Can MBA handle simple video work in iMovie?

[driphone]

Hi everyone,

I have an 11" MBA that I adore. I think it's the best portable computer I've ever had. At 1.8 GHz i7 + 4 GB Ram, 320 GB HD configuration, is this machine not capable of handling simple video editing/posting/etc using the iMovie?

I tried loading video clips from Aperture library and the performance is so slow that I gave up. I also have a MBP and a capable iMac but I am just wondering if there is anything I'm missing.

Thank you for your input & time.

Sam

 

[dcorban]

You will have to be more specific in regards to performance. What performance is slow? Is your Aperture library on the Air or an external drive? What format are they? What format are you exporting?

I have had no problem editing and exporting video using iMovie on my Air. I have even created videos from raw AVI. It was equally satisfactory on my 2008 MacBook.

 

[driphone]

You will have to be more specific in regards to performance. What performance is slow? Is your Aperture library on the Air or an external drive? What format are they? What format are you exporting?

I have had no problem editing and exporting video using iMovie on my Air. I have even created videos from raw AVI. It was equally satisfactory on my 2008 MacBook.

These are video clips taken by point & shoot camera and/or iPhone stored on the Air's local SSD. Basically, when I load the iMovie it shows an event folder under "Aperture Videos" with all the clips. Then when I open the event folder, it takes a while for the events to load. Now if I want to scroll or highlight or play any of those clips, the machine goes into thinking mode and starts responding very slow. Keys hit take anywhere from 5-20 seconds to take action therefore it becomes impractical to use the program.

FWIW, the same clips when opened under Aperture, play without any problems.

How can I find the video clips' file type?

Sam

 

[dcorban]

Unless Aperture's database which holds the library is particularly CPU intensive to access, I don't know why it would be so slow. I don't have Aperture, but I do have plenty of very large videos in iPhoto. I use a Canon S100 and it has a max file size of 4GB. I can scroll and play those videos (directly from the "iPhoto Videos" section) in iMovie with no performance impact. These source videos are 720p MOV format. I've created iMovie projects with them and exported to various formats.

 

[luqtotheman]

Yes,


for light to medium work it could definitely handle the workload, iMovie ran pretty well on my 2007 macbook !

 

[driphone]

You make a good point. Let me see how it does if I use the iPhoto database.
I'll post the result.

Thx.
Sam