• DaVinci Resolve

  Best Mac Pro for DaVinci Resolve

  Posted by Kevin Kunze on March 5, 2015 at 3:56 pm

  Hi all,

  I’m looking to upgrade my Mac laptop so I can do smoother color correction with DaVinci Resolve including using 4K footage.
  Here are the specs for the Mac Pro I’m currently considering, do you think this’ll give me enough memory to edit without lagging?

  2.8GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz
  16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
  1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage
  Intel Iris Pro Graphics and NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB of GDDR5 memory

  Thank you very much for your time and support.

  Best regards,
  Kevin

  Ryan Holmes replied 11 years, 5 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Joseph Owens

  March 5, 2015 at 10:15 pm

  [Kevin Kunze] ”
  I’m looking to upgrade my Mac laptop so I can do smoother color correction with DaVinci Resolve including using 4K footage.”

  Have you consulted the Black Magic Resolve configuration pdf? The “new” MacPro is extensively discussed in the newer version of that document, mostly in regard to Resolve 11, and if you want to step back into the silver towers’ requirements and recommendations, the Resolve 10 pdf has a lot of information, especially regarding drive speeds, VRAM and GPU configurations.

  Be aware that most laptops are just barely capable of playing 1080 HD, and start breathing hard if coping with 2K. 4K is pretty much out of reach for even a standard-configuration MacPro over 2-3 years old. some operators are reporting flaky response from the newMacPro coffeecans if they aren’t built out specifically for UltraHD or higher. More than GPU is required for 2K and above… a dual-Titan Black or equivalent build gets you in the ballpark for UHD and above at at least half-good resolution for some source media like R3D, even without a Rocket for decode acceleration. Higher-density bitrate material, ProRes444 would start being a challenge, and I really doubt that 4K RGB dpx files would play at more than a few frames per second.

  jPo

  “I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.
• 

  Ryan Holmes

  March 8, 2015 at 11:56 pm

  [Kevin Kunze] “Intel Iris Pro Graphics and NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB of GDDR5 memory”

  Are you buying a MacBook Pro or a Mac Pro? Big difference! 🙂

  A NVIDIA 750M is a mobile graphics card (hence the “M”) meant for notebooks or lighter weight machines, like a MacBook. If you truly plan on doing 4K I’d follow Joseph’s advice above – check the configuration guide and build accordingly. Most laptops, even high end new ones, are going to have a hard time decoding 4K in realtime (and you also need to look at the speed of your storage array to serve of up 4K files without dropping frames).

  If you’re really concerned about smooth 4K, then a desktop solution is where you’ll need to look.

  Ryan Holmes
  http://www.ryanholmes.me
  @CutColorPost

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up