What macbook should I buy for video editing?

I'm an indie filmmaker and I need to have a macbook that I can take with me, so I can do editing. I never owned one before. (I have an iMac at home) I would like to keep it around $1800 (with tax&Shipping). I've seen some refurbished 2011 models here on Apple way under that amount.
I need one that will able to handle Adobe CS5.5 and Final Cut without any problems. I've been told 512MB was more than enough to run FCP. Should I just go with the 1gb video ram model instead? I just don't want a macbook pro that has issues with playback and rendering issues. I found a 17" online for $1900 with 1GB Video Card. Is that considered a good deal?
In the future should I consider putting in a SSD drive in the to help speed things up?
Thanks in advance.

It doesnt matter really what macbook u buy.. If u buy the latest ones they have usually i5 and i7 processors which are quite powerful for Logic 9. The important bit is to have a good amount of ram 4-6 GB is quite good
Also if you make a practise to run just Logic while ur working on it and close other applications it should be flying.. Althought i am pretty bad at following this habit.. I have a macbook pro with the following..
Processor 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Works MAGIC for me

Similar Messages

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.

What cable should I buy for video transfer?

Hi there.
I own a HP Pavilion dv5-WE847AV, which has no firewire port to the best of my knowledge. I need to transfer video from a mini DV camera (a Panasonic AG-DVX100b) which does have a firewire port. I will be using an adobe program to edit a documentary. I am posting pics of what ports I do have. Can anyone suggest a way(s) to transfer the video from the camera to my laptop or tell me if I even can?

Hi,
Other option is to use Firewire Express card or Firewire PCMICA card (if your machine does not have Express card slot). They look similar to these:
http://www.nextag.com/firewire-express-card/shop-html
They all work on HP and Dell laptops.
Regards,
ps I've got both but now only use the Express card. I used the old one for my HP nx8220
BH
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What is the best Monitor for Video editing & Graphic Design?

Hi every one,
I would like to find out what is the best monitor for video editing and graphic design that you recomend, I am trying to buy one but not sure which one is good and not expansive.
Thanks very much

I don't want 2 monitors, so a single 27inch model just what I need... plenty of room for PPro, or I can have a Word document and a Text file open and side by side
John,
That is personal taste and there is no discussing taste. However, from my perspective, and that is personal, I prefer 3840 x 1080 resolution with dual monitors over 1920 x 1080 with a single monitor, but that is because I very often have Firefox, Filezilla, Dreamweaver and some other applications open at the same time, switching between the Adobe forums, Gmail accounts, Notebook results from the PPBM5 data submissions, PPBM5 form submissions, MySQL access, phpadmin pages to update the database, the PPBM5 results pages and various DW .php pages for the maintenance of our database and switching back and forth between various versions of PR. I occasionally really run out of real estate with all these applications and could not consider a single monitor with only 1920 x 1080 resolution, even if it were a 105" screen. In the future I would even like to have a four monitor setup (with MPE hardware support) in a two by two configuration, so that I can freely move my application screens around.
If that happens, notice I say if and not when, my preference for a monitor would be something like 4 Samsung F2380 monitors. Small bezel, great display and panel, affordable.

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.

What kind of Mac configuration should I get for video editing

I have been using after effects and premiere pro a lot and has been experiencing lots off lag, even when I am using the Internet. What Mac configuration should I get for this type of editing?

When I was doing more video editing, two things mattered ..... a fast CPU and lots of memory. Having the horsepower to handle activities like rendering really helps.
On lag, while it certainly can be application-driven, you might look over this FAQ for some ideas.
If you haven't already, you might also ask in the FCP dicussion here.

What RAM should I buy for Mac Pro?

I want to increase the speed of my Mac Pro but I'm not sure exactly which RAM to buy for my tower. I bought this Mac Pro in 2008 I believe. Any suggestions on which brands to buy and exactly which specific RAM?
Thanks.

