is on it, but it does already have Logic Pro 8 installed on it. Is it really good enough for speedy editing, or will I be waiting ages for it to convert and process stuff?
Thanks in advance, I appreciate all help given

Hi Minimoke, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Looks like it might be painfully slow...
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP533
Minimum requirements to install all applications
* Mac computer with a 1.25GHz or faster PowerPC G4 processor (PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, or Intel Xeon processor highly recommended)
* 1GB of RAM (2GB or more highly recommended)
* Display with 1024-by-768 resolution (1280-by-800 or higher recommended)
* Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later
* QuickTime 7.2 or later
* DVD drive for installation
* PCI Express, ExpressCard/34, USB, or FireWire based audio interface recommended

Is the new 13" MBP i7 fast enough to run MainStage?

How well suited is the new 13" MacBook Pro i& 2.9 GHz 8GB ram to running MainStage? I occasionally work on Final Cut Express too - do I need a dedicated graphics card like the 15"?

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:)

Is a 512MB, Celeron PC good enough to run Oracle Forms

Hi:
I was curious and would like to know if anybody knows if a 512 MB RAM, Intel Celeron DELL PC is sufficient to run 3 Oracle Forms sessions for a Call Center application.
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Hi Steve:
Yes, we learned early on (about 16 months ago) that launching a second session off the same browser is an issue. I believe its has to do with the JVM only getting so much memory allocated and thus when you have more that one session, you reach a limit faster and furthermore, one sessions drags the other one (or something like that). I do not know if you noticed (from some of my other posts) or remember me from last year but our app has been unstable ever since its introduction into production. If this memory limit theory of mine is true, it is conceptually possible that our app becomes unstable when a limit is reached. I am trying to find if there is a way to overcome this limit.
From last years observations, I noticed that a user with a current PC (at least 1GB RAM and at Pentium 4) experienced issues once every couple of weeks which is far better than a typical CSR (which uses 512MB RAM and Celeron processor)which experiences issues at least twice a day. I am trying to find, if it exists, documentation or solid proof that for usage described the better PC is needed, to at least justify a controlled test.
Our CSRs like to have at least three sessions open because that way they can switch and perform different lookups.
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ATI Radeon x1600 good enough to run Final Cut Express HD?

I just bought a MacBook Pro about one month ago and everything works great until I try to run Final Cut Express. Basically I have one small error that reads "You need an AGP graphics card." I think to myself I just bought a $2000 computer, won't it run Final Cut Express. I just wanted to know if this is really true, and if so, where can I purchase an AGP graphics card?

No Problem chrisjocanis !
When you get the error message hit the "esc" key and FCE should open normally.
However, it will probably work very slowly etc.
You need to upgrade to FCE 3.5 Universal Binary which is specially designed to work on Intel powered Macs (and older ones).
Ian.

Is a top spec Mac Pro good enough to run Aperture ?

I am trying to process Canon 1Ds MKII RAW files on a PowerMac Quad 2.5 with 6gigs of RAM and the 6600 GPU connected to a 30” ACD. I have Aperture Ver. 1.5.2 running under OSX 10.5.8 and have the latest RAW update.
I have just over 20,000 RAW images in projects no larger than 4,000. All most all have some adjustments.
My problem is that ALL adjustments take along time to render and some like Spot & Patch & the Straighten tool take forever !!
I would be willing to pay the price for a system that ran Aperture like it does on the Apple demos’ ! Does such a system exists or do we need to wait for the NEXT generation of graphics cards. I would also like to run with 2 30” ACD’s but I notice Apple never show video of that set up so my guess is that even they don’t have a system to run it smoothly on 2 monitors.
I love the program but now its killing me with large RAW files.
PowerMac Quad Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Your Quad is set up like mine, except for the VERY important difference of the graphics card. My Quad with the 7800 graphics card slows down only subtly in a few instances. I'm happy with it's performance.
The 6600 is grossly underpowered for Aperture. You can now upgrade your card to the fairly recently released ATI X1900 Mac edition:
http://ati.amd.com/products/RadeonX1900/index.html
I bought my Quad at a time when the Radeon 7800 was available. The difference in processing power between this and the 6600 is vast. The new ATI is on par with the Radeon 7800.
If you've used you machine with Aperture and stuck with it this long, then RUN and buy the X1900 upgrade. This $350 (retail-US dollars) upgrade should put you in a place where you may not notice speed differences between your upgraded quad and a new Mac Pro. The Mac Pro will likely export images faster--that's where the CPU is used mostly. For display and adjustment rendering, it's the GPU. A Mac Pro also has a faster (in theory) hard-drive (SATA-II). Again, that won't affect rendering, just flipping through your library.
Go buy.

