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Macbook Pro i5 or i7 for Vegas Pro?
Hello,
I’m looking to buy a 15″ MacBook Pro, partly for HD video editing (using Boot Camp), and I’m wondering whether the i7 is worth the premium over the i5 for this purpose.
Does the 512 MB of video memory play a role in Vegas Pro 9? Or will the basic model’s 256 MB suffice? I’d likely use the MacBook to drive a 1920×1050 external monitor for the preview.
Will AVCHD and Cineform NeoScene previews work more or less as well with the 2.4 GHz i5? In other words, will the only significant difference be waiting a bit longer for videos to render?
I often edit from two HD cameras at 1920×1050. Aside from basic effects like color correction, this is pretty much as complicated as it gets for my needs. Any feedback will be much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Albert
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14 Replies
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Great Question, Is there a PC Gaming laptop that can do the same?
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Hi,
Sorry, I mean 1920×1080 for 1080i material.
Also, I do need to crop, pan, zoom and apply color correction, etc. to 2 HD streams (either AVCHD or NeoScene), plus have a separate audio track with basic effects if necessary, though this is about as complex as my editing needs will get.
Would the 15″ 2.4 GHz i5 MacBook be suitable for my purpose? I’d actually prefer the i5 for 95% of my computer work since it’s cooler, cheaper and the battery lasts longer.
Many thanks,
Albert
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i’ve had the macbook pro 15″ i5 for a while now.. .and there is no lag whatsoever with final cut, or anything.. I edit with avchd, and when I edit those I don’t use the normal quality on the camera I use like the highest setting, and it still runs sweetly, you could just switch over to mac editing.. haha but either way it’s an excellent choice, and the battery is about 8 hours without doing high rendering or exporting so hopefully it works out for you.. if you want the i7 for slightly faster speed you could get it, but the i5 is definitely a good choice, the 2.4 ghz is what I have. but you might want to try one out first or something, ask me any questions about it, if you want.
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Joseph,
Thanks very much — that totally answers my question: The i5 will be plenty powerful.
Eventually I may switch to Mac editing, but I’m not eager to invest $1000 in FCP when I already have a great editor that suits my needs.
I assume the 13″ 2.4 GHz dual core would be underpowered for this task? It’d be easier to carry around, but I’m guessing the much greater power of the 15″ i5 would more than make up for a bit of extra size and weight. It’d be great to know it can easily handle any serious audio and video task.
Kind regards,
Albert
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your welcome! I hope you like it, if you get one, but the 13 inch has 2.66 ghz now I think, but the i5 is much more powerfull but another great factor is the ram, with 4gb it runs very smoothly. what system do you currently use? and I use final cut express for 200 $ it’s pretty nice, once you get the hang of it.
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Thanks again for your help. I\’m currently using Vegas Pro 9 on a Q9550 quad core with 4GB under XP 32 bit. Dual core was hopeless for 2 HD streams, and even quad can struggle with it. Maybe I just need a better graphics card, or maybe the Mac is just better designed than my homemade effort!
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Thanks again for your help. I’m currently using Vegas Pro 9 on a Q9550 quad core with 4GB under XP 32 bit. Dual core was hopeless for 2 HD streams, and even quad can struggle with it. Maybe I just need a better graphics card, or maybe the Mac is just better designed than my homemade effort!
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OK, well I’ll try to run boot camp sometime today and see how vegas movie studio runs , that’s the one I have but yes. . .
but what I know is, that when I put the files into final cut express it converts them into apples format, and so that takes about … 5 minutes for about 10 minutes of video maybe? and then after that it’s all great and so if I edit a video on it It plays back so smoothly.. no lag.. and I ran about 3 hd video files on top of eachother on a track like moved around and shrunken, and that also doesn’t lag.. but this is after they are the right formats it slightly drops the frame rate if they are not “rendered” final cut works way differently
ok so i’ll run it on boot camp.. is there any thing specifically you want me to test?
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That\’s really kind of you — thanks very much. I\’m just wondering how this system handles 2 HD streams under Vegas. I usually convert to NeoScene, which is much smoother than AVCHD. Hopefully this system will be fine for this purpose… otherwise I can just get the 13\” and keep the desktop for video work!
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well awesome, I’ll test two HD streams with NeoScene.. how would you do that? but yes I’ll give it a try and let you know hopefully
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