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2017 13' Macbook Pro Handle 4K Video Editing

Lemonnadee

Lemonnadee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 24, 2018
3
0
Hong Kong
Hi all,

I am new to the forum. Apologize for my bad English.

I am planning to get my first Macbook Pro and i've found a 2017 13' Macbook Pro w/ touch bar at the local Computer Pawn shop.

Specification as following.
3.5Ghz i7 Turbo Boost to 4.0Ghz
16 GB ram
256 GB SSD
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650
Comes with 2.5 years of Applecare warranty to 2020 Sep.

I want to start learning video editing cuz i occasionally take videos for my little girl and my family.

Sorry this question might've been asked for a thousand times before.

Is the above lappy able to handle HD/4K video editing? I am hoping a laptop could last me at least 4-5 years. Can this one serve me well?

If i start video editing, should i go for Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro?

Thanks all for your comments

Rex Yu
 
Yeah, just get the Touch Bar version always because the non touch bar only has 1 fan.
 
Lemonnadee said:
Hi all,

I am new to the forum. Apologize for my bad English.

I am planning to get my first Macbook Pro and i've found a 2017 13' Macbook Pro w/ touch bar at the local Computer Pawn shop.

Specification as following.
3.5Ghz i7 Turbo Boost to 4.0Ghz
16 GB ram
256 GB SSD
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650
Comes with 2.5 years of Applecare warranty to 2020 Sep.

I want to start learning video editing cuz i occasionally take videos for my little girl and my family.

Sorry this question might've been asked for a thousand times before.

Is the above lappy able to handle HD/4K video editing? I am hoping a laptop could last me at least 4-5 years. Can this one serve me well?

If i start video editing, should i go for Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro?

Thanks all for your comments

Rex Yu
Click to expand...

Yes, that will be a very nice system to edit video on. DO NOT USE Adobe Premiere.... it's a dog and runs slow. Final Cut is made for MAC OSX and it runs amazing. If you want to use Premiere you'll have to go with a super high end windows 10 laptop to match the performance of Final Cut with the MAC you have listed.
 
Hi Lemonnade:

I concur with Miltz's opinion. I own a 2016 MBP15 (2.9 GHZ, 460, 1 TB) and began my drone 4K video editing experience with Adobe Premier Pro/AfterEffects. Playback in the editing window was very choppy and almost impossible to use. Had to make proxies for everything and they took forever to render. Even then, they did not play back well in the editing window. Same slow issues with motion tracking in AfterEffects. Then when it came time to render the final video, 3 minutes videos could take as long as 20 minutes to render. PremierPro took all the joy out of editing videos.

One day I downloaded FCPX and attempted to edit a video. Could not believe how much faster editing went and playback was much smoother. And, if you want to edit with proxies they are quickly made in the FCPX application. Three minute 4K videos will render in less than 5 minutes. FCPX/Motion brought back the pleasure in making a video.

It is my understanding that FCPX/Motion is not as powerful as PremierPro/AfterEffects. But I am still learning FCPX and have yet to explore all the possibilities. But for the vast majority of video editing work that I do, FCPX is the clear ease of use and speed winner.

Hope this helps with your decision.

Don Barar
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miltz
Heh. Not a single post here actually mentions what kind of 4K.
 
EugW said:
Heh. Not a single post here actually mentions what kind of 4K.
Click to expand...

Cinema 4K :)
[doublepost=1527344684][/doublepost]
dgbarar said:
Hi Lemonnade:

I concur with Miltz's opinion. I own a 2016 MBP15 (2.9 GHZ, 460, 1 TB) and began my drone 4K video editing experience with Adobe Premier Pro/AfterEffects. Playback in the editing window was very choppy and almost impossible to use. Had to make proxies for everything and they took forever to render. Even then, they did not play back well in the editing window. Same slow issues with motion tracking in AfterEffects. Then when it came time to render the final video, 3 minutes videos could take as long as 20 minutes to render. PremierPro took all the joy out of editing videos.

One day I downloaded FCPX and attempted to edit a video. Could not believe how much faster editing went and playback was much smoother. And, if you want to edit with proxies they are quickly made in the FCPX application. Three minute 4K videos will render in less than 5 minutes. FCPX/Motion brought back the pleasure in making a video.

It is my understanding that FCPX/Motion is not as powerful as PremierPro/AfterEffects. But I am still learning FCPX and have yet to explore all the possibilities. But for the vast majority of video editing work that I do, FCPX is the clear ease of use and speed winner.

Hope this helps with your decision.

Don Barar
Click to expand...

I'm glad you made the switch. I also have 2016 except with 2TB and it runs Final Cut Pro amazing.
 
Use Final Cut Pro -AND- (if it's 4k) use the option to create "proxy" media so that you're not actually loading and editing "full 4k".

Things will go much faster.
And when you're done editing and export to a final file, the actual export uses the original 4k quality (not the proxy).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Plett
EugW said:
OK, that's h.264.

It would be interesting to see how well those machines do with various forms of h.265 (which is more complex).
Click to expand...

I guess at some point when I upgrade my camera 2-3 years from now I'll find out...lol But I will say I have Photoshop open editing RAW files and Safari is usually open too. While editing. I have ADHD...lol Some Clips go up to 15 minutes and I've never had a slow down.
 