MBP 13 Retina Late 2013 - Virtual Machine on 4 GB Ram Good enough?

Hello,
I'm new to Macs and Mac OS all together. I was wondering if having 4 GB ram is good enough to run VM? I simply wanted to play South Park: Stick of Truth. I might run other small games but nothing demanding.
Secondary question is how about running Windows simply for minor programming and other minimal tasks.
My Laptop is the base model.
Thank You

Yes, Vm lets you sett how much memory you would like to dedicate to the platform. So you should be running it with 2gb on Mac and 2gb on your Vm. If you ever run more games that would require more RAM space I would recomend upgrading to 8gb.

Best minimum iMac for running FCP Studio

A client of mine has hundreds of hours of tapes\film she wants to turn into a film. I want to set her up with an 'inexpensive' iMac powerful enough to run FCP Studio ...
I want to transfer (up-rez) all her footage to an HD ProRes format (not sure which yet), so she will be working in HD.
She needs to be able to view her footage and rough cut it into manageable chunks. Then I'll help her with the editing ... right up to final post-production, at which point we will move it into my studio which has all the bells and whistles.
So I'm looking for just enough power to capture all the footage, to work in HD, but not so much that she goes broke setting up an edit suite she may only use for this one film.
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Check the minimum system requirements for FCP Studio. That will tell you what minimum hardware is required to use it. According to the Apple site:
*Minimum System Requirements to Install All Applications*
Mac computer with an Intel processor
1GB of RAM (2GB of RAM recommended for working with compressed HD and uncompressed SD sources; 4GB of RAM recommended for working with uncompressed HD sources)
ATI or NVIDIA graphics processor (integrated Intel graphics processors not supported)
128MB of VRAM
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Mac OS X v10.5.6 or later
QuickTime 7.6 or later
DVD drive for installation

Maxed out 13in mbp good enough?

Hey guys, I'm a graphic design student and want a MacBook Pro to run adobe creative suite 6, Final Cut Pro X, and Microsoft office 2010. If I got a 13in classic mbp with i7, and put in 16 gb ram along with a ssd, would it be good enought o run all those programs efficiently and smoothly without much lag?
Also, 15 in has quad core, but its also big and pricier, plus I heard the ram is not upgradable...is the performance difference between the two enough to justify a 15in?
Thanks!

Only the Retina macbook pro Ram is not upgradable, as it being resident on the logic board...., the standard Pro is upgradable.
MS Office requires next to nothing to run. As for multi layer temp editing etc on Final Cut Pro X it would certainly be enough, however charts show that 16gb can be a bit of overkill if you install a SSD.
I can run generic editing with Final Cut Pro even on my 4gb Macbook Air. However as far as doing graphics editing, the 15" would logically be more desirable.
"every MacBook Pro with Retina display comes with 8GB of memory built into the computer. If you think you may need 16GB of memory in the future, it is important to upgrade at the time of purchase, because memory cannot be upgraded later in this model."

MBP 2.16GHZ or 2.33GHZ to run FCP

Hi, I am planning to purchase a MBP soon. The decision I have to take is to whether get 15.4" 2.16 Ghz upgraded to 2 GB Ram or get the 15.4" 2.33 Ghz with 2GB RAM. Cost is a major factor! I will be running FCP along with Aftereffects and other Adobe Packages on it.Some of the questions I have are :
Will FCP run smoothly on 2.16 upgraded 2 GB Ram system?
Will there be significant difference between the graphic support of 2.16 which is 128 mb ATI Radeon X1600 and the one offered in the 2.33 which is 256 mb ATI Radeon X1600?
Will adding an extra GB RAM on the 2.16 significantly alter the performance level? Any problems?
Will be grateful for your comments!

