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What MacBook Pro (mid 2010)
Hi to everyone!
If I’m posting in a wrong forum, I’m sorry. After about two years of consulting this community I’ve finaly decided to join it, havent done it before because i felt littlebit embarrassed… too many PROs far away from my league.I’m a very young advertising spots director, and sometimes I assist more experienced directors or work with personal projects. To accomplish my tasks I use a MacBook Pro 2.16 with 2GB RAM.
Now I finally have the opportunity to buy a new computer and I would much appreciate any advice you could give me.
I do not reside in the USA so I’m running with a little disadvantage in budget. First of all, any piece of electronics has an increment of 80% over American price. And on the other hand each U$s is 3.95 against my currency. So I would apreciate that you take this as an important fact before recomending me anything. Every post with suggestions is your personal time used and I’ll feel very sorry if you post something that might be usefull for you, but won’t help me at all in my decission.
Nowadays I use my Laptop for work, college (Trying to get 2nd degree) and free time (LOTS of movies transcodings)So… Here is my question (finally)
Would you a) buy a MacBook core i5 (cheapest one) For your whole life activities?
Or
b) buy a MacBook pro Core2Duo (Cheapest one) for work AND with the savings build up a Hackintosh for college, and free time?Considerations
a) I carry the laptop in a backpack, take public transportation and sometimes I literally use it as a lap top because of space limitations on set.
b) I have acces to workstations, render farms, color accurate monitors and lots of hi end equipaments at the production companies I work with.
c) I do have a splendid monitor at home to use either with the Mac or Hack
d) I’ve allready built a Hack that runs smoothly FCE for my girlfriend who is still in college, so I now how to do it.
VERY IMPORTANT! I DO buy the soft I use (yes even OSX) for the Hacks and I live in a country where Apple Software Agreement cannot apply due to its controvertial redaction when compared to our legal sofware regulations. Here If I bought it I can do whatever I want to do with it if I stick to the number of licences I payed for.So… What would you do?
I thank you in advance for the time spent reading this and I would double thank any help in this difficult (at least for me) decission
Cheers!
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10 Replies
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Do you intend to run FCS on this laptop? If so, buy the MacBook Pro…
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski.
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays
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Also, want footage do you work with? Do you need capture ability? What kind of hard drives do you use?
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Jerry,
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, I intend to run FCP, mostly Final Cut and Compressor. A littlebit of AE too. When I use Apple Color is just for learning. For work I use Color at the postproduction offices with a real monitor and real (they just jumped from 09 to latest 2010 8 core with 16GB, 5 RAID 1TB discs and its attached to a render farm) Mac Pro.The questios is not to buy a MacBook Pro (there is no doubt about it) but WICH one would you recommend to me.
Again, Thanks for your time and consideration
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Jeremy,
Same as Jerry, THANKS.I would work with SD, 720p and 1080p and eventually visualize some RED (camera) footage and do MINOR adjustments just to give examples or a point to start for the guys at the company, and of course I do NOT have the imperative need to preview this kind of footage in full ress.
I would never expect from a laptop (even a Mac) to be able to handle 2K or 4k without any problem or witnout risking the whole sys every time I make it handle this sort of stuff. Even core i7 Mac ( extraterrestial machine) suffers a lot if you try to use it as a desk Pro. That is because it wasn’t built for long rendering hours or hi performance tasks, it’s a great piece of engeneering, but still a laptop.
On the hard drives subject, I use a USB 2.0 1TB drive and in 43 months of work use of my laptop i have never ever needed to use the expansion slot. Most camera rentals hire them with a suitable laptop (or racked up sys) for footage handling on set, and let you take their disks for apropiate editing room downloading.
So breiefing I don’t need to wire myself to RAID or eSata drives and if I request footage they send me edited or low ress material for preview in a normal firewire 800 or USB 2.0 drive.Thanks againg or your concern!
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To me the most important component is the screen. It is your view on the world. I have a 13″ 2.4 GHz MacBook Core 2 Duo with 2 GB and it performs very well, but I hate the lack of real estate and the tiny text. (I am quite a bit older than you). I use it at home with a 24″ screen attached and don’t travel much, so it is OK. I also don’t do heavy lifting on it, I am primarily a software engineer though I do run Final Cut and Adobe Encore on it, though more often on my Mac Pro.
