Buying my first Mac Book Pro

[Thoraximus]

Hi guys,

Firstly I feel like I should apologise, you regulars must be sick and tired of threads like these.

Ok, so I want to buy myself a Mac Book Pro, but money is a bit of an issue.

I want to Video Edit on it, using Final Cut Pro, so my question is, is this good enough to run Final Cut Pro?
I'm not looking to edit a feature length film or anything, maybe a 30mins piece at most?

I'm just asking because as I can see it's the lowest spec on the Mac Book Pro range and I'm just thinking whether I should have higher RAM? HD space isn't a isn't a problem, as I already have a external HD.

Although this bumps up the price from £999, it is neccessary?

Thank you for taking the time to read this post! I really appreciate it.

 

[spinnerlys]

Your link does not work, why don't you use the Apple Online Store to give us an example? - http://store.apple.com/uk

Any of those MacBook Pros should work with FCP and FCS, albeit Motion and Color rely on the GPU heavily, so the 320M might not cut it for Color and Motion.

 

[Thoraximus]

Apologies...
http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro

The one on the left, the £999 one.

 

[Thoraximus]

Apologies...
http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro

The one on the left, the £999 one.

So yeah, I guess my question is, is it worth me getting that one on it's own, and perhaps adding the £320 to double the RAM, or do you not think I'll need it?

 

[demonsavatar]

It should run FCP fine (i.e. basic editing). Its when you start adding effects or encoding that you will gain the advantages of GPU acceleration and the Core i5 processor.

If you tend to use motion or after effects a lot I would lean towards the 15". Otherwise you should be okay with the 13" base model.

I think encoding tasks are 15-25% faster on a same speed Core i series processor available in the 15". But if you are willing to wait a bit and just walk away during encoding tasks, you won't feel this too much either.

BTW: dont bother upgrading the ram from Apple. Its MUCH cheaper to buy 8GB of ram elsewhere and install it yourself. Unless you are really scared of install it yourself that is. Also 2.4Ghz -> 2.66Ghz for the 13" NOT worth it IMO.

 

[Thoraximus]

It should run FCP fine (i.e. basic editing). Its when you start adding effects or encoding that you will gain the advantages of GPU acceleration and the Core i5 processor.

If you tend to use motion or after effects a lot I would lean towards the 15". Otherwise you should be okay with the 13" base model.

I think encoding tasks are 15-25% faster on a same speed Core i series processor available in the 15". But if you are willing to wait a bit and just walk away during encoding tasks, you won't feel this too much either.

BTW: dont bother upgrading the ram from Apple. Its MUCH cheaper to buy 8GB of ram elsewhere and install it yourself. Unless you are really scared of install it yourself that is. Also 2.4Ghz -> 2.66Ghz for the 13" NOT worth it IMO.

Great, thanks for replying.
Yeah I only really want it for basic editing, I don't use after effects at all so that shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for the advice re: RAM also.
I figure if my skill develops drastically then I can invest in a better model, this will be great for now.