There were half a dozen articles on MPG on memory upgrades, CS5/6 and more on SSDs to keep you reading!
When choosing boot drive SSD can make sense, so would 10K WD VR 250GB ($154)
Saving files you work on can take "too long" when you go from 300MB up to 2GB.
Disk drives may never get down to where they were (2TB WD Black $169) but large high density = high I/O and even the 1TB has gotten faster recently.
MPG goes into using SSDs on PCIe card but that has not always been ideal - better in the last two Mac Pro models.
The other 'big' ticket item has been the Nvidia GTX 570 2.5GB model ($500 though for a MacVidCards version) to help CS6 w/ 10.7.4 (and yes it helps but some are waiting for a GTX 680 instead but that could requirie 10.8 too).
But getting 4 x 2GB $110 16GB might make more sense using 667MHz instead of $220 for 2 x 4GB $220 800MHz. Both gets you 12GB, better but not ideal. For some, it is a stop gap rather than buy a 2010 or waiting for a new 2013 Mac Pro.
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-PC2-5300-FB-DIMM-APPLE-Memory/dp/B002ORUUAC/
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-FB-DIMM-PC2-6400-800MHz-SPECIAL/dp/B0062B2JRS/
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-VelociRaptor-WD1000DHTZ-10000RPM/dp/B007ZR YNVS/
WD Black 1TB (and others)
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Internal-Desktop/dp/B0036Q7MV0/
SSD Crucial m4 128GB $119
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-2-5-Inch-Solid-State-CT128M4SSD2/dp/B004W2JKZI/r
I like WD 10k VR in latest series $200 500GB
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Drives-VelociRaptor-Enterprise/dp/B007VPGK 42/
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Drives-VelociRaptor-Enterprise/dp/B007V5A1 BK/
http://www.amazon.com/Velociraptor-WD1000DHTZ-SATA-Hard-Drive/dp/B007VPGJIY/
RAM stays with your Mac, disk drives are an investment.

What kind of hard drive should I get for video editing on my MacBook Pro

I work in film preservation, which requires a lot of rendering of DPX files.
I currently have a late-2009 MacBook Pro. It's having a lot of problems such as freezing and overheating, so I think it might be best to just replace the hard drive. Any tips on ssd vs hdd for quick rendering performance? Also, the optical drive is not functional so if like to use that as extra hard drive space as well.
Don't know too much about hard drives, and I'd really appreciate any help.
Thanks in advance!

Thanks everyone,
The symptoms don't exactly correlate with the ones listed on the page about resetting the Systems Management Controller. Typically when I'm running a demanding program like After Effects or Compressor alongside Chrome, the screen will typically freeze up, though I retain control of the mouse. I can't click anything though, and it usually takes about a minute or two (after I've pressed command-option-esc) for the mac to start responding again. I think it's because I'm trying to make the mac do things it wasn't designed to do, such as run these processor-heavy programs. Lately it's also been freezing very frequently while playing Netflix. The movie just freezes, though I can still hear the sound continuing, and then in about a minute or two it will snap back to the currently playing part of the movie.
As far as overheating, I've made it possible for my mac to perform with these programs by either keeping it on an icepack or heavily ventilated with an exterior fan. It seems that after heavy bouts of using these programs though, the freezing frequency and seriousness is worse. If I don't keep the mac really well ventilated and it gets too hot, the screen just goes black, everything stops, and then in a few seconds it pops back as if nothing happened, running normally.
The model of my mac is:
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009)
MacBookPro5,5
MB991xx/A
13.3"/2.53/2X2GB/250-5400
However, I did add some more RAM when I go the computer to help it along.
Thanks again for all and any help! It's very much appreciated.

What kind of mac pro specs should I have for video editing?

I am running the media department for Skagit Valley College and am in charge of editing for our online content. I am currently using an imac with FCP6 but am spending way too much time rendering. I am wondering about what kind of specs I should consider for building a mac pro to cut down on some of that time as well as setting up an audio recording studio. Microphones, cables, software, and hardware specs are all issues that puzzle me at the moment as far as what is going to be the best fit for my productions...
please help
-anthony

Virtually any Mac Pro 6-core or up will work well, but obviously the more cores the better. Save the budget by adding your own RAM (I like 2GB per core) and hard drives (3TB Hitachi 7200 RPM drives are a good value) from reputable vendors. Avoid "green" drives that use lower spindle speed to save energy.
Get the fastest available video board (currently the 5870) and consider consider dial third party displays (I'm using a pair of 27" Samsungs, half the price of a single Apple 27) and look into a Matrox MXO2 mini to handle your grading monitor.
Get a copy of Final Cut Studio (2009) ASAP while it's still available and talk to your Apple rep about additional licenses if needed. If you know FCP6 and like it, you need to "bunker" the app and ignore FCP X until it fleshes out.
If you need more help, let me know... I've been on FCP since version 3 and I'm a native Washingtonian. Just don't call me Homie!
Good luck!

What graphics card should I get for video editing?

I recently purchased a G5 2.3ghz,Canon GL2 camcorder and Final Cut Express HD. Does any one have any suggestions on a good graphics card? I was thinking of buying a radeon 9800pro or would I be better off with the Radeon X800 XT.

