Mac Pro vs. MacBook Pro

[Dan Brockett]

Hi:

I think the answer is simple. If you need mobility, you need a laptop. If not, you will have more power and speed and more professional capabilities in a desktop. End of story.

The Kona AJA Io is an amazing product but beware, there are limitations to what it can do and it is expensive. Also, if you are going to run the Io successfully, you need the top of the line MBP.

The AJA Kona 3 (I own one) is superb and it is one of the smartest buys I have ever made. It really does everything I need it to and it does it well.

If it were me, I would purchase a MacBook for a portable inexpensive laptop solution for travel, e-mail, Word, etc. and I would buy a desktop. I own a dual 2.3GHz G5 with the Kona and new MBP (2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo). I thought I would actually use the laptop for occasional editing but so far, I have only partially edited an ambitious home movie on it and most of the time, I prefer to edit said home movie on my G5 because I have dual 24″ monitors, a real keyboard, speakers, etc. Editing on a laptop is totally possible, it’s just not as fun as editing with a more powerful desktop.

Best,

Dan

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[Walter Biscardi]

[Jason Presser] “Would you recommend a Mac Pro or a MacBook Pro for use with Final Cut Studio 2? For those of you who have experience with both — what are the drawbacks of each set up? Which do you prefer?”

MacPro is much faster than a MacBook Pro.

MacPro is infinitely more expandable than a MacBook Pro with the various cards you can add today and the new ones that will be developed as we move forward.

Unless you require mobility, desktops are always faster and more expandable than laptops.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Russell Lasson]

I’d go with the MacPro because I rarely edit away from the office. When I do edit way from the office, I always miss the nice speakers, room, dual monitors, broadcast monitor, refrigerator with cold beverages, mood lighting, etc.

I really just use my MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz for web, email, chat, etc. (But every once in a while it comes in really useful away from the office).

-Russ

Russell Lasson
Kaleidoscope Pictures
Provo, UT

[Paul Escandon]

Go with the Mac Pro – you won’t regret sacrificing portability.

And if your needs change in a year or so, you can at that point buy a MacBook Pro that is just as fast if not faster than your Mac Pro is today.

The speed of the Mac Pro vs the MacBook Pro is significant.

* * *
Paul Escandon – Lead Editor @ Outdoor Channel
Producer | Director – Oremus Productions
http://www.oremusproductions.com
Apple Certified Trainer – Final Cut Pro
– –
Adjunct Professor of Media
John Paul the Great Catholic University

[Lynne Margulies]

I use the MacBook Pro laptop. I produce dvds and I edit two dvds per month. I edit in the airport, on the bus, in hotels, at home, at my partners house…..so if you need to be mobile with your editing, no problem with the laptop. I had to purchase two LaCie all-terrain 7200rpm firewire hard drives though, the 2gbs in the laptop weren’t enough space, but those two little hard drives do the trick and weigh practically nothing.

Lynne Desjardins

[Steve Eisen]

I like many others, have both Mac Pro and MBPro. It’s only an additional $2600. Get both. One or two jobs and it paid for itself.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Director-At-Large
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Nate Stephens]

It all depends on what you are planning to do.

Over the weekend I plugged our new HVX200 via Firewire into our new MacBook Pro 2.4 recorded Chroma Key video to the 2 external buss powered FW 2.5″ drives (2 mirrored) Over 2 hours of 1080-24p HD using FCP Capture Now with out drop outs.

I then dumped the video to a FW800 Striped 2 disk raid and edited 4.5 minutes of 1080-24p on the lap top with out any crashes or serious hang-ups. I was just doing a sample chroma Key demo for a client meeting, so the chroma key edges where not super important. I had 4 layers of video in some places, it was all chroma key and it looked way to good when played back using ‘desktop preview’. No tape, everything location portable and it all would run on one large battery.

Way Cool……. but I am also upgrading my Dual gig FCP editor this spring.

[Sean O’connell]

Several good arguements have been made on this thread for both desktop and laptop. It really comes down to how much processing you need to do in a remote location. Deep effects-laden Motion projects should remain on a tower. But, if you’re cutting dialog, or doing moderately funky out-bump in HD The MBP will work.

Here’s my recent experience… I own a MBP, 3gb, Studio 2 and am running a G-Raid on an express card as well as an IOHD. I ran this set-up as a demo for the first time to cut some bumps on a recent bowl game (live TV no second chances). Our show was HD 720p 59.x and I worked in basic Pro Res. The MBP did great. In fact, I ran some speed trials doing some basic keying of toolbox art over picture on a 20 second timeline as well as adding some basic dirty film/grain looks, and the MBP held its own in rendering vs a tower. Editors who were running towers in the trailer next door came by and were impressed. Working on a 15″ screen is a bit tough, but on extreme deadline it was not an impediment. Wah, to all of you who need pristine suites in which to edit. All I can say is that it fits in an overhead bin of an RJ, worked great in a demanding production environment and turned heads!

sean oconnell
oconnellsean@comcast.net

[Tom Adams]

After reading all of the above and being in the same situation: deciding to purchase a MBP or an MP desktop…I’ve decided best way to go is the MBP laptop. Since I’m on the road a lot and only in edit suite about half the time…I’ll be getting much more bang for my buck…I’d love to buy both but have to feed the wife an kids too:}

When in the studio, I’m going connect the MBP up to all my current “peripherals”…basically, connect my mouse, keyboard, two kogi lcd monitors (still working on how to make this happen), firewire out to sony mindv deck>out to external video monitor, other firewire800 out to my 1Terabyte Lacie drive and audio out to studio speakers…and not even touch the laptop when I’m working in the studio…

doesn’t this sound like a reasonable solution for my situation?

Regards,

Tom Adams – Director/Owner
Reelife Documentary Productions

“cool digital video stuff…not boring or dumb”
info@reelifeproductions.com http://www.reelifeproductions.com
Williamsburg, MA, USA

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