Final Cut Pro on new Macbook Pro

[cohenben]

I'm a professional video editor. I know that a matte screen is considered the better route - but the whole Nvidia GPU debate has me thinking the new MBP might be a better choice and I can just get used the glossy. I can also, over time, get over the missing firewire 400.

Can anyone working on Final Cut Studio 2 on the newest Macbook Pro configuration share some of their experience - good or bad?

This will be my secondary machine - I still have my Mac Pro to do most of my heavy lifting, but going mobile with an edit is a must. The majority of work I do on the laptop will not be editing, however.

Should I just get a clearance MBP and risk the Nvidia 8600 crapping out? Thoughts?

 

[techound1]

Should I just get a clearance MBP and risk the Nvidia 8600 crapping out? Thoughts?

Here's one more option: get a refurb MBP. If it was sent in for the video crap-out, you'll have a new logic board and have saved a couple of hundred more. Plus, it will have the same one-year warranty as a new/clearance.

It sounds like you're looking at the 15". Is that going to be enough real estate for your editing, even on the road?

 

[cohenben]

Here's one more option: get a refurb MBP. If it was sent in for the video crap-out, you'll have a new logic board and have saved a couple of hundred more. Plus, it will have the same one-year warranty as a new/clearance.

It sounds like you're looking at the 15". Is that going to be enough real estate for your editing, even on the road?

Oooooo. Hadn't really thought of that! I think 15" is the right size for me. I've edited on my PowerBook g4 for many years so I know what I'm getting screen-wise. I will be using the laptop more for mobile business purposes because I have my mac pro for heavy lifting on the editing etc. So 17" although nice isn't worth the extra dollars.

I'm going to check put those refurbs though thanks for the reccomendation. Would still be interested in hearing peoples thought on FCP with the brand new MBPs.

 

[THX1139]

Oooooo. Hadn't really thought of that! I think 15" is the right size for me. I've edited on my PowerBook g4 for many years so I know what I'm getting screen-wise. I will be using the laptop more for mobile business purposes because I have my mac pro for heavy lifting on the editing etc. So 17" although nice isn't worth the extra dollars.

I'm going to check put those refurbs though thanks for the reccomendation. Would still be interested in hearing peoples thought on FCP with the brand new MBPs.

A buddy of mine is running Aftereffects CS3 on his unibody and he says it's like butter. That being said, FCS should run fine on any of the MBPs and really sweet on the unibody.

 

[cohenben]

A buddy of mine is running Aftereffects CS3 on his unibody and he says it's like butter. That being said, FCS should run fine on any of the MBPs and really sweet on the unibody.

Oh, that's great news. Of course, I should expect these machines to be running "like butter," so I guess it is kind of a lame question.

 

[matt223]

I bought the 2.8 GHz version recently. I haven't tried running After Effects yet; however, I have been messing around with FCP. Two days ago I had a small HD project I was screwing with. The piece was maybe 5 minutes long. I had SLOW rendering and then it was dropping frames big time. That's when I realized I hadn't booted in "better performance" mode BUT based on the file I was working with I was seriously not impressed with the performance. Tonight I started playing with a 2 minute file I had on my video server. The first format was flash (just for testing purposes). Then I used a quicktime h.264 (.mov) version and finally a DIVX version. I can honestly say I am FAR FROM IMPRESSED. I was previously using a 17" Intel Core Duo MBP that was almost 2 years old as well as a Dual 2 GHz PowerMac G5. Obviously, the G5 has been a work horse but the 17" MBP has rocked out the video in FCP better. This is frustrating since I decided to sell the PowerMac G5 and gave the 17" to my sister. At this point I am going to continue to test the system and if I continue to have crappy performance I am probably going to return the system to Apple and get a Mac Pro (reluctantly since I can't be very mobile with it). Anyway, My suggestion is to research it thoroughly and maybe even test it in a local Apple Store if you can. They are really cool about working with customers. Of course, this is all IMO information and I do hope it is helpful.

 

[macmeaux]

New 17" MacBook Pro runs iMovie slow?

I would like to post this as a new thread, does anyone know how because I can't seem to figure it out.

Two days ago I bought the base model new 17" MacBook Pro so I can use FCP on the road for work. I thought it would be faster than my old iMac that I use everyday with Final Cut Pro. The rendering on the iMac is a little slow but I'm used to it and I never have any dropped frames.

My old iMac has a Intel C 2 Duo, 2.4Ghz, 2 GB at 667 Mhz, ATI Radeon HD2600 and a 500 GB hard drive.
The new MBP has Intel C 2 Duo, 2.66 Ghz, 4 GB at 1066 Mhz, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT and a 320 GB hard drive.

A week ago I was on vacation and used a Kodak Zi6 while there to shoot some home video. I imported 5 minutes of the video as 960x540 into iMovie instead of FCP which I haven't installed on it yet because I thought it would be quicker and easier, but its not. It's very slow and "choppy" I feel like I've taken one step forward in mobility and three steps back in efficiency.

Everyone else says their MBPs are running "like butter".
Please advise if iMovie is a speed hog or if I might have a faulty MBP.
Any info is helpful.

 

[matt223]

New MBP's are CRAP

I get dropped frames all the time on my 15" 2.8GHz. It's freaking frustrating as @(&(#^$. I had a 17" Intel Core Duo with 2 Gigs of RAM and it ran SOOOOOOO much better. I was just in France and was trying to use my system with some footage shot on a Canon HV30. I'm so pissed off with this thing I'm about to throw down with Apple. They have heard from me several times but now I've had enough.

Also, on a side note I have had the discussion of importing footage in with iMovie and then over to FCP. The general consensus of everyone I know (pro vid people including instructor's at a few university's) is that it's not recommended. Of course, if it works for you then run with it. I've also found that the iMovie way is not so good.

 

[mBox]

I get dropped frames all the time on my 15" 2.8GHz. It's freaking frustrating as @(&(#^$. I had a 17" Intel Core Duo with 2 Gigs of RAM and it ran SOOOOOOO much better. I was just in France and was trying to use my system with some footage shot on a Canon HV30. I'm so pissed off with this thing I'm about to throw down with Apple. They have heard from me several times but now I've had enough.

Also, on a side note I have had the discussion of importing footage in with iMovie and then over to FCP. The general consensus of everyone I know (pro vid people including instructor's at a few university's) is that it's not recommended. Of course, if it works for you then run with it. I've also found that the iMovie way is not so good.

We've been running Avid Media Composer Software (sometimes with Mojo) and its solid along with a 24" Cinema. Just updated the 24 to a 30 but havent worked on it enough to see a diff. I cant see why FCP would run any different. We kept our FCP Studio along with the Avid Adrenaline system. Maybe Ill move it to my upcoming 17 to test.