Need advice on new MacBook Pro 16gig RAM

[John Rofrano]

[Hugue Loiselle] “Does FCP X as a good workflow with 16 G RAM or does it absolutely need 32G? (Wich the MBP can’t have)”

No need for 32GB. I edit with FCP X on my mid 2015 MacBook Pro with 16GB of memory with ease.

[Hugue Loiselle] “Should I go with AVID and and monthly membership? or an ADOBE PREMIERE ?”

Why would you rent software when you can own it? I bought FCP X several years ago and every year Apple updates it with new capabilities and I haven’t paid another penny. You would have to be daft to pay every year for features you might not even need. Makes absolutely no sense at all to me. I don’t lease my car and I don’t lease my software. I like to be in control of my expenses and not on someone else’s “payroll”.

[Hugue Loiselle] “Is Davinci Resolve a good option? “

I’ve never tried it but Davinci Resolve but others like it. It is a color grading application thats trying to be an NLE so it might be light on some features. It’s is free, so no harm in trying it out for yourself. It might meet your needs. I use FCP X because it meets my needs.

[Hugue Loiselle] “oh yeah, and working mostly in HD”

Me too.

[Hugue Loiselle] “Looking for all of your suggestions”

If you get FCP X you should get Apple Motion and Apple Compressor as well. The combination of these three are very powerful. Being able to create Motion templates for use in FCP X is a big plus.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com

[Al Bergstein]

I respect John’s perspective, and it’s valid. I chose to go to Adobe’s model because of Apple’s abandonment of FCP 7. I have significant projects that I created in that earlier version, and Apple’s decision to just leave us all behind was the final straw, pun intended.

I think that your need for more RAM would depend on how much special efx you are using on your videos. At one point Pr was crashing and I discovered it was running out of memory at 16GBs. Upgrading to 32 fixed the problem.

It has been a boon to me to have access to all of Adobe’s products for the monthly fee. Using Pr, Lightroom, AfterEffects, Photoshop and Acrobat Pro among others all for one monthly price is a good deal, IMHO.

The fact that FCP only runs on Mac is a liability to me. If I need to move to Windows for some reason, I know I can move the application over. Given the newer Mac Laptops I’m staying with my older machine for now. Apple is lagging in technology compared to the Windows world, (in hardware). Looking forward to them bringing out machines with touch screens, 64GB RAM, etc. are some of the technologies that Apple feels we, as pros, don’t need. I prefer the idea that HP, Dell, Lenovo and MSFT are doing, which is pushing the envelope. Also, Apple’s lack of innovation on the MacPro also is not great.

As to leasing, it moves the cost of the software to the other side of the balance sheet, meaning it’s an expense rather than a depreciable asset. FWIW. Some folks might find that useful, I do.

Hope this helps you sort things out.

Al