Photo editing and occasional video stuff - which Macbook Pro for me?

Hi guys! I'm seriously considering buying a Macbook Pro to replace my current desktop PC. My intuition is telling me to get 16GB of RAM and to not settle for a two core processor. This, however, isn't too easy on the wallet.
I do photo editing quite regularly, working with raw files that have 20-ish megapixels. This includes simple adjustments in Lightroom, and more advanced editing in Photoshop. Sometimes I also do simple video editing, working with 1080p material, typically shot with a DSLR.
I'm not looking for a serious pro machine - simply something that wouldn't be too frustrating in this kind of work. In photography I consider myself to be a serious hobbyist, and the video work is somewhere between amateur, prosumer and consumer level stuff.
What kind of tips and suggestions can you give me? Looking forward to hearing your ideas!

Thanks. I've been thinking that I'd use my current 24" monitor with the macbook as well. Maybe a bigger screen on the laptop itself would be nice on the road - but I don't consider that a necessity.
Any comments on the performance difference between the dual-core and quad-core processors?

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I am going to university this fall for engineering and I was wondering which macbook pro (13 or 15 inch) would be better.

I am going to university this fall for engineering and I was wondering which macbook pro (13 or 15 inch) would be better. Is the larger screen worth the extra weight ? I will be doing some computer programming and I feel like reading code on a smaller screen could be a bit of a pain. Also, what is the best option in terms of backup? I don't anticipate having a lot of video but I will have some pictures, music files as well as regular documents and spreadsheets. I'd also like to get an idea of how good the battery life is. Thanks in advance:)

The 13" will do the trick for what you describe as your needs, Be sure to consider how you will backup your data -- need an external drive?
Also be sure to check with your college or division of study to see what they recommend. If they are hostile to Macs, you may be on your own for finding support. But in most major cities, that will not be too hard.

I am going to college this fall and can't decide which MacBook pro to buy!

I am going to college this fall and can't decide which MacBook pro to buy the 13in or the 15in. Mainly to type, browse the web, watch videos, and maybe some light gaming. I am worried that the 15in might be too big to carry around all the time. And worried about the 13in being too small and hurting my eyes over time. Once I do get one, I am most likely going to use it for the full 4 years. Please Help !

The 13" will do the trick for what you describe as your needs, Be sure to consider how you will backup your data -- need an external drive?
Also be sure to check with your college or division of study to see what they recommend. If they are hostile to Macs, you may be on your own for finding support. But in most major cities, that will not be too hard.

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

Which macbook pro for my needs, please...

Buying a new macbook pro for use with photoshop and lightroom, possibly a bit of illustrator and indesign thrown in.
I will use my laptop at home always attached to a large screen. Right now a 25" NEC. I may add an additional screen as well, so I might have two screens besides the laptop, one attached via hdmi.
Right now I don't do video work. No gaming concerns for me. Photoshop and Lightroom the bulk of my work. Big catalog. Large size photoshop files. Well near 1 gb sometimes.
Will the mbp with just the intel iris pro graphics card be enough for my uses? I'm thinking to upgrade processor to 2.5ghz. Will upgrade ssd to 500gb. Or do I need, will I benefit from the nvidia card and card switching, dgpu?
I've just been reading about problems with the discrete graphics card version. And that the mbp always uses that card when there is an external monitor attached. Creates additional heat for the computer.
Just looking for some advice before i hand over the cash. There is only a 100 difference in price so in the end I'm not concerned about cost. Just want a computer to do what I need, do it well, and for me to have as few problems as possible.
thanks for advice...

