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Macbook Pro specs for my situation
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. Have been searching for a while and not found answers to my specific questions yet, but if they’ve already been answered apologies in advance.
I’m shooting some projects on 5DMKII’s and would like to be able to do very rough, what I would call radio cuts, on my laptop to get client approval on content before passing over the material to an editor for the real editing job. These will be cuts for interview content, with some minor b-roll mixed in, but with no effects and basically nothing fancy. To get to the point where I can do this, I’ll also need to use the laptop to convert from H264 to ProRes and to convert further to very low-res with timecode burn-in (so I can send out for transcription).
Believe it or not I did this last time around on my ancient Black 13″ Macbook, and, well, it wasn’t fun. I ended up having to compress the stuff down to be able to really work with it much. So…figured it is time to get a new laptop. Before I pop the question, I’ll answer the other obvious query: other than this type of FCP work I do mostly word-processing and web-browsing with the occasional foray into photoshop.
I need a laptop because I do this and other projects like this in the field. I would really like to not have to schlep around a 15″, but what do you think? Can I do this very limited editing on a new 13″ MBP, or is that a pipedream? I know the lack of a dedicated graphics card is fatal for any real editing, but for this very limited compressing and cut-and-paste type of editing, might it suffice?
I have no aspirations to become an editor and do real cutting, so I don’t need to worry about the future of that.
Thanks for any help or insight you all can offer. I was looking at a tricked out 15″ with 8gb, 7200 rpm, antiglare, etc. then my eyes started to stray to the price tag of the refurb 13″, which is half that. And I also thought about carrying this stuff all over the world with me, when those 2 inches make a difference.
What do you think I really need to get this very limited type of job done?
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7 Replies
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You say it’s a limited job, but really it’s not. Transcoding from h264 to ProRes is a processor intensive job
The easiest way to do this is to use the Canon Log and Transfer plugin.
Another way is to use Magic bullet Grinder.
For either of these methods, the more processor speed you have the better. I’d go at least for the 15″ But really the 17″ is best due to it’s expandability. The 13″ MBPs have thenplder core 2 duo processor while the larger MBPs have the corei5 and i7 processors. When doing batch transcodes as you are get the fastest machine you can get. I have traveled the world with my 17″ and have never wished I had a smaller computer.
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Thanks for the advice Jeremy.
I’ve been using mpeg streamclip to do this in the past but will look into the other possibilites you recommend.
I get you on the transcoding being processor intensive,but there is one good thing about that stuff, which is you can set it up to batch encode and just leave it overnight. If I am willing to do that, would I be able to do the kind of cutting I speak of with the 13″?
Envy your commitment to the 17″ but have to say that I’ve made the opposite journey from 15 to 12 to 13 and wish there was still a 12!
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[Tom Downey] “Envy your commitment to the 17″ but have to say that I’ve made the opposite journey from 15 to 12 to 13 and wish there was still a 12!”
Ha! I hear you, the 17 isn’t for everyone.
The difference is processors between the 13″ and the 15/17″ is pretty big. If you are trying to build a transcoding machine, I’d go with at least the 15. It’s only my opinion, and if they made a 12 pound 20″ 4 core laptop, I’d get it, so take that for what it’s worth. Light and thin desgin be damned! GIve me some power. 🙂
Log and Transfer as well as Grinder will do batch transcodes as well. The nice thing about Log and transfer is that it retains a bit of metadata from the camera in the form of timecode. It’s free from Canon, I’d look in to it. Grinder is faster and can also add metadata, but the metadta process is a bit more manual, and Grinder’s features are sort of limited at this time, but it does work.
Jeremy
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I could not imagine editing on anything smaller then a 17″
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta -
It’s for radio cuts–it’s not about the visuals–and I personally really don’t need 17″ to asses the content and presentation quality in interviews and roughly hack them together. I did it before on a 13″ and that monitor size was fine for this purpose. There’s no way I will schlep a 17″ computer with me given where and how much I travel. For me it’s serious overkill for the purposes I outlined above.
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Tom,
What did you end up going with? I’m in a similar situation trying to decide between a 13″ macbook pro and an older C2D 15″ macbook pro. I’d love to know how things are working for you.
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Patrick,
Apoliogies for the delayed reply.
I ended up buying the 2.66ghz i7 15″ with 8gb of ram.
I decided that the sluggishness was going to annoy me too much if I purchased a 13″.
The 15″ works like a charm for what I’m doing. I;m not sure how the older 15″ MBP’s compare to this newer model.
Hope that helps.
Take care,
Tom
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