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MacBook Pro vs iMac for FCP?
Hi,
To cut a very long story short, I’m running FCP 6 on a 2008 MacBook Pro, 2.2 GHZ Core Duo. 4GB RAM. It takes so long to render. About an hour or so for a 3 minute video, native resolution (720×1280 to 8000kbps.
So I want to upgrade. My preference is portability over screen size, so a MacBook pro is the preferred. However…
Until just now I was sold on the 27inch iMac 3.1GHZ as it seems a far superior machine to the Macbook Pro 2.4 GHZ.
Until I ran a Geekbench score on my current 2008 MacBook Pro. I could only do a 32bit score with the free version (although having a 64 bit system), but my score was low (not surprisingly) at 3053.
What I found very interesting is the MacBook Pro 2.4 GHZ got a score of 10,806 compared to the iMac 3.1 GHZ which got a score of 8,362. See here: https://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/
This is not a one off. In fact a lower processor MacBook beats the pants off a higher spec iMac on these tests…this makes it kinda tempting to go with an iMac 21inch, 2.8 GHZ which got a score of 10,978
Considering they are both £1,800 (leaving out the 21 inch) I am thinking – get an Macbook pro.
Although, someone then said that the iMac has a graphics card dedicated to things like FCP!!
Plus, I’m not even sure FCP 6 takes advantage of Quad Core. Having said that, I will probably make the transition to FCP X.
If I knew I could get my old 2008 MacBook pro to work with FCP X too, I would probably go with the iMac, but it does support my GL Graphics Card for some reason!
Any experience you have had that might help would be appreciative. Its a lot of money to shell out!
Olly Lawer
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18 Replies
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Illy,
I’m using a 2011 MacBook Pro with FCPX and it’s way faster than old FCP ever was on my 2006 Mac Pro. I rarely have to render anything. I love it!
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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Great. What version? 2.2 GHZ or 2.4 GHZ?
Olly Lawer
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The fastest they had at the time was 2.3 Ghz, 8 GB RAM.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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Cool. Just out of interest. Did you go with an anti-glare screen?
Olly Lawer
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Yep, I got the matte screen. It doesn’t look quite as cool as the glossy, but no reflections.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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I’ll go with less cool, but no reflections too I think :).
Did you buy direct from Apple?
Olly Lawer
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Yes, they had a deal that if I signed up for a Barclay card I could get 12 months no interest. Of course if you are late or miss a payment, you get slammed with all the interest. I set up automatic payments through my credit union so I don’t have to remember anything.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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Btw – the Matte screen is the same style as the old MacBooks isn’t it? As in I get no reflection when working outside.
Are you in the UK or US? Wondering if it’s worth a trip abroad to get one. They are £2,050 here. So about $2,800
Olly Lawer
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I’m not familiar with the Macbooks, but reflections on the matte screen are very diffused. I’m in the US. I spent $4,200 on mine!
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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It depends what your needs are going to be. Of course a laptop has the portability. But for a main editing system, why don’t you go with the Mac Pro tower. It’s a great system and you can put 4 drives at 2 terabytes each. Better bang for the buck.
I wouldn’t waste your money or time on Final Cut X. Read up on the many issues. Apple dropped the ball on this.
I still edit with Final Cut 6 and it works just fine. I also have Adobe Production suite 5.5. Eventually, I’ll probably be switching to Adobe full time since Apple has made it clear they do not care about the video market, not enough money to matter to them.
Adobe on the other hand have taken advantage of this opportunity and produced an amazing product that has great workflow and fast transcoding times.
Brent Dunn
Owner / Director / Editor
DunnRight Films
DunnRight Video.com
Video Marketing Toolbox.netSony EX-1,
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Mac Pro Tower, Quad Core,
with Final Cut StudioHP i7 Quad laptop
Adobe CS-5 Production Suite
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