MacBook and FCPX

[Noah Kadner]

If you have an Apple Store near you most of them have FCPX installed on every machine in the room- you can always try them out for yourself.

Noah

FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP Exchange – FCPX Workshops

[Gary Huff]

[Robin S. Kurz] “He states in very clear detail what he did.”

Okay, so what exactly is he exporting from the timeline to? ProRes 4K, right?

[Gary Huff]

[Noah Kadner] “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. “

Absolutely right. I can edit 4K well enough on my MacBook Pro 15″ from 2013 (which I purchased with all the specs maxed), but I’ve had some quick turnaround projects in which I had to wait an inordinately long amount of time in order to render out. I’ll be upgrading to the Skylake refresh whenever that’s available, and hopefully a desktop variety at some point to help with those render times.

It’s not bad until you start adding effects, but I’m almost always adding effects and using plugins.

[Joe Marler]

[Marco Bortignon] “I will have to work occasionally with 4K videos and of course it will have to be via proxy..”

There is another option besides proxy. If your final delivery is 1080p, you can import 4k into a 1080p project. Editing and applying effects will be a lot faster, render and temp files will be a lot smaller, and FCPX is smart enough to use the underlying 4k resolution if you zoom into the frame. I turn off background rendering when I do this, and I can’t see any visual difference between a 1080p export using 4k material in a 4k project vs a 1080p project.

Obviously if final delivery is 4k then you’ll need to use a 4k project, and using proxy mode is a good way for a laptop to deal with this.

[Bret Williams]

I’ve done that and was quite amazed at the performance of the little machines. If it’s your main machine, I’d max it out. But if you’re just looking for a field computer, then pick what suits your style. I do know that you get more spec for the same price for a bottom barrel MacBookPro vs a MacBook. It even has a bigger screen, better processor, and better and better ports. It’s just not as thin and pretty. I had to help a family member get one for Xmas and as sexy as the MacBook was, I just couldn’t find any advantage over the MacBook Pro at same price.

[Marco Bortignon]

That is the kind of thoughts I had.. but was really intrigued by the sexiness of the MacBook, and hoped it could work..

Tks

[Marco Bortignon]

That is my problem, no Apple Store nearby nor anybody who could lend one to try.. I need to rely on forums! 😉

Tks