Video Editing on Macbook

Im thinking about purchasing a macbook or macbook pro. I was curious to know if the macbook has enough power to do some decent video editing on it. If i purchase the macbook, i will upgrade to 1GB Ram and 120GB Hard Drive. Any information would be helpful.
Thanks
BigWhit

Depend on what software you want to use for editing and what quality you want to achieve.
If you using iMovie and iDVD or maybe latest Final Cut express, I believe the MacBook still be able to served you well.
I use it to edit my project of 55 mins of video with a lot of FX and transition, and it work smoothly.
I would suggest instead upgrading 1 Gb and 120 internal HD, you better consider upgrading 2 Gb (1Gb x 2) of ram, and invest a decent (7200 rpm/8mb or 16 mb cache) external firewire or dual interface (USB & FW) HD, that around that amount you want to spend for your upgrade plan.
Also buy an external screen adapter if you have a monitor laying around to extend the screen view to make your editing process easier.
Here is the option, but check your external monitor first.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wo/0.RSLID?mco=C A995172&nclm=B30BC981
Good Luck.

Similar Messages

Video editing for macbook

Hi! I'm a would be mac newbie but before i switch i would like to know if i'm interested in using my would be macbook for video editing what are the things i have to consider. I'd really appreciate the input. moreover, what kind/brand of capture card is available and compatible for macbook?

the video card doesn't have that much to do with editing video, so ignore that.
i have, and use, final cut pro on my CD macbook - with 2 gigs of ram - and it works fine for simple edits. the fans only ramp up when i am using compressor to create qt files.
i am actually quite happy with the performance. (editing DV footage)
here is a video i just finished on my macbook:
http://www.bobscottnyc.com/seagirt.mov
that said, if i have a big edit i would do it from my desktop, but for smaller projects, the macbook handles DV editing just fine.
you absolutely need an external drive. this is rule one when it comes to editing video. you keep your editing app on your primary drive, and capture your footage to a secondary drive (weather it be another internal or a external) I capture all of my footage to my OWC Mercury Elite Aluminum Pro (250 gig)
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/
hope this helps

Using SSD for FCP Video Editing on Macbook Pro

Hi,
I am looking to get a Macbook Pro 15" which i will be using for some video editing related work (definitely HD, might include some 3K footage at times). I was earlier considering getting a 512GB solid state drive for some fast performance, but I have been hearing that they are not great for video editing and that video editing will suck through the lifetime of the SSD, I could use some clarity or confirmation on the subject. Ideally, I would love to have a solid state drive in my laptop for just the overall performance boost and I love the idea of a less heating and power consuming drive, however I do know, that I will be doing video editing related work with large files frequently and would like my drive to last for at least 3 years. Should I expect that from a SSD?
Will it be wise to get a SSD in my case? I'll appreciate your suggestions. The more you can explain your reasoning, the better.

I also read somewhere that the old SSDs might have been a bit problematic but the new ones have 'load balancing' which makes sure you don't use the same bits of electronics all the time and spreads the memory around. Does this mean that video editing playback will be good? Or any improvements of SSD lifespan?

USB 3.0, fast, portable, external hard drive for HD video editing

I'd like a 1TB or 2TB, bus-powered, fast, portable, external hard drive for HD video editing on MacBook Air i7 (2013).
Any recommendations?
Thanks!

best options for the price, and high quality HD:
Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or $65 per TB on 2.5"
Perfect 1TB for $68
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba
Nice 500gig for $50. ultraslim and perfect
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb
2.5" USB portable High quality BEST FOR THE COST, Toshiba "tiny giant" 2TB drive (have several of them, LOT of storage in a SMALL package) $117
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379182740&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+toshiba
*This one is the BEST portable external HD available that money can buy:
HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive
$75
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Touro-Mobile-External-HTOLMX3NA10001ABB/dp/B0062FZ2WS /ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379185002&sr=1-1&keywords=hitachi+extern a l+hard+drive
Most storage experts agree on the Hitachi 2.5"

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.

I have the G Drive 1 TB (GEN4 1TB) external drive purchased in 2010. I need to connect to my new MacBook Pro. I'm using the external drive for media storage of my video editing projects. Will a 800fw to thunderbolt adapter cable work?

