Which Mac? Please Help..

Zeraus7 · May 4, 2015

Hello everyone, I am new to computers as I barely ever use them, only my iPad Air. I want to get a new Mac and I am interested in the Refurbished 2013 11.6" Air, specs are 1.3GHz i5 4gb RAM and a 128gb SSD. I also have GoPro Hero 3+ Black and I want to be able to play some videos on the Mac also light editing of photos. Should this Mac be a good one as I want a potable laptop and don't really want to spend over $1000.

PS. I live in Australia so all prices in $AUD

Thanks in advance ###

glenthompson · May 4, 2015

Zeraus7 said:
Hello everyone, I am new to computers as I barely ever use them, only my iPad Air. I want to get a new Mac and I am interested in the Refurbished 2013 11.6" Air, specs are 1.3GHz i5 4gb RAM and a 128gb SSD. I also have GoPro Hero 3+ Black and I want to be able to play some videos on the Mac also light editing of photos. Should this Mac be a good one as I want a potable laptop and don't really want to spend over $1000.

PS. I live in Australia so all prices in $AUD

Thanks in advance ###

The 128gb drive might be a problem with videos and photos. My photo library is currently about 50gb. I just got a GoPro and already have a moderate number of videos filling up my 512gb drive.

The 4gb of me,Roy might also be a constraint when editing video.

Zeraus7 · May 4, 2015

Thanks, the 128gb does not worry me, but yes.. It does fill up quickly.. Do you think it would be able to handle 720p 120fps? Or 2.7K 30fps? Also what gopro do you have and use as well as your computer?

Thanks

Zeraus7 · May 4, 2015

glenthompson said:
The 128gb drive might be a problem with videos and photos. My photo library is currently about 50gb. I just got a GoPro and already have a moderate number of videos filling up my 512gb drive.

The 4gb of me,Roy might also be a constraint when editing video.

Thanks, the 128gb does not worry me, but yes.. It does fill up quickly.. Do you think it would be able to handle 720p 120fps? Or 2.7K 30fps? Also what gopro do you have and use as well as your computer?

glenthompson · May 4, 2015

Zeraus7 said:
Thanks, the 128gb does not worry me, but yes.. It does fill up quickly.. Do you think it would be able to handle 720p 120fps? Or 2.7K 30fps? Also what gopro do you have and use as well as your computer?

Thanks

I gave a 3+. Computer is in signature - a 2011 MBP Pro with 16gb memory and a 512 SSD. I don't know enough about the performance specs of the MBA to comment on video.

The reason I comment about the 128 drive is that you will have to archive stuff to an external drive and too many people that do that fail to back it up so they end up losing their pix and videos. Too many sad stories here.

Zeraus7 · May 5, 2015

glenthompson said:
I gave a 3+. Computer is in signature - a 2011 MBP Pro with 16gb memory and a 512 SSD. I don't know enough about the performance specs of the MBA to comment on video.

The reason I comment about the 128 drive is that you will have to archive stuff to an external drive and too many people that do that fail to back it up so they end up losing their pix and videos. Too many sad stories here.

Oh ok that 128 is a problem.. So say I upgrade to a 512gb SSD would those spec be enough to play those types of vids? Thanks

tentales · May 5, 2015

Zeraus7 said:
Oh ok that 128 is a problem.. So say I upgrade to a 512gb SSD would those spec be enough to play those types of vids? Thanks

G'day mate. Aussie expat here.

I think you're confusing something. The size of the SSD has nothing to do with the ability to play certain types of videos. That would be the capability of the CPU/GPU.

Upgrading to 512GB SSD even on a MBA 11" refurb will put you well over your budget. A quick check of current AU$ models shows an i7 8GB/512SSD at AU$1649. Alternatively, the current lowest offering for AU$1049,- gets you 4GB/256SSD in the 2013 model. If you have $50 more, you could get the $1099 2014 model which is a smidge faster.

But like Glen said, backup can be an issue, but that's kind of the same problem whether you run 128, 256, or 512. SSDs have been known to fail in an instant and both 1 & 2TB external 2.5" USB 3.0 hard drives are cheap to come by these days. In addition, there's a bunch of cloud storage solutions. I use OneDrive and Dropbox as they give you the most bang for your buck.

Do know that any non-retina Macbook won't look as good as your retina iPad Air, so if that's important to you, get a refurb Macbook pro, but again, that'll blow your budget.

choices choices

Zeraus7 · May 5, 2015

tentales said:
G'day mate. Aussie expat here.