For real estate alone I would go with the cheapest 15″ that you can get. I lust for a 17″, but that is a bit bulky and way too expensive. You might even consider a used 15″ from the previous generation, I don’t know about eBay in your country but there are reputable stores that buy up excess inventory and sell them at a discount.
Larry
Regards,
Larry Applegate
https://blustreak.dvdafteredit.com/ -
Larry,
Thanks for your advice.
I have a 15″ MacBook Pro and a 24″ monitor at home. I end up using the monitor as primary and the laptop screen as secondary, but it spends most of the time dimmed down as my eyes are over the big screen and only sometimes I use it as a monitor. I got so used to edit over the 15″ that a 24″ inch is central park compared against my backyard.Used Macs are very expensive as the demand is high and the offer low, market rules. For example I’m offering mine at U$s 1300 and I have two interested buyers. So imagine that getting a previous gen machine costs you about 250 bucks less than a new one and thank Gosh I can apply to credit lines to get new equipament, something inexistent for used gears.
So…less screen wont affect me.
As you are a software expert, maybe you could answer this questions to me.
Is it true that multi threaded apps get more advantage from the new core i5 architecture while less threaded apps take more advantage from high CPU clocking? And while we are here, Is it true that FCP is NOT a very multi threaded app?
If this two things are true, you WON’T have a lot of difference between a core i5 2.4 and a core2duo 2.4 running this program.
[YES! I KNOW the core i5 model has a LOT of other features like improved memory, two graph cards, etc.]Thanks Larry for your time and concern.
PS: Any MacBook Pro core2duo 2.4 GHz who could give me some feedback on the equipament performance with FCS? Pretty sure core i5 machine works perfect, but for me it means to take a 36 month payment schedule. And on the core2duo situation I would end with two machines, and I’ll be using them for what they were ment for
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Lautaro,
I am still confused why you need to update your computer if it is a 15″ Macbook Pro, even if it is a bit slow. I don’t remember that there was a single processor Macbook Pro. Is it just the older dual processor version, before the core 2 duo?
I had one of those in the 17″, (traded it for some programming help). To my mind, I don’t see a huge gain in updating to a new laptop, as long as yours is working. Certainly not to just the core 2 duo at a faster clock rate and a smaller screen. You are lucky if you have the express card slot, you can run a SATA raid with it. You will lose that with a new machine less than 17″. I can run my 4 TB external raid with one of those. (two 2 TB drives, very cheap these days).
I would save your money for something after the 64-bit FCP is released (and working well). Currently FCP can only use 4 GB. It is nice to have more for other applications, but I don’t typically do much else when I’m running FCP. You can update your memory to 4 GB and that may do enough for you. Having two video cards is only a battery-saving device. Yes, you will want a better machine eventually, but why not wait until FCP can take proper advantage of it? By then you will probably get more power for less money. I have heard that FCP 7 is slower than FCP 6.
Regards,
larry
Regards,
Larry Applegate
https://blustreak.dvdafteredit.com/ -
I have to agree with Larry… I’d not buy a machine unless you’re time starved or something. The new MBP’s are faster rendering, but that’s about it with FCP 7… They won’t “inherently” run FCS much better than what you have now. That may change when FCP is a 64 bit app… If you are a heavy Color or Motion user, the GPU’s in the new machines will make a difference, but not so much with FCP by itself. I really think though for a “quantum leap” in performance, a vastly updated version of FCP has to come around… 64 bit et all…
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski.
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays
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Larry and Jerry,
Thanks for your advice.
I think that after your counselling I would keep my laptop, build a cheap machine core i5 and test how it develops within my specific duties. If I notice any performance improvement in a DIY set up I would expect higher performance in a REAL Mac and I would pay with joy for one. Meanwhile I’ll have a machine specific for home Compressor/Color experiments, college and spare time without stressing my work equipament.Or I would take the offers for my machine (now that it still has a market value) plus some savings and get the core2duo 2.4 (that has more disc space and 4GB RAM) and build a nice sys with a xeon procesor with a respetable base clocking (could speed it up if feel in the need) and no worry about burning any expensive Mac board or anything. Cheap replacement.
Now is time for me to put my pants on and make a decision!
Again, I really apreciate the time you took for answering me.
Please if possible, keep the thread open for others to reply and for me to post back what I finally did.THANKS
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OWC has installation videos to help you upgrade you machines’s memory and hard drive. You may contact me at my web site for more information.
Regards,
Larry Applegate
https://blustreak.dvdafteredit.com/
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