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

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What is the best macbook pro for video editing dslr footage?

what is the best macbook pro for video editing dslr footage?

It is the GPU that is important. All the CPU's will be fast enough. If you can affords it, the 15" with the NVIDIA GPU is the best.
Ciao.

Which 2013 Macbook Pro for Video Editing? "Help"

Hello, I am new to the Apple forums and this is my first post. I'm a 19 Years Student and I'm actually attending a cinematography and television school
I am looking for a Macbook Pro 15" for Video Editing, the sowftware I'm be using and studying are Avid Media Composer, Adobe AE and Premiere , and Photoshop.
My budget is around 2500 - 3000 Euros, And I've been reading every kind of post about the Macbook Retina 2012 and Macbook Pro 2012, but I Really don't know what to get, and if some video editors here can help me would be awesome! So, Let's getting started:
( Both models "Costs" the same, I don't mind paying 100-200 more Euros for a 2500 Macbook so i'd love to have to find the perfect balance with Performance/Design and everything else!)
I'd Like to get a Retina to be honest, but I know every kind of problem that the retina has at this moment: Expensive Repair Costs, High Framerate Drops, Choppy Interface, Burn-in screen and ghosting. I've seen by myself these errors and I don't know if there's a true fix, my opinion is that the GPU is not enough to use smootly the Retina Resolution, and I'm afraid that If I'll buy a macbook retina, the low and suffering GPU will decrease a lot the performance of these software when Rendering, Exporting, and when working with big files. ( I'm asking you if this is true, because I don't have a macbook so I couldn't test by myself how a rMBP works under pressure for atleast 3 hours with one of these softwares, my experience with retina is limited to an Apple Store Experience ). Happy that Final Cut X and CS6 Suit now Supports Retina anyway!
But, Since the retina has all these problems, I'll not be buying THIS version of the retina. I've readed every kind of rumor and even talked to some Genius in my Apple Stores, in June 2013 the New Haswell processor might come, I don't know exactly how it works but Intel says that the GPU performance might be increased by 20 - 40%. Do you think it will resolve all the problems that this rMBP has? In The apple store I've also heard that in June 2013 the Macbook Pro Line will be RETINA ONLY, and this is going to be a issue for me if the retina will still have all these little problems, because I don't want to buy a machine that makes me work bad
The Macbook Retina I'd Like to get by now is the 15" Quad 2.7Ghz 16 Ram 512 SSD = 2800 Euros
The Other Macbook is the Macbook PRO 2012, It still good looking, but placing inside it an SSD makes it so **** expensive, and apple won't put inside more than 8 GB of Ram inside of it, so, If I'd choose to buy one and buy the 16 GB of Ram from 3rd Part, and is aroudn 200 euros, Plus a 600 Euros Samsung 512 SSD since the Apple one costs 700 euro. And it doesn't come with retina display, remember, it's not needed I know and the screen is gorgeus, but I feel and fear that the Macbook Pro hardware is outdated, and might not catch the other in the next years ( I might be wrong, but I believe that Retina motherboard and Retina Chipset are more Fast/Good than the 2012 Macbook Pro, even if everything is glued in there and is not user-friendly )
If I buy the 2012 Macbook Pro By following Apple Products, I'd be spending 3000 Euros, and I found it too much since It doesn't come with retina, I might be wrong.
If I buy the 2012 Macbook Pro By placing the Ram and SSD by myself i'd be spending 2800 Euros, but 3rd part hardware is not under apple warranty.
If I buy the 2012 Macbook Pro WITHOUT SSD, but a 750 GB 7200 and by placing 8 GB Ram It's 2500 Euros.
So, here it is, I don't know what to do :\ Actually I don't like the retina and I hope that in June 2013 they'll change the Processor, Fix all the problems, and maybe add a solid Graphic Card, ( I doubt the'll change the graphic card, just the integrated intel graphic card might change, not the Nvidia for sure, because the rMBP thin )
But, If I wait June 2013 I Fear that the 2012 Macbook Pro will disappear, and if there's only a Not-So-Good Retina left, I'll really not know if to buy it or wait more monts.