I think you're confusing something. The size of the SSD has nothing to do with the ability to play certain types of videos. That would be the capability of the CPU/GPU.

Upgrading to 512GB SSD even on a MBA 11" refurb will put you well over your budget. A quick check of current AU$ models shows an i7 8GB/512SSD at AU$1649. Alternatively, the current lowest offering for AU$1049,- gets you 4GB/256SSD in the 2013 model. If you have $50 more, you could get the $1099 2014 model which is a smidge faster.

But like Glen said, backup can be an issue, but that's kind of the same problem whether you run 128, 256, or 512. SSDs have been known to fail in an instant and both 1 & 2TB external 2.5" USB 3.0 hard drives are cheap to come by these days. In addition, there's a bunch of cloud storage solutions. I use OneDrive and Dropbox as they give you the most bang for your buck.

Do know that any non-retina Macbook won't look as good as your retina iPad Air, so if that's important to you, get a refurb Macbook pro, but again, that'll blow your budget.

choices choices

Haha thanks mate..
If spending another $100 - $200 over the budget is meaning that I'll get a good quality laptop that will last me and easily do the job then I'm sure I can wait a little longer and get that.. So what your saying is if I were to get a higher RAM or Processor, it would be able to play clips better.. So what about 1.3GHz i5 and 8gb RAM? Would that be enough to play 2.7K 30fps and 720 120fps Gopro footage? Quality of the display is not too important to me as I could probably hook it up to an external monitor if I really wanted to later. I love to make little clips from footage every now and then with my mates..

Thanks

Samuelsan2001 · May 5, 2015

For that use case

Zeraus7 said:
Haha thanks mate..
If spending another $100 - $200 over the budget is meaning that I'll get a good quality laptop that will last me and easily do the job then I'm sure I can wait a little longer and get that.. So what your saying is if I were to get a higher RAM or Processor, it would be able to play clips better.. So what about 1.3GHz i5 and 8gb RAM? Would that be enough to play 2.7K 30fps and 720 120fps Gopro footage? Quality of the display is not too important to me as I could probably hook it up to an external monitor if I really wanted to later. I love to make little clips from footage every now and then with my mates..

Thanks

It will be fine, not the fastest but all apples laptops (for the last few years) will do a little light movie editing no problem at all. If buying second hand or refurbished try to get one with a haswell processor other than that your use case will be fine on them all.

Zeraus7 · May 5, 2015

Samuelsan2001 said:
It will be fine, not the fastest but all apples laptops (for the last few years) will do a little light movie editing no problem at all. If buying second hand or refurbished try to get one with a haswell processor other than that your use case will be fine on them all.

Ok cool thanks man, I thought that I should get a 13" model as 11" will be a bit to cramped for editing and stuff.

I also thought later on I can buy an iMac, probs the 21.5" model will be nice.. Thanks guys

Samuelsan2001 · May 5, 2015

True

Zeraus7 said:
Ok cool thanks man, I thought that I should get a 13" model as 11" will be a bit to cramped for editing and stuff.

I also thought later on I can buy an iMac, probs the 21.5" model will be nice.. Thanks guys

and more importantly it has an SD card slot that the 11 inch doesn't and I'm sure your cameras use them...

Zeraus7 · May 5, 2015

Samuelsan2001 said:
and more importantly it has an SD card slot that the 11 inch doesn't and I'm sure your cameras use them...

Yes, I just found out that the 11" doesn't have one so that was kind of a let down. The 13" does so that all good

tentales · May 5, 2015

Zeraus7 said:
Yes, I just found out that the 11" doesn't have one so that was kind of a let down. The 13" does so that all good

the 11" can drive a big fancy Thunderbolt display or any other higher rez IPS panel, the decision on the 11 vs 13 shouldn't be hinged on the sd card slot.
You can get a cheap $10 USB SD card reader. If portability is your main goal, get the 11", if you plan on doing extensive editing on screen, go for the 13".

Zeraus7 · May 6, 2015

tentales said:
the 11" can drive a big fancy Thunderbolt display or any other higher rez IPS panel, the decision on the 11 vs 13 shouldn't be hinged on the sd card slot.
You can get a cheap $10 USB SD card reader. If portability is your main goal, get the 11", if you plan on doing extensive editing on screen, go for the 13".

