Ok so I have 2013 27-inch iMac with the 3.5 i7, 1tb fusion, 16gb ram, and the 780m 4gb video card. I'am wanting something more portable for when I'm on the go. I'm wondering what MacBook air would be capable to do light work in final cut x. I would do all the major editing on my iMac. I just spend weekends away from iMac and looking for a laptop in the air series that could handle this. The biggest draw is the battery life since it will be used remotely where power isn't available. I know a macbookpro would be great but the battery life and weight makes it not very practicle for my needs. Any thoughts suggestions would be great.
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MacBook air for final cut x
- Thread starter Ak907Freerider
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I use an old version of FCP (6) on my 2013 11" i7/8gb/512gb MBA and it runs great. Also worked fine on my 2011 MBA, but rendering was slower. it's a surprisingly powerful little computer, and the 512gb SSD is blazing fast (700+MB/s).
No experience with FCP X though. I have read that it might take more of a performance hit on the MBA than older versions.
No experience with FCP X though. I have read that it might take more of a performance hit on the MBA than older versions.
Yes just basic stuff. More interested in getting projects started. Hd video shorter clips @5 min each. So even a base 13inch air with i5 will do this? I know rendering will be a issue
I am editing full HD Sony XDCAM EX HQ video on my 11" MBA without any problems. I'm sure it would be faster on a quad processor machine (also probably faster with a newer version of FCP), but coming from a 2008 15" MBP the MBA feels like a rocket sled. 
Again, I think the fast 512gb SSD helps a lot with this. Until Apple introduced the "trash can" Mac Pro, this was the fastest disk in their whole lineup. The 128gb SSD is much slower (250MB/s?), not sure if the 256 is as fast as the 512.
My 2011 MBA had the i5 and 4gb RAM and it worked fine for this too. The only really noticeable difference was faster rendering on the 2013 machine.
Again, I think the fast 512gb SSD helps a lot with this. Until Apple introduced the "trash can" Mac Pro, this was the fastest disk in their whole lineup. The 128gb SSD is much slower (250MB/s?), not sure if the 256 is as fast as the 512.
My 2011 MBA had the i5 and 4gb RAM and it worked fine for this too. The only really noticeable difference was faster rendering on the 2013 machine.