I'm about to take the plunge on a new machine, and I'm wondering if the 17" SR MBP's are worth using for HD video work. I'm a student for now, but I'd really like this thing to last for a while, at least until I graduate and get some work in the industry. Display issues aside (I'll be using an external ACD), is the MBP going to have enough oomph to render HD video without crapping out in a year or so? My other option is a Mac Pro, but I'd prefer some portability if I can get it reliably. Anyone?
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MBP any good for FCP and Motion?
- Thread starter Danny Futuro
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Danny,
for Final Cut Pro, your performance will be mostly determined by the speed of your render/capture disk, which is more of a bottleneck than your MacBook Pro, so get a fast external harddrive - consider a RAID for better performance if you plan to step up to higher-bitrate codecs or multicam editing. For simple HDV stuff, even a FW400 drive will do, even though I'd suggest a FW800 drive so you leave the FW400 port on your MBP for the camera or an audio interface (for proper audio monitoring).
If you plan to edit at all while traveling, spend the extra hundred bucks and get a high-res screen.
You'll love it!
[Edited to add: Motion may be a slightly different story - as your projects become more complex, there will be a point where ANY computer is too slow to keep up. You'll reach this point sooner with a MBP than with a high-end Mac Pro. You can still do incredible things with Motion on a MBP, though.]
- Martin
for Final Cut Pro, your performance will be mostly determined by the speed of your render/capture disk, which is more of a bottleneck than your MacBook Pro, so get a fast external harddrive - consider a RAID for better performance if you plan to step up to higher-bitrate codecs or multicam editing. For simple HDV stuff, even a FW400 drive will do, even though I'd suggest a FW800 drive so you leave the FW400 port on your MBP for the camera or an audio interface (for proper audio monitoring).
If you plan to edit at all while traveling, spend the extra hundred bucks and get a high-res screen.
You'll love it!
[Edited to add: Motion may be a slightly different story - as your projects become more complex, there will be a point where ANY computer is too slow to keep up. You'll reach this point sooner with a MBP than with a high-end Mac Pro. You can still do incredible things with Motion on a MBP, though.]
- Martin
i work at a small television station and i edit high school sports on a mbp with an external hdd. works great, never had any problems with the program, just difficult editing from my own stupidty