I have an early 2011 MBP 13" that I put a 120 GB SSD and 8 GB or RAM in. All from OWC.
Photoshop CS 6 boots in 3.4 seconds.
Look at the Photoshop Action Test benchmarks at OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/Mac_Memory_Upgrade_Performance_Testi ng
Of the newer Retina MBPs the largest SSD is 512 GB and that's going to be PCIe. In the 13" 2.8 GHz and above you can add a 1 TB for an extra $500/
"I've just been reading about problems with the discrete graphics card version."
I think that's just the 15 and 17" MBP 2011 MBP. There was finally a recall on those.
https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/
Personally I'm partial to the refurbed 2012 MBP with the standard SATA connectors. Known performer, easy to swap in another drive.
You also might want to look here and ask your question there:
OS X Yosemite

Which macbook pro for lightroom and photoshop

Have my eye on the two 15" models. One with Intel iris pro graphics, the other that also has the nvidia gt 750m. Maybe I'm making mountains from molehills. You can tell me if you think that's the case
I will use my laptop at home always attached to a large screen. It's what I do with my current, April 2008 macbook pro. Right now a 25" NEC. I may add an additional screen as well, so I might have two screens besides the laptop, one attached via hdmi.
Right now I don't do video work. No gaming concerns for me. Photoshop and Lightroom the bulk of my work. 70,000 image Lr catalog. Large size photoshop files. Well near 1 gb sometimes with several layers.
If I buy the mbp with just the intel iris pro graphics card I'm thinking to upgrade processor to 2.5ghz. Will also upgrade ssd to 500gb. Or do I need, will I benefit from the nvidia card and card switching, dgpu?
I've just been reading about problems with the discrete graphics card version. Problems with freezing video, some with problems looking at certain websites via a browser firefox or safari. I wonder if that's only with older versions of the mbp.
And that the mbp with the dgpu, the nvidia gt 750m always uses that card when there is an external monitor attached. Creates additional heat for the computer.
Just looking for some advice before i hand over the cash. There is only a 100 difference in price so in the end I'm not concerned about cost. Just want a computer to do what I need, do it well, and for me to have as few problems as possible. I do like to keep my computers a long time. This current mbp is seven years old in a month. The computer I had before that, a G4, lasted me eight years.
thanks for advice...

The 2.6 Haswell i7 processor should be just fine - you really don't need the faster processors. Since Lightroom caches so much, though, it would be nice to keep most of that in RAM - much faster than writing/reading to a flash storage device - so I would recommend 16GB of RAM as you cannot ever upgrade the RAM on your own (or even through Apple).
You should be able to do anything on your MacBook Pro as on your iMac - albeit on a smaller screen!
Clinton
MacBook Pro (15” Late 2011), OS X 10.??, 16GB Crucial RAM, 960GB M500 Crucial SSD, 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display

Which MacBook Pro for imovie?

I've had my 13 inch MacBook for over 7 years and the old girl won't die, but has been running slow with all the gopro and other HD video footage I edit for a long time.
I only use my laptop for imovie video editing and storage of photos on iPhoto (no editing). My question is which which model should I buy? I'm happy with the 13 inch size, but also happy to go to 15 inch should the specs warrant it. I'm also considering Final Cut Pro x in the future as I'm starting to look for more than imovie has to offer.
Any suggestions or up specs required?
Thanks,
Glen

Hi Glen,
The obvious: 15" has conisderably more screen realestate to work with. It also has considerably more processing power than the 13" with a quad core i7 vs a dual core i5. Will the 13" work for now? Sure, but given that you keep your MBP for such a long time, the large speed difference is a huge factor to consider; it's useful life should be at least a year or two beyond the 13", and all the while you'll be enjoying the faster speed. You might also want to consider upgrading to 16GB of RAM. While that's a lot for now, in the future, as OSs and apps become more and more RAM hungry . . . . I think you can tell which one I'd recommend.

Which MacBook Pro for solid FCP X performance?

My current MacBook Air (2012, i7, 2GHz, 8GB ram) is pretty painfully slow when rendering videos in Final Cut Pro X. I'm trying to decide the sweet spot when upgrading to a MacBook Pro. Do I need to go all the way up to the top-end $2600 15" MBP with the discrete GPU to get big improvements? Rendering, transcoding, export are all painfully slow on the MBA... even for the 10 minute videos I put together. But I'm not savvy enough about whether this is a GPU-intensive task or whether *any* of the new MBP CPUs can handle this task easily...
Thanks for any education or insight on this!

