Final Cut - Which MBP?

[makeshift78]

Okay, so my pc pooped out (my fault ie physical damage) and i'm looking to upgrade. i spend most of my time that isn't school work editing videos in my free time. i mainly use my gopro hd for footage but also use HDSLR footage.
I would like to know what MBP to get. I'm torn between the high end 13, because of the size and price, and the low end 15.
Does anyone have opinions between the two and could anyone help me in my decision?

Thanks!

 

[sonnyfazio]

Okay, so my pc pooped out (my fault ie physical damage) and i'm looking to upgrade. i spend most of my time that isn't school work editing videos in my free time. i mainly use my gopro hd for footage but also use HDSLR footage.
I would like to know what MBP to get. I'm torn between the high end 13, because of the size and price, and the low end 15.
Does anyone have opinions between the two and could anyone help me in my decision?

Thanks!

As far as video editing goes, you'll likely want a MacBook Pro with the dedicated video card (AMD Radeon HD). This would put you into the low-end 15-inch category. Another benefit of the 15-inch is that you'd have a 500GB harddrive to store the movies on.

Obviously any of the MacBook Pro's will work for your needs, but the dedicate video card is always a plus when the video application really needs the power. You might even want to upgrade to either the 500GB 7200rpm (faster spinning = faster transfer) or the 750gb 5400 (more storage). Either of those upgrades would only be an additional $100.

 

[makeshift78]

well both the 13 and 15 have 500gb hard drives, but the 15 does have the option for a faster spinning drive, and a higher res screen which would be a necessity. however the drive size is not a huge issue as i'll store all of my videos on external hard drives. i just want to know whether i'll be wasting days/nights transcoding videos rather than being able to work because of specs on the 13 vs the 15. and i know that the integrated is pretty crappy for and 3d work but i'm not going to be creating any "Avatar" here lol

 

[r3800t]

2011 MBP 13" vs 15" = Dual-Core vs. Quad-Core...

you are definitely gaining more than just a couple inches of screen real estate on the 15" MBP over the 13".

the 15" MBP is a Quad-Core (13" only Dual-Core)
the 15" AMD Radeon Graphics Processor will likely be able to provide additional processing power for OpenCL enabled applications (Final Cut Pro X is to be such an application.)
15" screen - definite plus for having room to work in Final Cut (maybe even consider the high res screen(?))

The extra processing power will aid in more efficient realtime rendering of footage, but I am sure will come in handy when producing h.264 output.

If you get a chance, check out the Final Cut Pro X presentation @ NAB.

Good idea on the external disk for scratch, etc. - a striped pair of drives in an external enclosure will give you way more working capacity and performance than the just the single internal 7200RPM drive (I would still do the internal drive as 500GB 7200RPM also.)

IMO - go for the 15", get the 500GB 7200RPM internal drive, consider the screen resolution update (to make needing an external monitor less of a necessity...)

If you don't already own Final Cut Studio - wait a couple months for Final Cut Pro X.

 

[Vantage Point]

but the 15 does have the option for a faster spinning drive

For $100 you can get a 500GB 7200rpm drive instead of the stock 5400rpm. However, for $109 you can buy a bigger 750GB WD Scorpio Black 7200rpm drive and keep your stock drive as a backup. I did that, see my blog about it here

 

[Vantage Point]

just buy a 1TB drive 7200rpm as it'll be a lot cheaper then doing it through apple

There are no 1Tb 7200rpm drives available. For speed you are better off with a 750gb 7200rpm drive. They have two platters, instead of the 3 platters needed for a 1TB laptop drive, so they are slightly more dense and spin about 30% faster

 

[Barnzee]

Go with the 15". the new edition of final cut X due in around June or July will finally bring 64bit processing which means you will finally be able to use all 4 cores of processing that come with the 15". plus if your editing in HD, the Hi-Res screen is a plus.

 

[makeshift78]

the only problem is that price may be a limiting factor. the quad core is more of a deal then the discrete graphics as well as the hi res screen because the 13" res is just pitiful. i will be able to hook up whichever computer to a 42" 1080p screen for whichever i do end up getting. because if i get the upgraded hard drive (7200rpm and 500gb) and the hi res screen, that will push the price over $500 more than the 13" and that may be pushing my budget. we'll have to see what i can afford. i can get ahold of final cut 6 and i have myself mastercollection cs5 so the software is pretty much a non-issue. i just want to make sure my hardware is enough :/

 

[makeshift78]

well i installed cs5 on both last gen 15 and 13 inch mbp's and they both seemed to work just fine. final cut won't work on the old 13 but it's supposed to work with the new 13. it didn't show any real lag with the files i was working with in premiere pro cs5 but they were just gopro videos. This is meaning that i could probably do just fine with the new 2011 13 mbp. I really wish money wasn't an issue but the high end 13 just seems to be a better fit. and if it would work fine then that's what will be purchased i guess. anyone else have any better opinions?