Risks of installing FCP 7 on a new 2015 iMac running El Capitan?

[Robert Withers]

I see 10.8 USB installs for sale on ebay.

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Jim Bruce]

Hi Shane,

Many thanks for even more good advice. One more question if I could:

Called an Apple authorized tech place and if they install a new SSD for my MacBook Pro they’ve offered to load “any OS I’d like”…

So which OS would you most recommend for FCP 7?
10.8
10.9
10.10
Any of the specific versions within those?

I believe you said you’re occasionally operating FCP 7 with 10.9.5 on one of your systems – but mostly sticking to 10.6 for maximum happiness.

I need to have at least 10.8 for the Thunderbolt storage this whole process is aimed at utilizing.

I will be keeping my 2 old iMacs with 10.6 and the full studio setup for use with Compressor (my fave for converting Archival footage) and emergency situations. I never use Motion, Soundtrack Pro, or Color.

I will also be getting a refurb’d iMac 2011 with 10.9.5 installed and am wondering if there’s some wisdom in having 10.8 on the MBP so hopefully if I have FCP bugs they won’t be the same problems on both systems.

As always, much obliged for your advice…

Cheers,

Jim

[Shane Ross]

[Jim Bruce] “So which OS would you most recommend for FCP 7?
10.8
10.9
10.10
Any of the specific versions within those?”

10.8….and the latest update always. It’s the last to support all the FCS 3 apps. I use 10.9.5 because I have to for other apps I use. But if I went to 10.10, or 10.11…like I tried once, several other apps I rely on don’t work. It’s a tough balance. And I don’t use Compressor anymore, I have Media Encoder and Squeeze.

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

[Jim Bruce]

Thanks again Shane!

I’ve ordered new RAM and an SSD Drive for my old 2011 MBPro which I’ll have installed with 10.8

Also managed to find a late 2012 iMac (built for 10.8)) that I will pack with 32 Gb RAM (SSD install seems dodgy there). Fingers crossed that between the two of them I can get one more big project done with FCP 7 while enjoying modern Thunderbolt storage…

Much obliged for your guidance as I struggled to navigate this “upgrade”…

Jim