You can definitely do your video editing on a 13" mbp. I use final cut pro and iMovie on my 2011 13" i7 and it works great. Super fast. I also tried it on my 2010 mbp and the 2011 is def an improvement in sense of speed. You don't need a 15" and I really think the graphics are fine on this one. Depends on your personal preferences and standards.
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2011 Macbook Pro 13" for Video Editing
- Thread starter jspec
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Macbook Pro 13" okay for After Effects ?
Hi it sounds like the 13" i7 is fine for video editing, is this the case for After effects too, and for editing with plenty of video effects in Final cut or Adobe Premiere. I'd be doing short videos, under 10mins but perhaps with a lot of layers.
Hi it sounds like the 13" i7 is fine for video editing, is this the case for After effects too, and for editing with plenty of video effects in Final cut or Adobe Premiere. I'd be doing short videos, under 10mins but perhaps with a lot of layers.
Do you have an external monitor at least? 1280 x 800 is not really a good resolution for DCC software.
But from a technical standpoint, the 13" will do the job, though a better GPU will help in AE.
Most video editing applications using footage properly encoded (using a video editing codec instead of H.264 or something similar), don't need to take advantage of the GPU to play back the video.
AE on the other hand can use the help of the GPU in calculating all the applied effects and layers in a composition.
But editing applications will take use of the GPU more and more, as more and more footage is being delivered compressed and effects are often applied inside the video editing application.
Maybe have a look at CreativeCow, as it is quite DCC centric.
I was advised by the Apple guy that the base 13inch i5 was all i need and indeed it is 
I use the Contour 1080HD head cam in imovie is all i need.
Plus I run Aperture 3 which Apple are selling on the App store for £44.99p
so yer 13inch i5 base model is all you need.
I use the Contour 1080HD head cam in imovie is all i need. Plus I run Aperture 3 which Apple are selling on the App store for £44.99p
so yer 13inch i5 base model is all you need.
The graphics are one of the biggest upgrades for going to the 15". For something as graphics intesive as video editing, where its critical to have enough V-Ram, I'd have to say that its worth it to go for the 15". Plus then you have more space to edit
I would buy RAM from OWC or Newegg as mentioned (if I lived in the US).
Anyway, regarding video editing and the video card. In what I've read and experienced the jury is still out on how important a video card really is in video editing.
If you use h264, which is used in a lot of cameras, you will rely on your CPU to help you. h.264 is very heavy on the cpu, and requires a lot of horse power. Case in point: my Core2Quad with a 1gb 9800GTX+, is slower than my 13" i7. Both are equipped with 8gb of RAM.
It is true that with the new Final Cut Pro X and Motion that a lot of rendering tasks can be offloaded to the GPU, or that the GPU can help with the rendering. I am still uncertain of how much.
There is of course no doubt that the 15" is faster and better for editing, and that the graphics card is a plus. I am just unsure of how much. I've previously bought higher end Macs to get the better graphics cards and haven't really experienced that much of a boost.
But that's just me. I really like the 13", and love to not carry around my old 15"MBP and I just feel that it's a more beautiful machine. When I use it as a stationary machine I have it hooked up to my external monitor in clamshell mode. Now if you only have one computer and no extra monitor the 15" might be a better buy.
But I'd say go for the 13" i7 and get som extra RAM and a SSD drive.
EDIT:
It is true that After Effects and Premiere CAN use the GPU, but on Mac it's a very limited range of GFX cards.
http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/extend.html
Neither the 6490M or the 6750M are supported.
Anyway, regarding video editing and the video card. In what I've read and experienced the jury is still out on how important a video card really is in video editing.
If you use h264, which is used in a lot of cameras, you will rely on your CPU to help you. h.264 is very heavy on the cpu, and requires a lot of horse power. Case in point: my Core2Quad with a 1gb 9800GTX+, is slower than my 13" i7. Both are equipped with 8gb of RAM.
It is true that with the new Final Cut Pro X and Motion that a lot of rendering tasks can be offloaded to the GPU, or that the GPU can help with the rendering. I am still uncertain of how much.
There is of course no doubt that the 15" is faster and better for editing, and that the graphics card is a plus. I am just unsure of how much. I've previously bought higher end Macs to get the better graphics cards and haven't really experienced that much of a boost.
But that's just me. I really like the 13", and love to not carry around my old 15"MBP and I just feel that it's a more beautiful machine. When I use it as a stationary machine I have it hooked up to my external monitor in clamshell mode. Now if you only have one computer and no extra monitor the 15" might be a better buy.
But I'd say go for the 13" i7 and get som extra RAM and a SSD drive.
EDIT:
It is true that After Effects and Premiere CAN use the GPU, but on Mac it's a very limited range of GFX cards.
http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/extend.html
Neither the 6490M or the 6750M are supported.
Last edited:
"Mini display port" to HDMI adapter plugged into the Thunderbolt-port/Mini display port.
Thank you very much Simsaladimbamba it is good to know 2007 macbook can do video editing very well because I dont see much older 2007 model on this forum.
I'm afraid that it isn't as simple as that. It all depends on the video format. The "new" and widely used DSLRHD video is impossible to edit on older machines (as simsaladimbamba also points out), and there is still a noticeable lag on newer machines when working with multiple tracks. If you transcode your video files to another format, you can use your old Macbook just fine, however if you start to use any filters or effects, you will quickly bring it to it's knees.
Regarding Louis CK he probably works with low quality proxy files, when editing. After he's finished editing he relinks the project with the high quality versions and finishes the edit (or someone does). Nothing wrong with that method... it's very commonly used, just to point out that it is very unlikely that his Macbook does the final edit.
(and he still needs a powerful computer to do the transcoding, in order to be able to edit on his old macbook).
Regarding Louis CK he probably works with low quality proxy files, when editing. After he's finished editing he relinks the project with the high quality versions and finishes the edit (or someone does). Nothing wrong with that method... it's very commonly used, just to point out that it is very unlikely that his Macbook does the final edit.
(and he still needs a powerful computer to do the transcoding, in order to be able to edit on his old macbook).