I am a film major at the School of Visual Arts and I want to buy a macbook pro. My iMac is busted, so I need a new computer to edit my projects. My school store offers discounts and what not, and has a ton of different models. However, I have no idea what any of this technical mumbojumbo means. I'm basically looking for a laptop with about 500mb of memory. I don't know what any of the other stuff means. What is the best model for my use?
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Film Major looking to buy the best model for editing.
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I'd have to say either the 2.6 or 2.8GHz 15" MBP or 17" MBP. If this is going to be your main machine and you're doing video, the larger screen may be beneficial. The downside aside from cost is that its a larger/heavier laptop to carry around school.
The 2.6 and 2.8 15" MBP have the dual GPU as well as the 17" so you'll get the fastest graphics card for the MBP. That should help you, anything less then that may not be well suited for your needs. Also those models mentioned come with 4gig of ram, which is the minimum I'd recommend as well.
The 2.6 and 2.8 15" MBP have the dual GPU as well as the 17" so you'll get the fastest graphics card for the MBP. That should help you, anything less then that may not be well suited for your needs. Also those models mentioned come with 4gig of ram, which is the minimum I'd recommend as well.
You may want to check out the refurb online apple store for a unibody macbook pro with the dual graphics cards. It may save you a bit of cash.
im a film major as well and i bought a 17inch mbp .. 2.93 .. its a march 2009 model .. and it has been serving me well and im starting to edit in fcp7 this semester so ill let you know how it handles it .. i also have a 1.5tb external hd for a scratch disk for fcp
i didnt buy an imac or mac pro because i wanted to be mobile .. i will be purchasing a mac pro next year
i didnt buy an imac or mac pro because i wanted to be mobile .. i will be purchasing a mac pro next year
I'd also suggest the 17 MBP. Also, considering your career path you may want to take some time to do a little research and figure out what some of the technical "mumbojumbo" means. Pay a visit to wikipedia and type in words like "RAM", "hardrive", "CPU" and "screen resolution". A little reading will help you make a better decision about the $2500 or so you're about to spend.
You've got the proverbial "cart before the horse".
What software does your school recommend you use? Get the hardware/system designed for that.
Well, if you're dead set on a MBP instead of a Mac Pro, then the only viable option here given how you plan on using it is really the 17" MBP because it comes with the ExpressCard/34 slot (the 13" and 15" MBPs dropped that feature) which allows you to use multiple drives over the much faster eSATA rather than Firewire.
You may be only using a single external drive (minimum of 7200 RPM) for video editing for now, but you may find the eSATA capability through the ExpressCard/34 slot very handy at some point. It's very handy for folks who professionally edit video for a living with their MBPs.
The 17" is going to be larger and heavier than the other options, but consider it to be part of the 'deal'. You do benefit from having the option of a 1920x1200 display -- much more screen real estate room along with 17" of diagonal goodness.