If you feel like trying it, and you have a recent iPhone, they can be set to output 8-bit h.265 HEVC.

It probably isn’t the best example of HEVC to test but nonetheless it’s HEVC.
 
EugW said:
If you feel like trying it, and you have a recent iPhone, they can be set to output 8-bit h.265 HEVC.

It probably isn’t the best example of HEVC to test but nonetheless it’s HEVC.
Click to expand...

hmmm... strictly speak from a images point of view I did a test between jpeg and HEIF when I first got my phone and there was a clear difference between the two formats in terms of image quality, not huge, but I could clearly see it. Ever since then I turned off HEIF and use jpeg. Is HEVC the movie version of HEIF?
 
EugW said:
Heh. Not a single post here actually mentions what kind of 4K.
Click to expand...
Good point. Agreed. It would be good to know what type of 4k that the OP is planning on working with. My comments were related to UHD 8 bit h264 in a .mov container. I attempted h265 with no real improvement in quality--just more rendering time for both PremierPro and FCPX.

Don Barar
 
Thanks for all comments above. I am new to video editing. So i can not tell the different of format between the types of 4K video. I downloaded the trial version of FCPX. And it runs smoothly. However i ended up getting the 2015 15inch macbook pro instead of 13inch 2017 version as the guy at Pawn shop it will be better off with 2 graphic cards.
[doublepost=1527477568][/doublepost]
dgbarar said:
Hi Lemonnade:

I concur with Miltz's opinion. I own a 2016 MBP15 (2.9 GHZ, 460, 1 TB) and began my drone 4K video editing experience with Adobe Premier Pro/AfterEffects. Playback in the editing window was very choppy and almost impossible to use. Had to make proxies for everything and they took forever to render. Even then, they did not play back well in the editing window. Same slow issues with motion tracking in AfterEffects. Then when it came time to render the final video, 3 minutes videos could take as long as 20 minutes to render. PremierPro took all the joy out of editing videos.

One day I downloaded FCPX and attempted to edit a video. Could not believe how much faster editing went and playback was much smoother. And, if you want to edit with proxies they are quickly made in the FCPX application. Three minute 4K videos will render in less than 5 minutes. FCPX/Motion brought back the pleasure in making a video.

It is my understanding that FCPX/Motion is not as powerful as PremierPro/AfterEffects. But I am still learning FCPX and have yet to explore all the possibilities. But for the vast majority of video editing work that I do, FCPX is the clear ease of use and speed winner.

Hope this helps with your decision.

Don Barar
Click to expand...

Thanks Don for your reply.
I finally get a 15inch 2015 macbook pro retina. This is my first time with apple's laptop. And the experience is truly amazing. Can't imagine how fast and smooth it runs. I still using the 30 days trial version of FCPX. And i am learning on youtube how to edit videos.
 
Lemonnadee said:
Thanks for all comments above. I am new to video editing. So i can not tell the different of format between the types of 4K video. I downloaded the trial version of FCPX. And it runs smoothly. However i ended up getting the 2015 15inch macbook pro instead of 13inch 2017 version as the guy at Pawn shop it will be better off with 2 graphic cards.
[doublepost=1527477568][/doublepost]

Thanks Don for your reply.
I finally get a 15inch 2015 macbook pro retina. This is my first time with apple's laptop. And the experience is truly amazing. Can't imagine how fast and smooth it runs. I still using the 30 days trial version of FCPX. And i am learning on youtube how to edit videos.
Click to expand...

Hi Lemonnadee:

Congratulations on you new laptop purchase. I know that you will get many years of pleasure of using your new computer and creating videos. Also, if you are anyway associated with an educational organization, you can get the entire suite of Apple professional software (Final Cut Pro, Motion, Logic X, MainStage, and Compressor) for $250 US.

Don Barar
 
dgbarar said:
Hi Lemonnadee:

Congratulations on you new laptop purchase. I know that you will get many years of pleasure of using your new computer and creating videos. Also, if you are anyway associated with an educational organization, you can get the entire suite of Apple professional software (Final Cut Pro, Motion, Logic X, MainStage, and Compressor) for $250 US.

Don Barar
Click to expand...

Hi Don,

Thanks for your reply and suggestion again.
I am not associating with any educational organization. So i can't enjoy the educational bundle.
But i am planning on getting the FCPX in the coming weeks.
How do you learn video editing btw? From youtube or guide book?

Thanks

Rex Yu
 
Hi Rex,

Most of what I learned about editing video was from having an idea of what I wanted to accomplish then searching the internet on how to do them. There is lots of instructional information on the internet whether it be written or YouTube.

As a beginner, the first thing that you will want to learn is how to "grade" raw videos. Grading is the process by which you adjust the histogram to get the right amount of brightness, darkness, saturation, color adjustment. After learning how to grade, you will want to learn to how to apply effects. Effects are important because they include such things as sharpening and applying a letterbox. There are a multitude of effects that you can apply to get your videos to appear as you want them to appear.

There is much to learn. But learning how to get the look you are seeking is half the fun.

Don Barar
 
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