MacBook Air freezes with 5k video in Final Cut Pro...normal?

[GooseInTheCaboose]

So I'm sort of progressing out of the honeymoon phase with my m3 MacBook Air (24gb ram).

It was doing everything great, if slightly slower than desired, until I tried to start editing one of my 2-3 minute 5k videos in Final Cut Pro. When I changed the highlights and saturation while playing the video I get the rainbow beach ball/frozen thing and had to force quit and my work was lost.

Is this to be expected with MacBook Airs? Is 5k video editing in pro-apps basically off-limits with these machines?

I'm planning on getting a Mac mini for my more demanding computing needs and would appreciate input on what the bottleneck could be so my desktop will handle whatever I throw at it--without buying unnecessary junk specs.

 

[Slartibart]

macOS version? FCP version? what container/format is the 5k video?

 

[R S K]

Exactly. How is anyone supposed to give you anything useful without even the most basic information? Because I've even edited 12K footage on an M1 MacBook Air, so it's clearly not a hardware issue.

And Final Cut Pro and "my work was lost," outside of maybe the very last thing you did, is factually not possible.

 

[GooseInTheCaboose]

macOS version? FCP version? what container/format is the 5k video?

All latest versions

DLOG from DJI Air 2s

 

[GooseInTheCaboose]

Exactly. How is anyone supposed to give you anything useful without even the most basic information? Because I've even edited 12K footage on an M1 MacBook Air, so it's clearly not a hardware issue.

And Final Cut Pro and "my work was lost," outside of maybe the very last thing you did, is factually not possible.

Eh well the new project seemed to disappear.

I admit, I am new to final cut pro.

Question: was editing 5k+ video in FCP an overall decent experience for you?

this is not really a troubleshooting post. I want to know if what I am trying to do is REASONABLE for my device or if I am using the wrong tool for the job.

I know Pro chips/laptops are obvioudly better suited for this, but i dont edit video every day/for work so I am wondering if my Air CAN handle these 5k short 2-3 minute videos in FCP in a smooth way (without lots of lag/choppiness) or if I should not even try

 

[R S K]

Editing nearly any footage with any codec or resolution by itself, i.e., without any massive effects, etc., on Apple Silicon is a literal dream, yes.

Worst case, there's always the "Better Performance" setting or the option to optimize the material. At that point, I can't think of anything that won't play absolutely fine on even the oldest of Apple Silicon.

And btw, whether "DLOG" or not is completely irrelevant to its playback performance. That has nothing to do with actual relevant criteria such as compression or resolution. It only speaks to the clip's dynamic range/color depth.

 

[GooseInTheCaboose]

Editing nearly any footage with any codec or resolution by itself, i.e., without any massive effects, etc., on Apple Silicon is a literal dream, yes.

Worst case, there's always the "Better Performance" setting or the option to optimize the material. At that point, I can't think of anything that won't play absolutely fine on even the oldest of Apple Silicon.

And btw, whether "DLOG" or not is completely irrelevant to its playback performance. That has nothing to do with actual relevant criteria such as compression or resolution. It only speaks to the clip's dynamic range/color depth.

hmm..so it sounds like, i must have encoutered a small bug but generally I should be OK. I guess I’ll try more soon with other files/starting over again, maybe restart the mac, and see if it was just a one time thing lol