I just went and had a quick look at the two computers today in store and I like the 11" size better, we have a USB to SD reader lying around somewhere.. The question is, how well can a stock 2013-2014 11" mac air play high resolution gopro footage? I'm talking around 1080p 60fps?

Thanks

Samuelsan2001 · May 6, 2015

Absolutely fine

Zeraus7 said:
I just went and had a quick look at the two computers today in store and I like the 11" size better, we have a USB to SD reader lying around somewhere.. The question is, how well can a stock 2013-2014 11" mac air play high resolution gopro footage? I'm talking around 1080p 60fps?

Thanks

The HD5000 iGPU will handle 1080p video no problems at all. It should edit it fine in imovie too.

tentales · May 6, 2015

Zeraus7 said:
I just went and had a quick look at the two computers today in store and I like the 11" size better, we have a USB to SD reader lying around somewhere.. The question is, how well can a stock 2013-2014 11" mac air play high resolution gopro footage? I'm talking around 1080p 60fps?

Thanks

If by high-res you mean 4K, I would say no!
Also, I'm not sure about 1080p/120fps. Why don't you take a few sample videos on a USB 3.0 stick to the Apple store and try it out ?

I'm suspecting feature-creep here. You started off by asking "play some videos on the Mac also light editing of photos". For that most here would give the nod for an 11" MBA refurb, but suggest 8GB & 256GB SSD.

However, if you're talking editing 4K or high framerate video and not just photos, then you'd be looking at MBPs with an i7 CPU and 16GB RAM. The new 5K iMac might be better suited for that purpose.

In the end, try it out at a store or buy something that you can return within say 14-days.

Finally, google some articles such as this to learn from others:
http://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/new...iences-with-a-macbook-air-and-final-cut-pro-x

Zeraus7 · May 6, 2015

tentales said:
If by high-res you mean 4K, I would say no!
Also, I'm not sure about 1080p/120fps. Why don't you take a few sample videos on a USB 3.0 stick to the Apple store and try it out ?

I'm suspecting feature-creep here. You started off by asking "play some videos on the Mac also light editing of photos". For that most here would give the nod for an 11" MBA refurb, but suggest 8GB & 256GB SSD.

However, if you're talking editing 4K or high framerate video and not just photos, then you'd be looking at MBPs with an i7 CPU and 16GB RAM. The new 5K iMac might be better suited for that purpose.

In the end, try it out at a store or buy something that you can return within say 14-days.

Finally, google some articles such as this to learn from others:
http://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/new...iences-with-a-macbook-air-and-final-cut-pro-x

Hi, I'm not sure what you meant by "feature-creep". But anyway, I live in a small town in Western Australia and don't have an Apple Store here, the closest one is about a 5-6 hour drive away. So I can't really test that out.

Ok.. So this so what I want to do with it. Be able to take it with me to school and say, holidays and what not. All I want it to be able to play is 1080p at 60FPS, I will most likely also do some photo editing for fun. I will use it for some school work every now and then as I am in year 10, most likely study purposes. Later on I might consider buying a high end iMac to be able to play higher resolutions and frame rates. So I just want this Mac Air to be able to play 1080p 60fps with ease.

Thankyou

Samuelsan2001 · May 6, 2015

No Video ....

Zeraus7 said:
Hi, I'm not sure what you meant by "feature-creep". But anyway, I live in a small town in Western Australia and don't have an Apple Store here, the closest one is about a 5-6 hour drive away. So I can't really test that out.

Ok.. So this so what I want to do with it. Be able to take it with me to school and say, holidays and what not. All I want it to be able to play is 1080p at 60FPS, I will most likely also do some photo editing for fun. I will use it for some school work every now and then as I am in year 10, most likely study purposes. Later on I might consider buying a high end iMac to be able to play higher resolutions and frame rates. So I just want this Mac Air to be able to play 1080p 60fps with ease.

Thankyou

.............plays at 60fps. The framerate for TV and films is 24fps. Even the hobbit in superfast framerate is only 48fps. If you are talking refresh rates for the screen that is a different matter entirely and based on screen technology and screen firmware, all modern screens will be fine.

1080p video will be fine as mentioned before.

You are overthinking this a $500 laptop of any make will play 1080p video with no issue these days, even any mid level tablet or smartphone will do the same.