Will FCP run smoothly on 2.16 upgraded 2 GB Ram system?
yes, FCP will run smoothly on a 2.16 machine
Will there be significant difference between the graphic support of 2.16 which is 128 mb ATI Radeon X1600 and the one offered in the 2.33 which is 256 mb ATI Radeon X1600?
Yes, the 256 MB ATI is the main advantage here. It gives you more real-time performance and when it comes to Motion, it becomes crucial since Motion relies mainly on the graphic card to perform it's magic.
Will adding an extra GB RAM on the 2.16 significantly alter the performance level? Any problems?
Yes, the more Ram you got into your system the better, but the 2GB chip is still too expensive. 2 GB Ram are enough if combined with the ATI 256 MB card. remember, more RAM means you can have more programs opened at the same time without affecting the performance of your machine. it won't affect the rendering speed at all, The CPU is responsible for that.
Résumé: CPU = speed / Graphic Card = real-time performance / RAM = more applications can be opened at the same time.

New mac mini and imac vs powermac G5 running FCP studio

I want to compare running the FCP suite on the new max minis and imacs that came out today vs what I am currently using:
Currently I am running FCP Studio on a Powermac G5 dual 2GHz with one gig of ram. I believe the frontside bus is 1GHz. I believe the stock video card isan ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (AGP 8X Pro) video card with 64 MB of DDR SDRAM.
With this being said, is it safe to assume that the new entry level mac mini would surpass my G5 in terms of performnce in both video (NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with128MB or 256MB of shared DDR3) memory processing (intel core2 duo 2GHz)?
If not would the two low end Imacs (using NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of shared DDR3 memory) and processing power handle FCP studio better than my current powermac G5 setup listed above?
I am wondering because I spoke to a apple sales person who transfered me to a system engineer that said I'd have a slow time rendering video on FCP with the mac minis as well as the 2 low end imacs. This may be but Im wondering if it is still better than what I am using
I appreciate your opinions, but please only answer if you really know,
Thanks!

For FCP/FCS I would not save on anything but will get the max what my budget allow. You will be always doing more and the workflow in FCS will entice you to open almost all apps in FCS concurrently to make use of the advanced features. I think that the new iMac are powerful enough to handle FCS, but once again, the extra dollars will save you alot of pain. FCS is a pro app and is not to be underestimated. Good luck.

Will specs on an iMac 24in 2.8ghz be good enough for video prod-Mac Newbie?

Hi guys, I do pretty high end editing in Sony Vegas but wanted to move to Final Cut Pro and Mac workflow. I've been a life time windows user and have been thinking about taking the plunge for about a year now.
I finally just purchased an iMac 24inch. The related specs are the standard 2.8 ghz, 2 GB ram, and ATI radeon 256 mb. It's still in the box. On my way home I kept wondering about the specs especially since I'm new to Mac. On a windows, those specs might not be that great. Will this be good enough for workflow in FCP. I'm going to upgrade the memory in the near future.
I was concerned about the graphics card? Will I see slowness or stuttering while editing with a lot of footage, rendering, etc. Thanks so much! I want to take it out of the box so bad!

It'll be fine for DV and HDV...footage imported from tapeless systems like P2 or XDCAM EX.
The graphics card doesn't come into play much with editing...only certain filters really use the GFX card...otherwise it is not important.
It is limiting in that you are only able to use Firewire drives, and since the computer only has one firewire bus, you might run into issues capturing this footage from firewire cameras...the drive and the camera will be using one firewire bus. But I haven't had too many issues with that...daisy chaining works for most of us.
Shane

I am trying to download lion with the thumb drive how do i back up my files is time machine good enough or must i transfer everything to my hard drive

I am trying to download lion with the thumb drive how do i back up my files is time machine good enough or must i transfer everything to my hard drive

A erase of the drive or boot partition is not always necessary.
Flashing question mark at boot could be a easy fix, sometimes it's the firmware that simply forgot what bootable volume to boot from.
Try holding the Option key down while booting the machine, a choice of bootable options appears, select your OS X and boot up.
When you get in, head to System Preferences > Startup disk and set it again new. This will tell the firmware what to boot from. Test it to see.
Now if you don't have a selection of bootable options, it could be that the drive is dead, or OS X is erased or corrupted so it can't boot.
You'll have to run through this list of fixes to see what's going on, if you need a hardware fix or what, I've also included links if you can't fix it and need to recover your data etc.
(If it's not remmebering your boot selection then also run through the list to reset things.)
Step by Step to fix your Mac

MBP 15": Good enough to run FCP?

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