I am struggling with the same issue. It is sad that Apple does not come forward in this forum to give guidance. I have asked the question at Apple stores in Canada and Europe. All staff advise against trying to do significant FCPX work on even the latest most-powerful MBA. They all point to MBP. FCPX, I am told, can drape over up to 8 cores. I also know from my own experience that rendering HD video (I typically shoot AVCHD at 28MB/s) requires sustained processor delivery and therefore the 'turbo-peak' figures, while useful for other applications, would be heat limited for lengthy FCPX rendering tasks.
So I know I am looking at least at the top-end 13" MBP, but do I have to go to 15" (and therefore quad core) or even to the top-end stand alone GPU model? It is self evident that the higher the spec - and price - the better FCPX performance I shall get, but what are the price/performance trade offs? Where can I find the info on which to base a decision on what might be sufficient/acceptable to me?
I am currently running FCPX on the current top-end quad core i7 Mac Mini (having had mac-minis from their intro) and I am happy with the performance. But I do not know what the comparison would be with the top-end 13" MBP. So I shall continue asking in Apple stores until I get a decent answer. I have the money, I have the requirement but I am not going to make an ill-informed decision. I am a Scotsman after all.
Let's hope a luminary can come to our aid.
Warmest.

Live editing from 2 video sources on macbook pro

Hi
I want to edit live video from 2 input sources, HD camera and RGB out from a video projector. Can anyone suggest firstly the way I would get both sources into the macbook and secondly what software I would use to edit on the fly. Possibly not edit but have 2 windows showing simultaneously on screen.
I know I can record the video onto the camera and record the rgb to the macbook then sync them later in final cut but I would like to do it realtime if possible to save time.
thanks

The source is a laptop showing a keynote presentation. I want to video the presenter and display the keynote in sync with each other on a split screen. As I said I can do this in post production but wanted to do it live to save editing as it is a process that I will be repeating many times.

LOst! mail,photo booth and app store on my macbook pro plz anybody help me out

please help meee

First things first.
Emergency backup procedure
Drag and drop copy your users file folders (music, pictures, documents etc) to a regular external powered drive as soon as possible.
Do not use, setup or trust only TimeMachine at this troubled time as it will copy corrupted data and we need just your users files safe just in case. TimeMachine cannot be used with a Windows PC.
Unmount and Disconnect all external drives once the backup process is completed.
Note:
If you have any over 4GB sized files, those won't copy to a standard formatted FAT32/MSDOS drive from the factory, if you need to save these 4GB+ files use another blank/empty drive and use Disk Utility to format it 1 Partition, Option: GUID, Format: OS X Extended Journaled (or the standard default one for older Mac's).
Mac's cannot copy to nor format a NTFS drive. ExFAT format to be used with a Windows machine must be right click formatted by Windows, not OS X (does it wrong) XP machines can install a free exFAT update from Microsoft. Vista-Win 8 can format exFAT.
Formatting a drive will erase all data on it.
Unmount and disconnect the external drive
Next tell us where do you find the programs missing from?
Are they no longer on the Dock?
Are their icons replaced by question marks?
How did you get into this condition, explain what happened and what you see on the screen, where you looked.

Which MacBook Pro for recording?

I'm looking to buy a MacBook of some kind, but I'm unsure of which one to get. Right now I think I'm going with the pro. So if I want to record on Logic 8 with an average amount of plug-ins and tracks, should I go with 2.4GHz or 2.5GHz? I was assuming to go with 4GB memory either way (right??). What are your guys' opinions? I don't really know that much about processors and if a little bit of a faster one would be that much more beneficial to recording.
Help!