Hello Andrea,
I edit video and am familiar with the MacBookPro models. Both the 15" MBP and the 15" rMBP will be fine for editing with Avid Media Composer, Adobe AE, Premiere and Photoshop. But there are some differences that may be important to you, depending on the external equipment you plan to use:
The regular MBP has the following i/o ports:
1 FW800 port
1 Thunderbolt port
2 USB3 ports
1 SDXC slot
Audio line-in port
Audio line-out/headphone port
The rBMP has the following i/o ports:
2 Thunderbolt ports (no native FW port)
2 USB3 ports
1 SDXC slot
Headphone output port (no audio-in)
HDMI output port (output, not input)
The lack of audio line-in port and native FW800 in the rMBP rule out that model as far as I am concerned.
Also, you need to be aware that you cannot upgrade the RAM memory after purchase. There are no RAM slots in the current MacBook Pro models (rMBP included), so no after-market upgrades are possible.
I would not recommend purchasing the very expensive SSD. I suggest configuring a MBP with the 750GB, 7200rpm SATA hard drive and invest the savings in external hard drives - you are going to need them for video work & backup.

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:

Best MacBook Pro for video editing

Any suggestions - I would like to purchase a MacBook Pro but I want to some video editing with it -which is the one to look at? Thanks

The best one is the model without the word "Book" in it...
You don't say what you want to edit, but in general, editing is a horsepower game so you'll want a lot of RAM, a fast system disk/SSD and the fastest processors and video board available. Don't expect to do much on the battery because all those resources (plus your external media drives) will severely limit your battery life.
You may also want an external monitor and plan on either USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt external drives for media and scratch storage. The bigger, the better.
Hope this helps

I want to purchase a MacBook Pro for video editing as well as college.

I am interested in becoming a YouTuber, and I would be using Final Cut Pro. I need a MacBook Pro because I need it to be portable for school, but be powerful enough to handle video editing up to 1080p. Which one would you suggest?

A 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display with the best available processor, 16GB RAM, and as much storage as you think you'll need. Of course, this is just my personal recommendation.

What upgrades should I get for my MacBook pro for video editing?, What upgrades should I get for my MacBook pro for video editing?

Hi,
i am a student and I will use my MacBook pro to edit my movies, I will go to a film school and I think the preview of my previous works has to be professionally done. But I don't know what upgrades should I get to make the editing smooth, and have enough storage.

as an hobbyist on a shoestring budget, but with the head in the sky, based on my own experience:
8GB Ram is ok, 16GB is nice
most important, aside 'skills': …
<voice of Steve Balmer> ext HDD, ext HDD, ext HDD, ext HDD!!!
I'm handling here 4k material on a MacMini, which doesn't even have a dedicated GPU. In Multicam.
Distribute your materials on several hard drives, make a plan first, before editing, what & where, you get instantly messy and lost without a plan.
What mentioned before: back ups! I'm not shy using a 99€ Raid0 (=two 2.5" drives + Disk Utility's feature, to create 'software raids' ) - Raid0 are NoGo for pros, 'cause it doubles the chance to 'crash' - no prob for me, having my backups - inconvenient to reload everything - but I'm no News Room
For professional 'look' care for the other stuff :
tripod with 'fluid head', lights, more lights, ND filters set, ext. microphone(s) at last a shotgun and a lav, ext audio recorder (I'm abusing my ol' iPhone4 and a tiny box called iRig, which offer XLR connector), did I mention lights? , a good bag and a waterproof, lockable aluminium box, soft boxes for light, maybe a shoulder rig (starting at 80€), 200sq ft of some green cloth for green screening (if your school doesn't offer a 'studio') FCPX does marvel with even really bad lighted green screens, those handy foldable 'brighteners'/reflectors, to bounce light ('Rembrandt lightning') … finally tons of odds and ends, starting with gaffer tape, ending with SDcards ...
And DO things, try things, play with your stuff, make experiments just for the trash bin!
Enjoy your film school (I'm envy… )

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!