Hi,
Firstly the card may work properly and the monitor may go to sleep after 1 hr or the power option (even it does not have battery) may turn the screen off after 1 hour. What is the model of your machine actually, for example the following link shows one model (HP TouchSmart 610-1150y):
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c02861058#N155
Upgrading/replacing video card on AIO machines is relative simpler than on laptops BUT finding the RIGHT card could be very difficult.
Regards.
BH
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Make it easier for other people to find solutions by marking a Reply 'Accept as Solution' if it solves your problem.

New to macs need guidence on what macbook pro to get for video & photo

I see there are alot of what looks like good deals on ebay for macbookpros, is ebay a safe place to get a mac book pro? If I get one with OS leopard from ebay, can I get a discount or free upgrade to snow leopard?
among the features I have read about snow leopard, it has a "put back" feature for accidental deletions, does leopard have anything like this?
I am in California, if I get a macbookpro directly from mac online or a mac store do I pay tax? like a regular electronics store? why dont macs ever go on sale? they seem to be the same price all over.
what would be the bare minimum in specs to get in a macbookpro for smooth rendering/editing of all types of video like high def?
I may also need to run some windows programs; MS word, Excel, photoshop & roxio easy media creator. I have read about vm ware fusion & paralles for macs, which would be best for running my windows programs without problems. Will vm ware fusion or parallels run on OS snow leopard?
I had been using roxio easy media creator on a Dell Pentium 4 PC with windows XP home, editing .mpg movies clips taken with my Sony cybershot digital still camera & I could never make a DVD without some difficulty, until I cannot do it at all now, the video & audio are out of sync. I have talked to some people about this & alot have told me a mac would be better suited to what I do. So now I am looking at macs, they seem very expensive, so the less I have to spend would be better, but I am willing to spend a little to get good reliable performance.
Message was edited by: Sossity

Hi -
You will get a lot of different answers to your questions. Here are mine:
Sossity wrote:
I see there are alot of what looks like good deals on ebay for macbookpros, is ebay a safe place to get a mac book pro?
I my opinion, no.
If I get one with OS leopard from ebay, can I get a discount or free upgrade to snow leopard?
No.
among the features I have read about snow leopard, it has a "put back" feature for accidental deletions, does leopard have anything like this?
I believe you are referring to TIme Machine, which is a built in software back up feature in both Leopard and Snow Leopard. You will need an external hard disc drive to make it work.
I am in California, if I get a macbookpro directly from mac online or a mac store do I pay tax? like a regular electronics store?
If you buy a computer from the Apple Web Store, you will have to pay the sales tax your state charges - but you won't have to pay for shipping.
why dont macs ever go on sale?
They sell at full price so why should Apple discount them?
they seem to be the same price all over.
Yes, even at most reputable mail order companies the price is usually within 50 or so dollars of Apple's list price. This is another clue to be suspicious of the ebay prices.
what would be the bare minimum in specs to get in a macbookpro for smooth rendering/editing of all types of video like high def?
To edit HD video, I would max out the ram and you will also need to have fast (firewire) external disc drives to store the media as you will not want to have the media stored on your internal system disc.
I may also need to run some windows programs; MS word, Excel, photoshop & roxio easy media creator. I have read about vm ware fusion & paralles for macs, which would be best for running my windows programs without problems. Will vm ware fusion or parallels run on OS snow leopard?
Yes. There are reports that there are some problems with Snow Leopard, but these should be ironed out shortly, or have already been ironed out as the 3rd party software makers update their software for Snow Leopard.
I had been using roxio easy media creator on a Dell Pentium 4 PC with windows XP home, editing .mpg movies clips taken with my Sony cybershot digital still camera & I could never make a DVD without some difficulty, until I cannot do it at all now, the video & audio are out of sync. I have talked to some people about this & alot have told me a mac would be better suited to what I do. So now I am looking at macs, they seem very expensive, so the less I have to spend would be better, but I am willing to spend a little to get good reliable performance.
OK, well this is something I can't advise you on. If you were to get a new Mac, you would need to: Buy the Mac, buy Fusion or Parallels, buy a full copy of Windows to install on your windows partition, buy the ram upgrade, and buy external storage. Plus, you will have to learn a new operating system, and new software like iMovie and iDVD.
What the relative value this has to you, I don't know. If you have a long term commitment to working with photography and videography, then without a doubt, I would recommend doing it as eventually in your career you will need to be familiar with how to work on the Mac platform.
If you are doing it just to make better DVDs from MPG movies shot with a still camera, I would think about it.
Hope this helps, and good luck!