Zeraus7 · May 6, 2015

Samuelsan2001 said:
.............plays at 60fps. The framerate for TV and films is 24fps. Even the hobbit in superfast framerate is only 48fps. If you are talking refresh rates for the screen that is a different matter entirely and based on screen technology and screen firmware, all modern screens will be fine.

1080p video will be fine as mentioned before.

You are overthinking this a $500 laptop of any make will play 1080p video with no issue these days, even any mid level tablet or smartphone will do the same.

Sorry guys! I have been confusing you guys, I mean will the computer be able to handle gopro footage being 1080p 60fps? I think what you thought I was saying was can the frame rate of the computer play 60fps..

Sorry for confusing you.. I meant gopro videos.

Samuelsan2001 · May 6, 2015

1080p GOpro video

Zeraus7 said:
Sorry guys! I have been confusing you guys, I mean will the computer be able to handle gopro footage being 1080p 60fps? I think what you thought I was saying was can the frame rate of the computer play 60fps..

Sorry for confusing you.. I meant gopro videos.

will run fine stop worrying about it it it's just HD video there has barely been a device made in the last 5 years that can't play it.

Of course if you want to add endless effects and changes in FCPX and render it it won't be the quickest but it will still do it.

tentales · May 6, 2015

Zeraus7 said:
Hi, I'm not sure what you meant by "feature-creep". But anyway, I live in a small town in Western Australia and don't have an Apple Store here, the closest one is about a 5-6 hour drive away. So I can't really test that out.

Ok.. So this so what I want to do with it. Be able to take it with me to school and say, holidays and what not. All I want it to be able to play is 1080p at 60FPS, I will most likely also do some photo editing for fun. I will use it for some school work every now and then as I am in year 10, most likely study purposes. Later on I might consider buying a high end iMac to be able to play higher resolutions and frame rates. So I just want this Mac Air to be able to play 1080p 60fps with ease.

Thankyou

You did say that you viewed the 2 MacBooks at a nearby store, right ?
Google 1080p 60fps youtube and you can test it out.
I'm pretty certain playing 1080p video will not be a problem.
Like I said, editing in iMovie or FCP will be slower but still work.

I guess you're quite the newbie

again Google "feature creep". In short, adding requirements/desires to your initial feature set. Mostly an issue for software developers, but users want more and more functionality in ever smaller, lighter form factors.

Like others have stated, don't overthink it. You'll learn with experience.
Start with an 11" MBA on a refurb price. Even 4/128 will probably do for starters and spend $100 on an external 2TB 2.5" drive. Personally I use an external Seagate Backup Plus, coz they're only 9.5mm high and can even fit inside a Mac Mini. I'm running a 2.25TB DIY fusion drive with a 27" IPS 1080p HP monitor.
Ohhh no... now I've added to your confusion

Zeraus7 · May 6, 2015

tentales said:
You did say that you viewed the 2 MacBooks at a nearby store, right ?
Google 1080p 60fps youtube and you can test it out.
I'm pretty certain playing 1080p video will not be a problem.
Like I said, editing in iMovie or FCP will be slower but still work.

I guess you're quite the newbie again Google "feature creep". In short, adding requirements/desires to your initial feature set. Mostly an issue for software developers, but users want more and more functionality in ever smaller, lighter form factors.

Like others have stated, don't overthink it. You'll learn with experience.
Start with an 11" MBA on a refurb price. Even 4/128 will probably do for starters and spend $100 on an external 2TB 2.5" drive. Personally I use an external Seagate Backup Plus, coz they're only 9.5mm high and can even fit inside a Mac Mini. I'm running a 2.25TB DIY fusion drive with a 27" IPS 1080p HP monitor.
Ohhh no... now I've added to your confusion

Ok thanks guys, I did go have a look at them at a nearby store.. (Not Apple) I think I will just get the 11" MBA and an external Hardrive as well and later on if I want I can get an iMac as the main computer.

Thanks for all help guys!

tentales · May 6, 2015

Zeraus7 said:
Ok thanks guys, I did go have a look at them at a nearby store.. (Not Apple) I think I will just get the 11" MBA and an external Hardrive as well and later on if I want I can get an iMac as the main computer.

Thanks for all help guys!

You're welcome.
Report back in a month or so how it worked out.

Zeraus7 · May 6, 2015

tentales said:
You're welcome.
Report back in a month or so how it worked out.

I sure will, I am able to buy it in about two weeks, so I should be able to let you guys know after a few days of having.

Which Mac? Please Help..

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