Good laptop specs for editing multiclip footage?

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Good laptop specs for editing multiclip footage?

Posted by Ben Barnes on May 20, 2011 at 7:24 pm

Hi guys. Very basic question: I need to make my workstation portable and am in the market for an Apple laptop to edit in FCP on. I mainly edit multiclipped footage (3 or 4 tracks) at 720p and 1080p, sometimes HDV, sometimes ProRes.
I haven’t been able to find a clear answer on what my basic requirements would be for processor, RAM, etc in order to reliably edit multiclips on a laptop. Creative Cow has been vital to me in the past, so I thought I’d stop googling and start asking.

Thanks in advance,
Ben

Also, I’ve got a 4TB RAIDed drive with an eSATA card for an external drive, and would probably be pulling from that most often, if that’s of importance.

Walter Soyka replied 15 years, 3 months ago 5 Members · 4 Replies
4 Replies

Cody Walters
May 20, 2011 at 10:33 pm

This all depends on your budget. I think most would say the 17 inch MacBook Pro is a good way to go. I haven’t edited multiple clips on a laptop so I can’t tell you how smooth playback will be for you.

Cody Walters
JW Studio LLC
Houston Video Production
Houston Wedding Videos

Final Cut Studio 3
Adobe CS5 Master Suite
Panasonic HVX-200
Canon 7D
Chris Tompkins
May 20, 2011 at 10:33 pm

Just get the most MAC you can afford.
With that Raid setup, you’ll be fine.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC
Rafael Amador
May 21, 2011 at 1:32 am

A lap top is per se a limitation, so get the faster 17″ you can pay with all the RAM you can afford.
A SSD is you can too.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com
Walter Soyka
May 21, 2011 at 11:03 pm

[Ben Barnes] “I need to make my workstation portable and am in the market for an Apple laptop to edit in FCP on… Also, I’ve got a 4TB RAIDed drive with an eSATA card for an external drive, and would probably be pulling from that most often, if that’s of importance.”

If you want to use that eSATA RAID, you have only one choice: the 17″ MacBook Pro. It’s the only model that features an ExpressCard/34 expansion slot. You’ll also need to purchase an ExpressCard/34 eSATA card.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

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