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FCP X 10.1 on Older Hardware
Have been getting used to FCPX for about 3 months now. In that time I have been working on 10.0.9.
I am eager to upgrade to the new version once I have a couple current projects all wrapped up, but am a bit concerned about how it will perform on my system – I’ve seen some reviews mentioning issues with older Macs.
I need to upgrade this year fairly soon anyway, but wondered if anyone could share experience if they have a comparable system that they have used 10.1 on. Specs are;
2.66ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
8GB 1067mhz DDR3 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256MB
Media is always stored on a FW800 HD.I have noticed a few performance problems with the current version, which always stem from either the software trying to open up numerous projects and events (FCPX Event Manager has really helped with this, though, and I gather the new Library system should help too) or background rendering (I have taken to extending the amount of time before rendering starts, or sometimes even turning this off altogether until I’m done working).
Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks!
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11 Replies
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That graphic card of your’s is much too slow to have any fun with X, I would recommend 1GB at least.
And depending on how old your FW800 is, that could also have something to do with it. And X is very slow with the Intel Core 2 Duo.You should really upgrade.
“Always look on the bright side of life” – Monty Python
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I’d assume that system isn’t 64bit and can’t run Mavericks and therefore not 10.1.
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According to the Apple Mavericks site, it can run on;
iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)I’m running a early 2009 iMac…so I guess I should be fine?
Take the point that it’s time to upgrade though…I was waiting on the new Mac Pro. Now it’s here I think I might be better off with a well-spec’d iMac, however.
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That’s crazy. My 2006 MacPro won’t upgrade past Lion. I hear there’s a hack, but it’s already been relegated to the kids computer.
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Hi Adam,
I have exactly the same laptop, core 2 duo, 8gigs of ram, and the 256mb graphics card.
I have updated to mavericks and FCPX 10.1
Not only does this new version work fine, but I have to report (and I am surprised by this) that FCPX 10.1 creates optimized media twice as fast as it use to.
FCPX 10.0.9 took 6 mins to create an optimized ProRes clip from an h264 mp4 file of about the same duration.
Mpeg Streamclip (the previous gold standard on my machine) took 5 mins to create a ProRes Quicktime.
But FCPX 10.1 has just achieved the same transcode of the same file in 3 mins!
So even on aging laptops like ours, there are dramatic gains to be had if you upgrade.
Plus Libraries are so much better to hold events and projects in!
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This weekend I upgraded a clients C2D based iMac to Mavericks (10.9.1) from Snow Leopard (10.6.8). Really smooth upgrade process, just make sure you install the Mavericks migration update for Snow Leopard by checking for the latest upgrades.
The system runs noticeably faster and of course the Kernel goes from 32bit to 64bit. With only Dropbox still stuck in the 32bit world. They’re a stubborn bunch…
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[Jack Zahran] “This weekend I upgraded a clients C2D based iMac to Mavericks (10.9.1) from Snow Leopard (10.6.8). Really smooth upgrade process, just make sure you install the Mavericks migration update for Snow Leopard by checking for the latest upgrades.”
Did you install on top of 10.6.8 or do a clean install of Mavericks and then use the the 10.6.8 Migration assistant to move over mail data, apps, etc? If you did a clean install, I would think that the 10.9.1 Migration Assistant would handle the move of the 10.6.8 data and apps.
Dave
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I did it on top of 10.6.8, straight upgrade. The Maverick installer pointed out some Apps that would not work after the upgrade and asked if I wanted to continue. And then after the update, I checked the App folder for any additional Apps that the system superimposed a “?” over indicating it would not work.
It has the effect of cleaning out a lot of gruff. Which is nice. I usually then go into Activity viewer and turn on the “Kind” attribute in the process list, sorting by it. Go through all the remaining 32 bit apps and see if there are 64 bit upgrades to them or better alternatives. Again, mostly dropbox is the last remaining 32 bit app in most systems I deal with. I think if Apple introduced a hierarchal iCloud add on to the Finder, I would drop dropbox…
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Thanks for the info, it’s helpful. Keep us posted on how it works out.
I was planing on doing a clean install since it’s been so many years since the original Snow Leopard install, but I have heard that many at Macintouch have had good success installing on top of 10.6.8.
It’s possible if you are not going to use FCPX, a clean install might not be necessary. But it seems that since many people here are having problems when not doing a clean install, it would make sense for me to take the extra time do the clean install. But, when I upgrade my wife’s laptop (which I get stuck doing as “IT Guy”), I will most likely just install on top of 10.6.8 (and hope CS4 still works).
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Hi Will,
Thanks so much for your detailed info on this. Very helpful.
A very pleasant surprise to hear your good experiences. Whilst I still need to look at upgrading sooner rather than later, it’s good to know that I will be able to upgrade to the latest version without everything grinding to an unholy halt.
And like you…MPEG Streamclip is always my first port of call right now. It seems crazy to me that it has taken this long for paid software to overtake something that was free to download, on the hardware we use at least.
Are there any “gotchas” that you experienced I should be aware of, or just certain tasks that are still a drag on the system?
Thanks again!
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