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Macbook or Macbook pro?

D

doopsie

macrumors member
Original poster
May 19, 2007
54
0
Hello all,

I'm just about to buy my first mac ever. I have been reading many threads about the macbook vs macbook pro buying dilemma, and i am still in a dilemma.

What i would like to use the mac for would be normal surfing, loads of nonsense like trible booting, chatting, adobe photoshop, adobe after effects, to handle motion graphics. i'd like to give the final cut equivalent of adobe after effects a shot too.

Im not sure whether the graphics card will play a major role in the after effects / motion, but i really dislike the aluminium casing and the size of the mac book pro.
I am willing to upgrade to 2gb ram just to get a mac book that can handle after effects and motion(or whatever the aftereffects equivalent is)

I know there will be a difference in rendering time, but is that difference large enough for me to drop the idea of buying a mac book?

i seriously can't stand the mbp, lol. =(
 
Wow. Haha, we all have our opinions, but I think the MBP is beautiful; I like it a lot more than the MacBooks, and I don't find it too big at all.

That being said, it seems like you're riding the fence in terms of what you need vs. the options available. Of course you would benefit from a MacBookPro, being that it is a faster, more capable machine (in general).

However, most of what you do would work perfectly fine on a MacBook. I know that you already know this, but the area you need to think about are the After Effects and Final Cut pro.

I think you'd be just fine on a MacBook, to be honest. Besides, if you abhor the MBP's looks that much, you're not doing yourself a favor by getting one.

I'll let others chime in with more specific experience regarding video editing/creation and the like, but I guess I would tell you to go ahead and get a MacBook.
 
what about older motions? can they work with gma950? and can final cut do motion graphics? sorry.. im new to this final cut thing.. just saw a really really awesome video made by final cut studio and thus interested in it.
 
doopsie said:
what about older motions? can they work with gma950? and can final cut do motion graphics? sorry.. im new to this final cut thing.. just saw a really really awesome video made by final cut studio and thus interested in it.
Click to expand...
If it's because of something you saw online, don't go spending $2000 to get a computer and another grand or whatever it is to get the software. It's not the software the makes something good, it's the talent that someone had that does the trick.

I have a Macbook Pro, and the only reason I'm not selling it is because then I wouldn't have any way to play windows games. At first I thought that the larger screen, backlit keyboard, and graphics power would be useful, and as my parents got it for me for college, I wasn't paying. My dad said it looked better and he said I should get it, and I didn't complain

After using it for a while, I wish it was smaller, and the metal gets hot fast. The graphics card is mostly unused, and the backlit keyboard is hardly worth the $1000 premium.

your situation is different. You need something to make movies on (Motion is for making movies, right?) start out slow with iMovie, it's really more capable then you think, I did this my senior year in high school) and get a feel for a mac, go find some good (much cheeper) 3d software and make sure you actually like 3d modeling, and if you still do, then spend the $3500 on a macbook pro and FCS, and sell the Macbook for a slight loss.

at least, that's what I would do if I was in your situation.
 
You buy the Pro, then I'll trade you my MacBook for it. Just kidding... the MacBook isn't too great with and GPU related tasks (integrated), which is why I'm buying a MBP (with an actual graphics card, if you know what I mean). I've never really used After Effects, but if it's like Motion in the Final Cut Suite, it'll run slower on a MacBook than Vista on a Pentium II.
 
something tempting about the new macbooks is that their top processor speed is the same as the low end macbook pro. the only obvious weaknesses are the vid card and smaller screen. i love my macbook pro but it's less bang for the buck.
 
haha, my situation is a little different. i gotta learn aftereffects as quick as possible in 1 month time, and i'm getting the hang of it already. reason is because i want to create a really good video for an event. I have decided to upgrade my main pc to handle the video editing, and get a macbook to accompany it and do slight editing on the move.

thanks for all the help!

just curious, anyone tried out aftereffects on macbook?
 
zioxide said:
Motion doesn't work with Intel integrated graphics.
Click to expand...
Nope, it did when Creative Mac tested it last year - http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=43717 – and pretty well too.

However, here’s what Apple says about the subject:

“If you have a MacBook, the Final Cut Studio (Universal) crossgrade Installer does not prohibit you from installing the pro applications, but this configuration does not meet the minimum system requirements for Final Cut Studio.

See the Final Cut Studio system requirements for complete requirements.

Note: The integrated graphics processor in the MacBook does not permit float processing in Motion and will result in degraded performance and other issues in Motion and other Final Cut Studio applications.”

Also, I’m pretty sure that Final Cut HD’s minimum specs originally excluded MBs for no technical reason.
doopsie said:
I have decided to upgrade my main pc to handle the video editing, and get a macbook to accompany it and do slight editing on the move... just curious, anyone tried out aftereffects on macbook?
Click to expand...
I haven’t, but those good folks at Creative Mac have - http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=45099

But to be honest, I would try searching for some more info that’s a little more up to date.
 
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