I have the G Drive 1 TB (GEN4 1TB) external drive purchased in 2010. I need to connect to my new MacBook Pro. I'm using the external drive for media storage of my video editing projects. Will a 800fw to thunderbolt adapter cable work? I understand that using a USB port connection is not fast enough for video editing. I read somewhere the G Drives don't connect well to MacBook Pro.
thanks
larry

I doubt this can be relocated or moved so you might want to just repost in the macbook pro area.
MacBook Pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os?view=discussions
Can you afford a new Thunderbolt case and cable? any case with FW800 is going to be slow 72MB/sec and less, and any new 1TB drive is capable of 75MB/s minimum up to 125MB/sec.
Thunderbolt storage can of course when setup properly reach 100's of MB higher using multiple drives.
Use what you have for a system backup or for secondary backup storage.
you might be able to take the drive - most cases allow you to open and swap drives - and use this:
G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mini High-Speed Portable Hard Drive
or this:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/HB137VC/A/g-technology-4tb-g-raid-professional -high-performance-dual-drive-hard-drive?fnode=5f

What Macbook Pro to get for video editing?

For software like adobe after effects cs5, what macbook would be the best, I have pretty limited money so is the base model ok? if not whitch one works well?
Thanks!

The top end non-retina, 15" anti-glare is the best. SSD preferred, has a Superdrive. RAM and hard drive upgradable later by the user.
The retina has a glossy screen which is hard on the eyes and using in various places, it's battery life is terrible and the images are not correct as it's blowing things up to mach the higher pixel rate. No Superdrive. You can't open the machine up, you can't clean the fans of dust you can't upgrade it later, you will have to max it out at purchase for a small fortune and go way over budget. Plus there really isn't too much difference in the quality of the screen with regular MBP's anyway, just eats battery life to drive that huge pixel screen. You'll be replacing it a lot sooner than the standard 15"
Don't waste your money on the 13", it lacks a dedicated graphics, the CPU does it thus it's HOT. Won't 3D game well if your also into play.
Top end 15" antiglare is perfect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0wo6dIsMU
Actually the MacPro is the perfect choice of power and performance for video editing, with it's substancial cooling. But you want a laptop , just know things will take longr and the machien will be hotter as a result and wear out sooner if your doing 3D gaming or video often.

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

Looking to buy a refurbished MacBook Pro for video editing. Need suggestions on what to look for.

Hey Everyone,
I already own a 2012 Mac Pro Desktop. I do some pretty advanced video editing on it, using FCPX and After Effects, with FXFactory and many other plugins.
I need to invest in a MacBook Pro so I can transfer my projects and edit at different locations.
I'm looking for a refurbished or used model to save some money where I can.
My budget is not too large, but I can probably manage $1,000 - $1,500
Can anyone suggest a good model (im guessing 2011-2012) and a good graphics card to look for, so it can handle this type of stuff. I will obviously max out my RAM also.
Thank you so much for all the suggestions in advance!!

Hey BobRzand OGELTHORPE
Thanks for your reply! BobRzJust looking to clarify.. When you said "Also, that's typically not on the 13" models but is on the 15" (or the 17..." were you referring to the onboard graphics memory? Should I stay away from a 13 inch? I'm going to follow OGELTHORP''sadvice and go for the 2011 model. The 13 inch are the most affordable and I've found ones with a 2.8GHz Processor that is right in my price range. Thanks again for your help guys!

What preset MacBook pro would be better for video editing and eventually college?, What preset MacBook pro would be better for video editing and eventually college?

Hi,
I am thinking about getting a MacBook Pro. My current computer is very very old and can not be used. I would like to use it for video editing and eventually to use when I go to college. I want to get one of the preset 13 inch MBPs. I do not know which one will be better for my purposes. Could anyone please help me??

Any computer made today, Windows or Mac, will be MILES ahead of what you are now using.
Raw CPU speed is not the total benchmark of a computer. Look at it this way. A 2.6GHz CPU made today is much faster then a 2.6GHz CPU made just a few years ago, like 3 years ago. the difference between a 2.6 and a 2.9GHz CPU is 3 tens of 1 GHz, 300MHz. The percentage difference is about 8-9 percent (.08-.09). Back when CPUs were listed in MHz, 120, 300, 600, if you have a 300MHz CPU and you replaced it with one that was 300MHz faster that was a Big Jump. You doubled the computing power. Today 300MHz, .3GHz, is next to nothing. Especially for the price jump.
Note that when you make the switch you will either need to update your program, that means Re-Buying most of them, to work on the Mac OS or install a version of Windows in either a Boot Camp partition, Dual booting the Mac, or into a Virtual Machine software program to run the Windows version of those program.
If you decide on a Mac buy the BASE model that is offered for the CPU speed you want. The RAM and hard drive can be upgraded by you for much less then what Apple charges for those upgrades. With the hard drive if you upgrade it to a larger and faster drive, Apple supplies 5400RPM drives, like a 7200RPM drive you get to Keep the original drive to use in any way you like. Like an external drive.

