Final Cut Studio. Should I be kicking myself over having just 4GB of RAM?

[Rm.237]

Getting my MBP on the 6th and here are my specs. 15"/i7/HR-GL/4GB/@7200
I will be using Final Cut Studio for school and be using it quite extensively. What difference would 8GB of RAM mean to me and in what scenario would it be beneficial to upgrade?

 

[alphaod]

I believe Final Cut Pro still has the 2.5GB RAM limitation (that's the most RAM it can use) because it's a 32-bit Carbon application.

 

[LedCop]

I believe Final Cut Pro still has the 2.5GB RAM limitation (that's the most RAM it can use) because it's a 32-bit Carbon application.

Wow, if true, that's pretty sad for a Pro app. What about Final Cut Studio that the OP is asking?

OP, just use your computer as usual with all your programs running along with "Activity Monitor" and have a look at the amount of free RAM you have at that time. Or more accurately have a look at your "page outs".

BUT it seems pretty easy to reach that 4GB on a Mac compared to Windows, at least for my usage. I just have to accumulate Safari and/or Google Chrome tabs and windows and I've used up all my RAM. So it doesn't make financial sense in that case.

And if you do find that you need 8GB, don't worry about the cost. It's possible to buy 8GB for less than what Apple charges AND you have the original 4GBs to use in another computer or sell for an even cheaper 8GB. So nothing to kick yourself over.

 

[zedsdead]

Right now the studio is very outdated as the other poster said. Final Cut Pro doesn't even use more than one core. It's really pathetic. Try rendering or exporting in Final Cut, it's awful and uses less than 25% of my machine, which is a Quad Core i7.

Compressor does use all cores, but you MUST create a cluster as it will not do this on its own.

As for the RAM, 4 gigs is enough right now, especially if you are using mostly FCP.

 

[Chundles]

Wow, if true, that's pretty sad for a Pro app. What about Final Cut Studio that the OP is asking?

Final Cut Studio is the suite that contains Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, Color, Compressor etc.

 

[Theappmachine]

Really?! Final Cut is not 64bit?!

Apple should hurry releasing the new suite... and she'd better doin it good.

 

[wisty]

Really?! Final Cut is not 64bit?!

Apple should hurry releasing the new suite... and she'd better doin it good.

Apple has a limited number of engineers (due to their tight hiring policy), and the iProducts get more resources. That's my guess, at least.

Things should get better. I'd guess that the shock success of the iPhone, then the iPad, has meant that they have to permanently increase headcout, and that takes a long time. For the next few years, I'd expect Pro products to move a little slower.

*disclaimer - I don't really know anything, just public rumors on Apple's tight hiring process, and mobility within the company.

 

[mattgoldey]

I believe Final Cut Pro still has the 2.5GB RAM limitation (that's the most RAM it can use) because it's a 32-bit Carbon application.

Where'd you get 2.5 from? The usual max for a 32-bit app is around 3.something GB.

 

[moel]

Yeah FCP/S defo needs a 64 bit refresh.

You won't notice any issues though at the mo between 4gb and 8gb, i'm on the same as you bar the 7200 rpm drive

I run virtualbox and FCP simultaneously, as well as motion..and as long as you don't have safari or whatever open doing stuff you won't notice any sort of slow down.

When it finally goes 64 bit, I'll be shoving a bit more Ram in, but very few things are 64 bit. (although it's much nicer, i'm just on the phone to my friend who is trying to get 32 bit windows app to run in 64 bit windows 7)

 

[Sirmausalot]

FCS Lame

The last upgrade was awful. I didn't even bother. It is still 32 bit and you can assign 2.5gb to the program and final cut addresses (if it needs) the other 1.5MB. But it's 32 bit and not multi-core aware. Fortuantely, Avid and Adobe are releasing their 64 bit multi-core suites soon and this will force Apple to step up. I assume that is what their pro division (what's left of it) is doing these days.