Is a MacBook Pro enought for Video Editing or do I need a desktop

[uMac]

I need advice please,

I do photography & graphics, and I am looking into getting into some video editing work with a friend (he has made a few small vidoes this past year). This is the kind of thing one would put on youtube (the higher quality stuff vs. here is my firend on fire hahaha stuff) or epidsode stories.

I have a few options...
1. Buy a MacBook Pro (Worried about overheating and limited HD, etc)
2. Buy a Desktop (I think the Mac Pro is a bit overkill but I dislike the iMac computer/monitor combo, maybe WWDC will provide a nicer option) and buy a (cheap) used iBook or MacBook for the portable work I do (Show clients photos, movies, etc that I make, or work over with my friend using the desktop as the editing/rendering machine)
3. Buy a MacBook (can they run decent video editing software fast enough?)

This is firmly a 'hobby' of the kinds of creative work I like to do.

Thoughts?

 

[magicjames92]

1. That's fine. You can also buy an ext hd if needed.
2. 2 is better than one!
3. Wait pro is bad but macbook is ok? i have a macbook and it runs final cut fine.

 

[uMac]

What I want to know is "Is MBP good for video editing", ignore option 3, I'm not even sure why I wrote that.

My main thing is I don't want to be limited by the computer ( I am returning to a Mac from the PC world, and I haven't bought a computer in a long while.)

1. That's fine. You can also buy an ext hd if needed.
2. 2 is better than one!
3. Wait pro is bad but macbook is ok? i have a macbook and it runs final cut fine.

 

[ppc_michael]

What I want to know is "Is MBP good for video editing", ignore option 3, I'm not even sure why I wrote that.

The MacBook Pro is excellent for editing. It's extremely powerful and extremely portable at the same time. I can't believe I ever edited on anything else.

You should have no worries about overheating. And as for HD space, as others have said, you can buy an external hard drive. It even has FW800 for the fastest external HD datarates.

 

[zioxide]

yeah you can run final cut on old ibook g4s like mine, so any new mac will be perfect

 

[ChrisA]

A MBP would work fine but you will likely want a large and FAST external drive or RAID setup. I'd want a larger external monitor too as Final Cut really uses up screen spacee

The advantage of the MacPro, I think is not so much that it has four cores but that you can load in more RAM. I'm waiting too for a non iMac desktop. It Apple does not hav one my this summer I'm putting Mac OS X o a generic PC.

At ne time, back in about 1999 Apple sold a "Power Mac" in a tower that was upgradable for $1500. You'd think they could offer something like that again for about the same price. If they don't Leopard on a $1500 PC will make a nice machine.

 

[Texas04]

A MBP will do beautifully. Invest in an external monitor for home use, and then you can pull your laptop out if you need it to show to clients etc.


I use mine and I LOVE the portability.

 

[eXan]

At ne time, back in about 1999 Apple sold a "Power Mac" in a tower that was upgradable for $1500. You'd think they could offer something like that again for about the same price. If they don't Leopard on a $1500 PC will make a nice machine.

No need to remember 1999, because Apple once introduced a single-CPU PowerMac G5 @ 1500$ price. It was basically iMac without the screen, but with PCI & AGP slots, more RAM slots and a second HD slot. After a while they removed this PM from their lineup, probably because it didnt sell well.

 

[thagomizer]

If you're doing a lot of H.264 encoding and are impatient, go with the tower.

I have a Mac Pro and I've been exporting footage to H.264, and it can easily take overnight to do a long series of video clips. It's painful, and I can't begin to imagine the horror of moving lots of video around with a laptop hard drive.

If you're just dabbling, or working with small files, the laptop should be fine.

 

[uMac]

Thanks for the advice everyone !

It even has FW800 for the fastest external HD datarates.

Are you talking about firewire - if so where do I find firewire HD's?
All I see at stores is USB external drives and firewire is for digital cameras?

There was a mention on adding more RAM, is 2 GB enough or should I be getting more (how much more). Adding ram is expensive so if I can get by with 2GB...

 

[AviationFan]

It Apple does not hav one my this summer I'm putting Mac OS X o a generic PC.

Excuse my ignorance, I must have missed some news. How exactly would you go about this?

- Martin

 

[zioxide]

Excuse my ignorance, I must have missed some news. How exactly would you go about this?

- Martin

Can't talk about it on the forums because it violates the eula (nobody cares about them anyways), but google is your friend

 

[Texas04]

Thanks for the advice everyone !


Are you talking about firewire - if so where do I find firewire HD's?
All I see at stores is USB external drives and firewire is for digital cameras?

There was a mention on adding more RAM, is 2 GB enough or should I be getting more (how much more). Adding ram is expensive so if I can get by with 2GB...

I used a Gig with FCE and it works fine, now I have 1.25 GB and it still runs great.
There are firewire drives around or if anything buy a HD and an external enclosure separate that is FW.
I use a USB 2.0 Drive and it works fine, it holds all the media from LiveType, Soundtrack, and captured video from Final Cut. The applications themselves are on my MBP HD

 

[TimJim]

you should definetly get the MCP for what you are using it for and just get an external HD for extra space