MacBook Pro vs MacBook Air for video editing?

I am debating between a 13 inch MacBook Pro and a 13 inch MacBook Air. The MacBook Air seems to have a nicer battery life and price tag. But I'm not sure if it will be powerful enough for video editing. Which one would be better for my needs?

To be fair, they'll probably be about on par as both have integrated graphics chips, although the Pro has faster processors depending on spec.
Having said that, neither are particularly suitable. Ideally you should be looking at a 15" Pro with a dedicated graphics processor, and even faster CPU.
I find integrate graphics fine for graphics program's, but would want more power for video personally.

Mac Pro for Video Editing?

So I have an awesome Mac Pro computer at work all well equiped with all the bells and wistles for video editing and now I'm looking to upgrade my machine at home which is currently just a macbook pro with a second monitor.
My one concern is that the Mac Pro has not been updated in sometime. Obviously the mac bro route would be best for me being in video production so I can easily upgrade component with the never ending technology that keeps changing. Now the concern about buying a Mac Pro right now is the possibilites of it being upgraded. Now I understand things are obviously always being upgraded and things are never up to date for very long. However I'm concerned that if in like 3-4 months they came out with something and changed the decision that I maybe screwed for upgrade components along the way.
Just thought I'd get some insight from some of you and what your suggestions maybe?
Thanks in advance.

budget, time-line, stomach for 1.0 revamp (every new model, 2012 could be 3x), lack of Rosetta of course.
production never = bleeding edge, go for a mature well tested proven design - expect to see firmware change, compatibility issues, and 3-4 months for a unified build and drivers rolled out, no?
a nice $2200 "hold me over the hump" for the next 6-12 months for now, W3690/X3690 DIY (the w3680 3.33 6-core is mere $620)
no easy answer that I see with all the products Intel has on their plates.

Best macbook pro for gopro editing

hi. i am new to the editing world and would like to get a macbook pro, i would use it for homevideo editing from a gopro, holding music and possibly watching the odd movie on it.
i have no clue on what sort of macbook pro id need but id like a retina display? what are the pros and cons of retina? and i would also like the macbook pro to not be slow or lag or crash while im edititng.
so if someone out there could write back with exact specifications to what they think would be the best macbook pro for me that would be great.
thanks
Ross

The best one is the model without the word "Book" in it...
You don't say what you want to edit, but in general, editing is a horsepower game so you'll want a lot of RAM, a fast system disk/SSD and the fastest processors and video board available. Don't expect to do much on the battery because all those resources (plus your external media drives) will severely limit your battery life.
You may also want an external monitor and plan on either USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt external drives for media and scratch storage. The bigger, the better.
Hope this helps

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

Looking at Refurb MacBook Pro 13" with Retina Display... Which is best for video editing?

Hi all,
I'm looking at replacing my current 2010 MacBook Pro with something newer. I do quite a bit of video editing with Final Cut Pro X and some webdesign in Dreamweaver CS6 or Wordpress on Chrome. I need something that will be able to render the Final Cut videos. I'm looking at the refurb 2012 MacBook Pro 13" with retina display, an i5 and 8GB of ram, OR a 2013 13" with 4GB of ram and the Intel Iris Graphics... Which is better? I've heard really great things about the Intel Iris Graphics, but is having the 8GB of RAM more important?
Thanks for your help!

I would think if you are going to run both of those programs at the same time, or even one at a time, a system with discrete graphic would be a better fit for you.
The next question is if you are doing web design do you really need a retina display. At this time only apple has them so everyother computer viewing your web designs wouldn't see the difference, if there is any to begin with.

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?

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 Video Editing

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