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MacBook and FCPX
Hi all,
I am in need to buy a laptop and it can only be a Mac of course.. 😉
I don’t have the money to get the MCB 15″ unfortunately so I am looking at the smaller ones..Are the following worth considering options?
• 12-inch MacBook 512GB- 1.2GHz dual-core -Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz-8GB memory-Intel HD Graphics 5300
• 13-inch MacBook Air -2.2GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz Intel HD Graphics 6000-8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAMOr should I just go for the MBP 13″? In this case, which configuration is the minimum acceptable?
I do a lot of Photo and Video Editing (Lightroom+Photoshop+FCPX)..I will have to work occasionally with 4K videos and of course it will have to be via proxy..
I know, I want the moon but can’t afford the rocket to get there.. 🙁
I hope to hear from real life experiences with these babies..
Thanks for any advice
Marco
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17 Replies
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnapaZYD2cU
FWIW.
– RK
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Not that it isn’t impressive (it is even so), but was he exporting to ProRes or H.264? Because if he’s exporting to ProRes, I really doubt he’s uploading 4K ProRes to YouTube, and the H.264 encode out of FCPX should take longer than the times that video showed.
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He states in very clear detail what he did.
– RK
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Deutsch? Hier gibt es ein umfassendes FCP X Training für dich! -
I’d go for a refurb MacBook Pro instead. Most of they will run circles around current MacBooks and MacBook Airs. Aim for the best GPU you can afford.
Noah
FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP Exchange – FCPX Workshops -
Tsk Noah,
It’s actually an option I am considering..
Marco
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This video is what had me wondering about the “little machines”.. 😉
Marco
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You can try them at an Apple Store- it’s basically pay less now and suffer through slow exports and renders or pay more now and suffer less through slow exports and renders. If it’s fun stuff- I guess the former is better. If it’s for paid work, you’re better off with the latter.
Noah
FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP Exchange – FCPX Workshops -
It totally make sense of course, my typical workflow would allow me to sacrifice rendering/exporting time as I typically use very little effects/transitions/etc and can afford to let the computer render and than export at the very end of the project…
But, would the little ones offer some fluid editing when using proxies on 15 -20 minutes projects?
If I only had a decent budget.. but can’t sell the iMac to go fully portable yet… 😉
Thank you for your time Noah.
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ProRes is a very efficient format that runs well on even the slowest MacBook. However, most footage you encounter today is GoPros, camera phones in AVCHD, H.264 etc which requires a ton of graphics and CPU processing to create transitions/effects/renders etc. That’s where you’ll feel the pain.
So again it’s a question of how much time you have at crunch time, the complexity of the timelines and the source codecs. Proxies can take forever to create as well from long H.264 takes etc and laptops generally have the worst price to performance ratio. You really need to spend more to get decent performance.
So if I were strapped for cash now I would probably avoid a laptop unless a job truly called for it.
Noah
FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP Exchange – FCPX Workshops -
I’ M more and more convinced that refurbished is the way to go!
Thank you so much Noah for clarifying my doubts!
Marco
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