If you really do the things you say this isn't a question.since I don't believe you I'll answer.the Fastest Processor available!! Preferably 2 of the fastest of them.i.e. A mac pro would be better for your usage.If you must buy a MBP then a 4 core i7 would be the best along with a fast non-ssd scratch drive. Really a pro wouldn't ask this question which leads me to think your amateur.the recommendations above still apply no matter the level, but really will it matter to you if you can edit a movie 5min faster? Firstly (Germanychris), negative/sarcastic comments like yours ruin decent forums like this! Secondly, I made the post I made here for two reasons. To prove a point to someone else and more importantly, to educate newcomers.
Based on our testing, we believe CyberLink PhotoDirector Ultra 10 is the best Mac Photo Editing software, since it is good for both beginning and advanced users, but is especially good for anyone new to photo editing. You can also organize and share your photos using this software.
I was going to make this post FCP versus Adobe Premiere, but that is another argument for another time perhaps. I have worked in the film and television industries here in the UK and Australia full-time over the past two decades and have set up several edit suites from both a technical and functional level. I posted because I believe there is not enough available on Apple's website to educate newcomers to the video editing realm. Especially considering Apple have the best video editing programme available in the world. Apple put this lovely range of new Macbook Pro machines up online to buy, but they do not explain enough about the technical side (from video editing point of view), nor help explain how various specifications may help first time video editors. This is better for this, that for that in layman's terms. This post was put here to hopefully encourage Apple to do this and help.
I was involved in the development of one the first non linear edit systems and have used many non linear systems through my working career as a senior digital video editor. From Sony's awful DNE-700 through an able but limited Media 100, and in the last 7 years Apple's fantastic Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Studio is easily the best system out there for amateurs and professionals in my 'professional' opinion. It is now the most internationally recognised programme/suite and jobs advertised for Video Editor's more often than not call for FCP experience, some even ask for an FCP Editor as a job title these days! To me that speaks volumes about the product. I love everything it does and really like how users of other edit systems can cross over quite easily as FCP offers one task in several ways/executions! It's only downfall in my opinion is the diligence one must take while file managing.
Something FCP 8 may improve upon? Meantime I love Apple Macs (especially the new MacBook Pro), and I love Final Cut Studio! While my sarcasm was unappreciated ( i do apologize) the reason for it though is sound.
Geek boards are full of people breaking machines doing things on them that ought not be done. Video editing on a notebook is one of them, I agree that it can be and is done on site it should not be final solution. The heat that jewel of an i7 is going to produce inside and modestly ventilated case will shorten it's life along with the life of the components in there. Tool for the job.
And yes FCP is a wonderful program I would not disagree. It is the software tool for the job, just not loaded in a MBP. Apology accepted. I use a full spec Mac Pro at work for editing. You are right, and the (Mac Pro) is THE tool for editing. The MacBook Pro is purely for work at home and odd freelance projects.
Having said that, I know an Editor who has used a 17 inch MacBook for video editing 5 days a week, for the past 3 years solid without a single problem. Yes, the processor will run hot in a MBP, but I believe you need to be smart about it's sit surface to a degree.
I also believe taking the bottom off your MBP every 6 months and giving it and the fans a good clean will prolong the life effectively. Someone spoke to me about this with a serious tone only days ago! They said all MBP owners should make this a regular task. Something Apple (unfortunately) do not tell customers as part of a regular maintenance scheme. From a technical point of view, would you agree that as a general rule, the faster the processor, the warmer it will get when being worked hard?
Apple Footer. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the efficacy of any proposed solutions on the community forums. Apple disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions and conduct of any third parties in connection with or related to your use of the site. All postings and use of the content on this site are subject to the.
If you're editing video as a hobby and iMovie HD & iDVD fills your needs, then the video card does not play a great part in the editing process. Lots of RAM and a fast processor take care of the number crunching when it comes to turning your epic in to a DVD. At the high end, Final Cut Pro and the rest of the Pro series Editing Suite, would benefit from a better graphics card.
(Rendering in Real Time for instance) for another thread on the same subject. (One day I'll figure out how to include the link nicely!) P. I've seen the video card/video editing question more than once.
I know what I THINK the video card does but my knowledge stems from a few years ago when I built a winbox. Does a video card work differently on a mac or serve different functions? Quite honestly, my knowledge of hardware has always been based on learning what I needed to learn in order to get the job done and then leaving it alone after that. A video card basically affects the monitor/display and video play back but not necessarily the actual editing/rendering. A good video card with a lot of RAM and it's own processor can take the load of the computers processor and thus allow for a more efficient display of graphics.
I always understood that the card, within certain limits, did not make a deal of difference to your video editing efforts but in the thread that I have linked to, grtgrfx indicated that at the high end, a good video card is essential. My experience, albeit limited to iMovie and a litte Final Cut Express, indicates that all of the current shipping Mac's are quite capable of performing well when editing, with their stock cards. Hopefully someone who has a whole bunch more experience than I will come along and explain the whole thing.
I think i am right in saying that only the MBP 17 inch has the option of using an eSATA card to connect to eSATA EXTERNAL hard drives - which is THE sensible solution for holding mass video data - not on your MBP - and editing remotely. ESATA is as fast as if the external drive were an internal one. I THINK that the 15 inch and new 13 inch dont have that option - so are not really serious contenders for a true desk top replacement. I am sure they easily could. Without the ExpressCard/34 eSATA, higher speed external hard drive options are not available to 13' and 15' new MacBookPro owners.
WHY did Apple omit ExpressCard/34 from these? The capabilities of the graphics card will fall to three areas: Hardware support, driver support, and application support.
If a GPU supports a feature, such as hardware encoding of the H.264 video codec, in order for any system to use it the system will need drivers that support this feature, and then also require an application that interfaces with the driver properly as well. If any one of these links is broken or bypassed, then the encoding will be passed to the CPU or not work at all, resulting in a far slower encoding of the video file.
In Final Cut Pro, the program will use the video card to help with the rendering of the video, mainly because of support for video codecs (H.264) but also because of support for effects processing in real-time, which can be done and passed to the video encoder. All this will result in a faster Final Cut Pro experience when using a more advanced video card; however, there are times when video capabilities are not supported by the video card, and are processed by the CPU. Apple hopes to tackle the gaps in processing power when the GPU is not fully utilized, by implementing the OpenCL libraries which application developers can use to speed up their applications. As such, the specific role of video cards in the computing environment is getting fuzzy.
I have a new MacBook Pro 13' 2.53GHz, and it is very fast when editing regular SD video. I have not tried editing HD video, but I bet it will handle that as well. Anyway, it is MUCH better than my 2006 white iMac. However, sense you mention video boards, the new White MacBook has the same graphics chip (nVidia 9400M) as the new MacBook Pro 13', so I imagine it would preform nearly as well. Of course, it is only a 2.1GHz machine (I find that, little as the difference might seem, 2.53GHz is a lot faster that 2.13GHz), with 800MHz Front Side Bus, and 800MHz memory, but that should be way more than enough for regular SD video.