Does anyone edit on a 5400rpm drive?

[circa7]

Im buying a used macbook pro and cant decide between buying an older 2011 model with higher specs or a newer 2012 that has high specs all around except for the 5400rpm drive. Im already way deeper in to this financially than I had planned, and dont want to buy the newer one and add an SSD. My MAX budget is $1700.


The newer computer would obviously have the newer graphics card, ivy bridge processor, etc. But that crappy hard drive is killing me...

[mrsir2009]

I don't do too much high end stuff on my computer, but when I replaced by 5200RPM stock HDD with a 7200RPM one, I didn't even notice the difference. If anything, it seems slower when opening large applications & files

[boch82]

Originally Posted by circa7

Im buying a used macbook pro and cant decide between buying an older 2011 model with higher specs or a newer 2012 that has high specs all around except for the 5400rpm drive. Im already way deeper in to this financially than I had planned, and dont want to buy the newer one and add an SSD. My MAX budget is $1700.


The newer computer would obviously have the newer graphics card, ivy bridge processor, etc. But that crappy hard drive is killing me...

You should never edit off the internal drive to start with. That will slow down the whole process. Your best best is to get the best machine you can afford and purchase and external firewire 800 or thunderbolt drive and store the media files on that.

[matteusclement]

which ever one has the better CPU/GPU and memory speed is the determining factor here. The hard drive can be swapped out for an SSD for $100. BOOM!

[waldo3125]

Originally Posted by circa7

Im buying a used macbook pro and cant decide between buying an older 2011 model with higher specs or a newer 2012 that has high specs all around except for the 5400rpm drive. Im already way deeper in to this financially than I had planned, and dont want to buy the newer one and add an SSD. My MAX budget is $1700.


The newer computer would obviously have the newer graphics card, ivy bridge processor, etc. But that crappy hard drive is killing me...

I edit on a Macbook (non-pro version, late 2008 aluminum) which is very under powered by today's standards (and I guess even by 2008's lol). The internal is 5400rpm and I also have a few externals which are 5400rpm. I'm no professional video editor by any means and am always learning something new, however, I do spend days upon days editing projects. The longest project I've done is an 80 minute movie primarily using FCX and AE 5.5. Transferring files back and forth and exporting final versions take a long time (the 80 minute movie took 7+ hours to export an h264 file).

If you're a patient person and on a budget, you can definitely edit with a 5400rpm, especially since your specs will be much better than mine. However, my recommendation is get the newer model and just purchase a fast external once it fits in your budget. I also strongly advise editing using an external anyway, so if your internal drive is 5400rpm that shouldn't be a big concern in terms of editing. I think if you get the newer model with the highest specs for everything except the hard drive, you should be just fine. Definitely consider getting a fast external though in the future!

[matteusclement]

Originally Posted by waldo3125

I edit on a Macbook (non-pro version, late 2008 aluminum) which is very under powered by today's standards (and I guess even by 2008's lol). The internal is 5400rpm and I also have a few externals which are 5400rpm. I'm no professional video editor by any means and am always learning something new, however, I do spend days upon days editing projects. The longest project I've done is an 80 minute movie primarily using FCX and AE 5.5. Transferring files back and forth and exporting final versions take a long time (the 80 minute movie took 7+ hours to export an h264 file).

If you're a patient person and on a budget, you can definitely edit with a 5400rpm, especially since your specs will be much better than mine. However, my recommendation is get the newer model and just purchase a fast external once it fits in your budget. I also strongly advise editing using an external anyway, so if your internal drive is 5400rpm that shouldn't be a big concern in terms of editing. I think if you get the newer model with the highest specs for everything except the hard drive, you should be just fine. Definitely consider getting a fast external though in the future!

Bingo.
I never noticed a diff in the 5400 vs 7200 as far as editing. OS drive? yes.

I should have added that once you replace the drive with an ssd, you can use your laptop drive as an external if you like.