MacBook Pros “underpowered?” Not for FCP X editors. Not AT ALL.

[David Roth weiss]

Please define “productivity boost” in real terms please, if you can. And, what is the source of the 10X number you mention, and how precisely is that calculation quantified?

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist & Workflow Consultant
David Weiss Productions
Los Angeles

David is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.

[Steve Connor]

The video only covers rendering out timelines? Hardly call that definitive proof of productivity improvements, rendering out versions is such a tiny part of the whole edit process.

Would love to see someone do a video covering the whole edit process on both systems. I know from my experience that FCPX is certainly quicker on my 2013 MBP than PPro is but I don’t edit on PC laptops

[Andy Patterson]

[Steve Connor] “The video only covers rendering out timelines? Hardly call that definitive proof of productivity improvements, rendering out versions is such a tiny part of the whole edit process.”

I agree. There is much more to editing than rendering. FCPX can render faster with a laptop than with a Mac Pro to h.264 because FCPX uses Intel’s Quick Sync. The Xeons CPUs do not have Quick Sync.

[Steve Connor] “Would love to see someone do a video covering the whole edit process on both systems. I know from my experience that FCPX is certainly quicker on my 2013 MBP than PPro is but I don’t edit on PC laptops”

I don’t use a laptop either. When using a Mac Pro Premiere can render faster than FCPX on some tests.

[Bill Davis]

[David Roth Weiss] “Please define “productivity boost” in real terms please, if you can. And, what is the source of the 10X number you mention, and how precisely is that calculation quantified?”

Not sure how anyone could could argue that an export that takes a 1/10th of the time as another piece of software doing the same task on the same machine would be anything other than a “productivity boost”, David.

The source is this “real world” comparison that the OP did with FCP X compared to his initial results where Premiere Pro handily out-performed FCP X running on the EXACT same machines.

When you’ve elected to run Premiere Pro – PC hardware is clearly superior by a decent margin.
When you are running FCP X on a MAC, however – it blows away Premiere Pro by a significantly larger factor in this test.

I don’t suppose you have a similar problem with his saying that the PC he was using had superior performance in exporting on the PC rather than the newMacBook Pros, and he QUANTIFIED that with test results right? So if THAT improvement is legit. In what universe is the other comparison not equally legit?

I’m not a math wiz, but it appears that his results graph:

(Screen Cap from the Linked Video in my post above.)

Indicates exactly what I said.

A 10 fold productivity boosts in getting 4k renders done with FCP X running on a MacBook Pro verses the same software running on PC hardware.

That’s relevant hard statistical information given the purpose of this group.

If you have stats showing Premiere Pro (or any other software) having better performance than what was shown for the Mac/X software combo – no matter the hardware configuration – please feel free to post the links here.

It’s an open discussion.

(BY the way, if you’re coming to JUST this graph – please watch the original referenced video for the entire test sequence – taken ALONE, this one image does not tell the whole story. It merely supports my specific point about a 10X improvement.)

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Steve Connor]

[Bill Davis] “A 10 fold productivity boosts in getting 4k renders done with FCP X running on a MacBook Pro verses the same software running on PC hardware. “

I think if you’d have said this instead of

“But running X on a modern Mac Laptop – and the productivity boost appears to be as much as 10X!”

Then David wouldn’t have chimed in. Final output renders are just a small part of the Productivity measure of an NLE

[Bill Davis]

[Steve Connor] ” think if you’d have said this instead of

“But running X on a modern Mac Laptop – and the productivity boost appears to be as much as 10X!”

Then David wouldn’t have chimed in. Final output renders are just a small part of the Productivity measure of an NLE”

Fair critique.

I must admit I do get a bit tired of ALWAYS having to “condition” every single thing I say positively about X in this forum. It’s not enough that it’s correct in sum – it must be correct in EVERY SINGLE interpretation and aspect or I’ll get called on it.

I’ve come to accept it, here.

For some reason, no positive X post will EVER go unchallenged here.
????

Wouldn’t it just be AWFUL for the editing industry if it ever turned out to be half as good as some of us *think* it is!

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Steve Connor]

[Bill Davis] “For some reason, no positive X post will EVER go unchallenged here. “

As will no negative post either 🙂

[Shane Ross]

This might also prove that Apple only really cares about how it’s hardware works with it’s NLE…and doesn’t care at all about performance with other NLEs. Which I guess is fine for them, as FCX sells a lot more copies than Avid and PPro. But does show a general “we really don’t care to play well with others” attitude.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Bill Davis]

[Shane Ross] “But does show a general “we really don’t care to play well with others” attitude.”

Well, certainly not as long as some of those others are demanding adherence to traditions like OMF compatibility – things that were foundationally useful in their time, but are now getting so VERY long in the tooth.

Things are supposed to IMPROVE over time.

A descriptive language from the 1990s may simply not be good enough to go past the 2015s – unless the goal is to freeze industry practices at that point.

And there are many, I suspect, unwilling to trade historic compatibility for future advancement.

Time will tell.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[David Roth weiss]

Not so sure your argument is a winning argument Shane – frankly, if Apple can optimize their hardware and software to make the combination work together in a more effective way, that’s just good business.

Meanwhile, Bill’s declaring that faster renders create a 10X increase in productivity is like suggesting that if you drive to the office 10X faster your entire workday will gain a 10X increase in productivity.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist & Workflow Consultant
David Weiss Productions
Los Angeles

David is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.