I am 12 and want a 13 inch Macbook for video editing and stuff I cannot do on my iPad.

I need a Macbook for video editing and stuff I cannot do on my iPad (flash web browsing, iMovie or Final Cut Pro for YouTube, small games, photoshop, Reaktor 5, etc). I was thinking of buying the MacBook Air 13" refurbished intel core i5 for $999. I can pay up to $1,300 so I was thinking of getting the 13" MacBook Pro with retina display refurbished intel core i5 for $1,260. But then I couldn't buy many accessories or AppleCare. I do not really want to buy the non-retina MacBook Pro because it is not as portable and I am only 12 but I don't know much about how heavy it is because there is no apple store where I live but this is why I came here. So which MacBook should I buy? (I am probably going to wait until the new MacBooks in June 2013)

Hilary:
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Congratulations on your upcoming graduation and the really wonderful gift you anticipate from your parents. Unfortunately, I am unable to give you information about upcoming Apple products or promotions, as I honestly don't know.
All my purchased music, and games, and videos, etc are on the computer I am currently using. Is there a way to transfer all of it to my new MacBook I will be receiving?
If the computer you are currently using is a Mac, yes, it can be transferred. One of the difficulties with the new MacBook is that it does not have any firewire ports, which will make networking a bit of a pain, but it can be done. Post back after you have your new computer with specs and we will give you directions on how to do it.
And are they going to make a new Macbook? So should I wait?
While I do not have any specific information about upcoming products, it is fairly certain that Apple will be coming out with new products. Of course this is a continuing process so you can be waiting for a long time. I would, personally, go ahead and get one now, and that should certainly see you through college. By then who know what wonderful products will be available!
Please do post back with further questions or comments, if you have any.
cornelius

How to optimize macbook pro for video editing and 3d animation

Hello Everybody - I've had a macbook pro for about 5 years now. It works great, havn't had any issues with it yet, but I've started doing more video editing and 3D animation work on it with FCP7 and Blender (usually using photoshop at the same time). Even when I quit all other programs, it's not really able to handle many things I try to do in Blender (for example cloth simulation) and I end up waiting a while with the wheel of death and then having to force quit. I'm not in the position to buy an entirely new macbook pro right now - so I'm wondering if there are any ways I can modify my current macbook to render it more able to handle the heavy processing load?
Here are its specs:
Processor - 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory - 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB
Startup Disk Macintosh HD 320 GB
Software - Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63b)
Greatful for any advise, thanks!

so I'm wondering if there are any ways I can modify my current macbook to render it more able to handle the heavy processing load?
Honestly, IMO, no. Even if you were to upgrade your HDD to a SSD, and increase your RAM, your CPU and GPU just aren't equipped for the tasks you ask of it (and there is no way to upgrade either your CPU or GPU). It would improve performance to upgrade these parts on your machine, no question, but ultimately, the processors would act as a bottleneck for performance/
The latest high end 15'' Macbook Pro vs your model:
The CPU is 7X faster in Geekbench 3 64bit multicore benchmarks
8X the dedicated VRAM as your GPU
Almost 2X the RAM speed for compatible DIMMS.
PCIe storage = 7X the RW speed of your HDD
From Geekbench:

Using Macbook Pro to do HD video editing?

Hi all,
I recently purchased Sony's HDR-HC1 high-definition camcorder, and I found out my current computer is way too slow for HD video editing. I want to purchase a brand Mac to get the job done. I am wondering if the Macbook Pro is powerful enough? Anyone has any experience editing HD video footage on Macbook Pro?

Yes it is. I have the HC1's bigger brother the prosumer HVR-A1U and I just received my universal final cut studio yesterday and just played a little, but yes it can. I have the 17" MBP and have both played high def. H.264 quicktime movies on it and have also imported some HDV content and that too plays fine. The only problem I have is that I went with the 7200 RPM drive so that I can edit on the go with just my laptop, but between the system software, and my document from my current machine, I was down to barely any space available. What I'm gonna do now is keep my old machine and the documents on that, and so I can keep the majority of my HDD open for video editing.
-Brian

Mobile Video Editing on the Macbook Pro 13'' - Some questions...

