[Brett Vaughn mccullough]

Your macbook is plenty fast enough to handle your version of FCP. You problem is more than likely that your clip settings need to match your timeline settings. In newer versions, by automatically dragging your captured clips onto the timeline it will ask you if you want the timeline to match your clips.

In 5 however, you will have to change it manually.

Choose a setting from the Easy Setup in the FCP menu, make sure your settings, frame rate, audio rate and dimensions (4:3, 16:9) all match your files you captured, THEN, create a new sequence as the one you were previously using will not match your files. It’s best to just delete the old sequence and create a new one…

Keep in mind, some effects you add will still need rendering, but you shouldn’t have any other problems with rendering basic editing. I hope this helps and feel free to ask any other questions!

Brett Vaughn
Video/Edit/GFX
https://mediavaughn.com
(202)701-DOCS