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MacBook 17 inch: Which older model is adequate?
Greetings,
I’m buying a MacBook 17 to replace a very old mac laptop. FCP work will NOT be the primary use of the Macbook, BUT I would like to be able to edit if needed.I understand that such decisions are subjective and not black and white yet… experience on this forum is deep and opinions are opinions/recommendations are very valuable.
I wont be buying an i7 and probably not an i5 unless I can find a deal.
I’m used to editing on a MacPro quad core; 2.66GHz… working with ProRes.
Question:
Which of the earlier MacBook 17’s are powerful enough?- The 2.1GHz does NOT work for a friend of mine wiuth FCP.
- Is the 2.4Ghz with 4G RAM effective? .. decent with ProRes
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- Is 2.66GHz a working minimum?
- Is there a graphics card that can be used on older MacBiik 17’s that will boost performance?
What do you suggest?
Thank you very much!
-Ralph-> Ralph
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4 Replies
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[Ralph Chaney] “Which of the earlier MacBook 17’s are powerful enough?”
Any. I’m using a lesser model than any listed (2nd gen MacBook Pro), and it works with FCP just fine. Any of those will be just fine.
[Ralph Chaney] “Is there a graphics card that can be used on older MacBiik 17’s that will boost performance?”
Nope…it comes with a graphics card and you live with what you get. But ANY graphics cards they have will work with FCP and Motion. They are designed to.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Shane and Others,
Thanks!
I did meet a friend who was saying he couldn’t edit with his 2.1GHz MacBook Pro, using iMovie which is less intensive than FC Studio.
This spooked me and made me think there was a minimum processor speed.From your expereince, does the 2.1GHz or lower work well (not sluggish)?
Thanks again,
R.-> Ralph
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[Ralph Chaney] “I did meet a friend who was saying he couldn’t edit with his 2.1GHz MacBook Pro, using iMovie which is less intensive than FC Studio.”
HOW was he using it? What format was he trying to edit? I’m shocked that iMovie didn’t work well. All the Apple apps are designed to work on Apple hardware. Well, some of the ProApps require more than a MacMini, but FCP works on a Mini, and a MacBook…so a MBP should be fine.
It all comes down to what are you trying to do? What formats are you trying to edit?
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
I’m not sure what he was doing with it, but it would have been simple compilations.
My use would be akin to what I’m doing with my Mac Pro desktop: 2Core Duo; 2.66GHz; 512MB graphics card; 8G RAM.
I usually edit in ProRes (regular), HD.
I just as soon go with a 2.1GHz or 2.33GHz and have “decent” performance because I would be editing on the laptop only in a pinch. I’d just hate to get one of those and find that the processing is so slow that I simply wouldn’t use it. My desktop system isn’t super fast but it’s what I’m used to and a laptop close to it’s performance would be great.
Thanks.
-> Ralph
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