Does anyone use a MacBookPro as their only editing computer?

[Ron Pestes]

I don not agree with the above post. I use a MacBook Pro exclusively and have never been sorry. There may be times that having both desktop and laptop would be better but who has that kind of money? I edit with FCS3 and use external hard drives. Not a problem at all.

Apple Certified Master Pro FCS 2
Sony EX-3
MacBook Pro

[David Murrow]

I’m an old Media 100 guy who learned After Effects in the mid 90s. Today I primarily bounce between Final Cut Pro and After Effects and Photoshop.

I bought the latest version of FCS, not realizing it wouldn’t run on my G5. So I run it on my 13″ macbook, which is a real pain.

Editing is only one of many things I do to earn a living. I’m primarily a writer. But I’ve got a bunch of spots I’ll be editing over the next couple months and I’m trying to figure out if I can just move to a 17″ power book with an e-sata adapter.

[Steve Eisen]

I don’t know of any “professional” editors that use their MBPro as their primary system.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Ron Pestes]

I should also add that I connect my laptop with a 24 inch Dell monitor and bluetooth keyboard and mouse at home. Also, I use LaCie Rugged drives on the road and then plug in an esata Caldigit VR at home. Buy what you can afford and don’t worry about wheather full time working pros are doing it. They are few and far between when you consider all the part timers out there that are just trying to get work and doing there jobs very well.

Apple Certified Master Pro FCS 2
Sony EX-3
MacBook Pro

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I\’ve used a MacBook Pro as my editing machine for many years too. It\’s not as fast as a desktop, obviously, but I didn\’t need it to be, in my situation. To increase it\’s usability I\’ve added the following…
Connected to a 20\” in Cinema for a larger screen
USB apple keyboard and Apple magic mouse
Sonnet Expresscard eSATA card to connect to SATA drives
drive dock to connect to bare SATA drives for large file work
Matrix MXO2 mini to connect to analog TVs and HDMI devices.
Of course, FireWire and USB drives

All this let\’s me carry a mini studio in a backpack and set up in minutes in the field.

For home use I use a iMac as my desktop, and it\’s networked to my MBP. My media lies on a collection of disks which connect to the MBP and the iMac as needed.

The one thing that\’s a limitation with any MBP is speed. Especially if you\’re doing DVD encoding, complex layered compositing, and other such processor intensive things.

Otherwise the convenience and portability is great. But that has to be the reason for getting a MBP.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Walter Biscardi]

David, first off, no clue on the e-SATA thing. You’ll need to check with someone like macmall.com and ask their sales folks about that. They are very knowledgeable and will be able to help you with the right product.

As for the complete studio in a laptop, the real question is what do you do with your system and do you need the flexibility to expand your system later? A laptop is basically what you see is what you get. About the only thing you can change later is to add RAM if you haven’t maxed it out yet. That’s pretty much it. And today, RAM plays a big part in the speed and efficiency of a system.

A Desktop allows you to change out the graphics card, video card, add a significant amount of RAM and install additional hard drives / optical drives and more. In short, a desktop can change and grow as your needs change and grow. The desktops in my shop run an average of 3 to 4 years before they are replaced so I get a lot of use out of them before they are slid down to another function or sold / donated.

In addition, there is no comparing the render speeds of a desktop model to the laptop because you simply can’t put those processors in there.

And somebody else asked, what do you run beside the FCP suite? That could determine what’s the best way to go. And do you absolutely require the portability of a laptop for your work or do you work in one location?

At the very least, if you are going to go with a laptop system, I would go with the 15″ MacBook Pro and add a 24″ Dell or Apple monitor as your second monitor. Also consider a small WACOM tablet as these are great not only for your work, but also eliminate any chance of carpel tunnel syndrome.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.

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[Jay Soriano]

Walter,

What size Wacom do you recommend(use?) for FCP/Photoshop editing?

thanks.

[Sascha Engel]

As many opinions as fish in the see. I work mainly on a MBP 17inch with 4GB RAM and a 512MMB Graphics card. Just finished a 75min HD Full Feature Film on that machine. Edited countless video clips for some of the biggest musicians in Israel. Both SD and HD – working as well with AE.
All my work under https://www.youtube.com/taikang is done with Apple Laptops.
For heavy effect rendering and Grading I also go on a big machine.
For the rest my MBP with a good 24inch monitor connected does the jobe very good.
I just have to be sometimes a little more patient with rendering times 😉

Of course, a Desktop is more decent and faster, but if you wanna stay mobile – the MPB is good to go.
I just edited also a RED video clip shot in 4k – no problem.

Sascha

[Sascha Engel]

To STEVE EISEN:

May I introduce myself: Sascha Engel, Choreographer, filmmaker and editor.
Now you know one 😉

Sascha

[Don Walker]

David,
As it stands right now, if you are not planning to do a lot of After Effects or Motion work, a MBP would be fine. But get the 17′ version which has the Express 34 slot for a E-sata drive. The 15″ version does not have that slot anymore, they replaced it with an SD card slot.(something that you could by at Walmart for $9 bucks).
Having said all that, the whole situation should change when the next major release of FCP comes out. It will be a 64 bit program. (If it’s not then I’m quitting Apple) When you combine a 64bit program with a 64bit operating system, combined with 8 /16 processors, and 32GB or more of RAM, a scenerio that only a tower can provide, the MacPro will blow away any laptop. IMHO
don walker

John 3:16