This is my first time visiting this forum, and I just wanted to get some thoughts on a mobile video editing setup I am looking to create... Here's what I'd like to do:
- Use a Macbook Pro 13'' as my primary editing machine using Final Cut Studio for relatively small, but important projects.
- I want to be able to edit as speedily as possible, but on a moderate budget. I know that keeping FCS on the MBP's main HD and editing video on an external drive is the best way to go. Also, because the fastest interface option on a MBP is Firewire 800, I am thinking of using a G-Raid Mini 500GB drive in Raid 0 for both maximum speed and portability. But I also want to be able to easily backup any video edited on the external drive. I am weary of the fact that MBP only has 1 Firewire port (and in this scenario, I need to connect a G-Raid drive, a DV camera, and yet another external drive for backing up the G-Raid Mini)
Oh what a pain.
First, something I can't seem to find out is... if I want to load video to the G-Raid drive, I'm going to have to daisy chain my DV camera to it. If the DV camera is Firewire 400, will this lower the Firewire 800's port on the MBP down to 400 as well, thus kind of crippling the idea of speedy Raid 0?
And second, assuming I can hook up both the G-Raid and the DV camera to the Firewire 800 port without degrading speed... what would the best way be to go for backing up the G-Raid? I am thinking of using a USB 2.0 500GB drive, and using some sort of backup automation software. Any suggestions there?
What I'm looking for is mobility, functionality, secure backup for everything I shoot. I should have gone for a MBP 17'' with a Express slot, which would solve these potential issues... but again, I'm on a budget - and can't break the bank on this right now.
Any responses or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Zac

Thanks for the response.
But a couple things... the reason I'm going with the 13'' is purely out of circumstance. I have a friend who just didn't want it anymore, and is selling it to me insanely cheap. Also, I already have extra monitors
I think what I am going to do is this:
G-RAID 500GB running in Raid-0 connected to the FW800 port. From there, when I need to capture, I will daisy chain the DVX-100 to the G-RAID... which will cut the FW down 400 from what I have read. After my video is captured, I will disconnect the DVX100, so I can get the FW800 G-RAID back up to proper speed during actual editing. When I want to do backups, I will connect a regular 500GB G-DRIVE and run a clone of the G-RAID everynight after I finish editing.
This solves a few problems, but it doesn't solve the issue of an external TV for native viewing while editing. Personally, I don't think I will always need this, but my DVX100 does do passthrough. (anytime I do it though, it will bump my FW speed back down to 400) So I can either do that, or I can look into S-Video USB options (which I haven't researched yet)
It won't be the most ideal setup in the world, but it seems like a lot of people with these newer Macbook Pro's are suffering the same kinds of issues. Hopefully I will manage.
If anyone has any further suggestions, please let me know. Anyone else with a Macbook Pro 13''? What kind of mobile setups have you come up with?
Zac

Choosing an external hard drive for MacBook Pro video editing?

This summer, I'll be taking an introductory video production/editing class, using Final Cut Express 4.
I own a late 2009 MacBook Pro (2.26Ghz Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, FireWire 800, GeForce 9400M), which I'd like to use for editing at home, i.e. when I don't have access to the class video lab.
I've heard that I should buy an external hard drive, so as not to fill up and wear out my laptop's 160GB hard drive. Google returns a tsunami of information on hard drive choices, much of it undated, and mostly geared towards pro video editors. Overwhelming, and not that helpful so far.
For my basic needs, are all hard drives more or less interchangable? Is one brand/model better suited for video editing (versus backups)? What are the critical specs to consider?
I hope to continue with movie-making as hobby - and to promote my small business - but I do not expect to put together a pro setup.
Thanks.

Get as big a firewire drive as you can afford, making sure it runs at 7200rpm. Media files are huge: regular DV is around 13GB/hour. Most HD media is transcoded to Apple Intermediate Codec in FCE as it's ingested, around 40GB/hour.
I've had very good luck with drives from Other World Computing (http://macsales.com/). If you'll be transporting the drive between school and home regularly, I'd suggest a bus-powered drive, just because it's smaller. Lots of folks in this forum swear by LaCie drives.

Video Editing on Macbook

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