RAM will be of more importance, and so will having a fast drive to record to and from. Make 7200 your goal. I'd definitely go with the Pro, but my thoughts are that any of them will have acceptable processing power. And they allow for Firewire 800, which will be of great use with recording- basically, it strains your system to record to the same drive that you are running a DAW from.
You have no choice about running Logic from the system drive, but you can make the drive you put music to as fast as possible, and that will make more difference than .1 or .2 GHz. And you can never have too much RAM, I have 4 GB's and will go higher at some point. I'd make 4 your target. And that will be money better spent than chasing the processing dragon.
I'd avoid buying RAM from Apple at any cost, unless you are so rich and lazy that it doesn't matter how you spend your money. Good luck- you're going to have a lot of fun.

Which macbook pro should I buy?? 13 or 15??

I am planning to buy a macbook pro but I don't know which macbook pro I should buy.
Games are not that important to me, however I play games such as call of duty, nba 2k, need for speed sometimes. Portability is important to me because it is compulsory for bringing laptops to school. I am confused on buying which macbook pro because the gpu of 13 is bad but 15 might be too big and heavy.
So which macbook pro should I buy?

Hi Lawrence,
You've point out some of the important factors. For me, the choice would be easy. I'd gladly put up with a bit more bulk/weight to have a 15" display. ymmv

I need help to decide which macbook pro is best for photo editing, editing movies and doing all the rest too like excel, word etc. 13"

I need help to decide which macbook pro is best for photo editing, editing movies and doing all the rest too like microsoft office products ...excel, word etc. I am new to the apple world and have liked the idea of the MAC Book Pro 13" but really dont know if this is good enough or if the computer will soon crash?
13-inch: 2.6GHz
with Retina display
Specifications
2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz memory
512GB PCIe-based flash storage1
Intel Iris Graphics
Built-in battery (9 hours)2

That's a fine machine and, with 8GB of RAM and 512GB flash storage should serve you well for light video/photo editing as well as for 'normal' usage. And it should last you for years to come.
Good luck in making your decision!!
Clinton

What 2T external HD should I buy for my macbook pro for photos, videos and music storage?

Hello friends!!
What 2T external HD should I buy for my macbook pro for photo, music and videos storage?
Thank U!!

My personal preference is for the OW, http://www.macsales.com Mercury Elite Pro quad-interface drive...have four of them of the 2 TB size and they are very good performers. The quad-interface allows you a choice of ways to connect, eSata, Firewire 800/400, USB which is very convenient. OWC is a Mac specialist so everything has been tested and guaranteed to be Mac compatible.

Which MacBook Pro w/ Retina to buy for Video Editing?

Hi, I am looking into buying a MacBook Pro for Video Editing. This is not my main machine because I already have an i7, 16GB RAM, GTX 760 2TB HDD machine at home. My home machine beasts through my daily editing but I am stumped on which MacBook is worth the money!
I am comparing the...
13" Retina with
i7
256 GB SSD
16GB RAM
Integrated Graphics
for $1849 (with EDU discount)
VS
15" Retina with
i7
512 GB SSD
16GB RAM
GT 750m with 2GB DDR5 Memory
for $2,479 (with EDU Discount)
I don't really care about the screen size, I'll be using thunderbolt storage anyways, I am mainly wondering if the GT 750m will make much of a difference in editing footage. Mainly AVCHD 1080p but also I'd like it to be able to handle 4k in small amounts. I would mainly use proxy's at that point but just in case. I also don't do a ton in After Effects, but may need to send some shots here and there of for VFX work. This is mainly for if I'm on the go and need to make an edit or I need to do photography work (Lightroom and Photoshop)
Thanks,
Cameron Gallagher

Both will work fine with 1080p AVCHD but you will notice an increase in performance simply because Premiere LOVES a good GPU and the 750M is a good one as far as laptops go. Yes, its more but if you're serious about performance go with the better GPU.
That being said...save a bit and go with this below (same as your 2nd option but cheaper):
Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.5GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display - Apple Store (U.S.)
It'll save you $400. Bam! Thank me later. Apple's refurbished program is top of the line. Comes fully warrantied and you can get apple care, etc. if you want as well. It's like buying it new. These refurbished computers are often just ones bought and then returned within a few days by customers trying things out and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them. They can basically be looked at like new.

Photo editing and occasional video stuff - which Macbook Pro for me?

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