New Macbook Pro vs 1st gen Mac Pro (for video editing)

[warrenHc]

Hi, first post here, hopefully you can help me out.

I do a lot of video editing on my 1st gen Mac Pro (2.66ghz). I'm considering buying a new 15" Macbook Pro (3.06ghz) to replace it though, as it is just way more convinient. If I have 8 gigs of ram, which I do currently, what kind of change would I see performance-wise? Would it be an upgrade, downgrade, or about the same?

I looked at the benchmarks but they all use different versions of everything so it's really hard to interpret. Thanks for the help!

 

[marioman38]

You have an external screen for the laptop?

Performance difference should be near negligable except when render, the Mac Pro will trump as the MBP is only dual core.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Umm...what video card? It's somewhat relevant...

 

[warrenHc]

You have an external screen for the laptop?

Performance difference should be near negligable except when render, the Mac Pro will trump as the MBP is only dual core.

Yeah, I have a 30" Cinema Display, though I might downgrade to a 24". My video card is an 8800GT.

 

[Umbongo]

There are too many factors to deal with to give you a straight simple answer. Your best bet is to just try using the 3.06GHz Macbook and if it isn't suitable then sell it on. You may find that except for render times, as marioman38 pointed out, the Macbook is more responsive. Or if you do a lot of heavy multi-core lifting currently that its really dragging it's feet.