What CPU should i buy for my Mac Mini 1.1?

Hi,
I've bought my first ever Mac off eBay for a great price, only thing is it's an old Mac Mini and it probably is going to need upgrading. Although i've never had a Mac i've been upgrading PCs for years so i'm not necessarily new to getting my hands dirty. I've sourced a new hard drive for it as it only had 80gb and i've looked over many tutorials and videos on how to replace it and i'm feeling pretty confident on replacing it. Thing is though, I thought whilst i'm already opening the case to upgrade the hard drive should i upgrade the 1.66 ghz intel core duo CPU to an intel core 2 duo? I've look on eBay and saw quite a few, would this one fit?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Core-2-Duo-SLB3P-T3400-2-16Ghz-1M-667-CPU-/22080 4297406?pt=UK_Motherboards_CPUs&ha...
If not, what about this one?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140672958432&clk_rvr_id=303 473030963&mfe=sidebar#ht_500wt_1156
Or even this one?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270801235988&clk_rvr_id=303 471376395&mfe=sidebar#ht_535wt_1031
What's the difference between them?
Don't really want to spend too much, but if I have to i'll wait a bit and save up some money. Do you think this is worth it? As the CPUs on eBay with the M socket are only £10-20 so I thought for that price it must be? Can you offer any other advice or tips?
This is my first post here and I am hoping you can help,
Thanks in advance,
Josh

Au contraire. The 1.1 mini certainly can take a CPU upgrade, but the process is certainly not for the faint of heart. Google will give you many examples.

What format should I use for video in Director 11.5.9?

I'm running Director 11.5.9 on Windows7, 64 bit with Intel Core i7-2600K CPU @ 3.4GHz with 16 GB RAM.
I'm trying to insert some videos into an existing Director program written in 640x480 rez. A QT movie looks awful at full screen. AVI doesn't run at all. Some mpeg xtras no longer work with Director 11, so what formats do I have available to work with in Director 11?
Thanks.
Dewey

MECS wrote:
what formats do I have available to work with in Director 11?
Dewey
Hi Dewey,
Use MP4 H.264 for best results (quality & performances).
cheers

What computer should I buy for ID5.5?

I have an opportunity to do some work-at-home design using Indesign. The computer I'm using is a tired old PC. Dual 1.8 GHZ, 2 GB RAM.
It runs it but it's not fast.
Any advice on specific machines? I need to keep it under $1K so Mac Pro is out. But how are the minis?
I'm not counting out a new PC either. Just don't know what's good for this work.
I won't be running Photoshop much, maybe a touchup here and there and a little illustration art. But mainly just layout of magazines, newsletters, etc.
Thanks for all input!

5.5 wont be supported if you buy a new mac, and they all come with Yosemite now, and you CAN NOT DOWNGRADE ANY MAC to any OS lower than what it came out of the box with: it will come with Yosemite and that is your only option unless something NEWER comes along, but Macs are UPGRADE ONLY unless you want to break the warranty and hack the API (you can't just stick a disk in there and say "go ahead, I don't care"
Some users are having no issues with Yosemite and CS5.5, however I'm in a dual production crisis with ID5.5 on Yosemite vs ID5.5 on Mavericks on new i7 iMacs I've been supplying to a company. The resize in ID5.5 and Yosemite is so slow it hangs 3 different systems running Yosemite where they become unresponsive for about 10 minutes while the screen refreshes, but that behavior doesn't exist on the systems running Mavericks using the same files. I am looking at either returning those macs or offloading production to other systems but CC is far less of an option than virtualizing Win XP on those macs at this point.

What macbook should i get for university (Computer Science major)?

I need a macbook for homework, school, programing, and possibally running windows 7 or 8 using bootcamp. I will not be gaming on this machine at all. I was stuck between the 13' macbook air with 8gb ram, 512gb storage, and i7 or i5 for $1849. Or the macbook pro 13'' i5, 8gb ram, and 512gb storage for the same price. I'm looking for decent battery life and good performance overall. keep in mind that i won't replace this laptop for 3-4 years. And is it really a big difference between the i5 and the i7 in the air and should i get 256gb or 512gb in the air if that is the outcome.

I just happened to google "macbook for computer science majors" and this is the first thread I found. Weird Since All the students are at Univ of Waterloo. I know different school, but same city. http://www.studentawards.com/forum.aspx?g=posts&t=30988

What macbook should I buy for video editing?

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