Should I buy the 2015 13' MBP for Video Editing?

[pietrociao]

Hi fellows,

my early 2011 13' Macbook Pro is getting tired after countless hours of video editing. I'm thinking about the new 13 inches Macbook Pro 2015 with maxed out specs (except the hard drive). I know it will do fine with 1080p, but how would it perform with 4k video?

I mainly edit short films, 1080p and maybe 2k or 4k with pretty heavy codecs in the future (footage from RED and Alexa)

Should I be able to edit 2k and 4k without the quad core processor and the double graphic card? I work with an Apple Thunderbolt display.

Here's the config I'm talking about:

Hardware
3.1GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
16GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
Force Touch trackpad
Accessory Kit
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide

Thanks,
Pietro

 

[SDAVE]

Just get a 15" rMBP. It's a good investment - althought i think apple is going to release a new one in June.

 

[yjchua95]

Hi fellows,

my early 2011 13' Macbook Pro is getting tired after countless hours of video editing. I'm thinking about the new 13 inches Macbook Pro 2015 with maxed out specs (except the hard drive). I know it will do fine with 1080p, but how would it perform with 4k video?

I mainly edit short films, 1080p and maybe 2k or 4k with pretty heavy codecs in the future (footage from RED and Alexa)

Should I be able to edit 2k and 4k without the quad core processor and the double graphic card? I work with an Apple Thunderbolt display.

Here's the config I'm talking about:

Hardware
3.1GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
16GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
Force Touch trackpad
Accessory Kit
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide

Thanks,
Pietro

You'll be way better off with the baseline 15", because of the presence of a quad core i7 and Iris Pro. The dual core i7 in the 13" is barely 3% more powerful than the i5, because it's still a dual core part.

 

[bookwormsy]

For video editing, you're going to want more cores. Go for the 15" with the quadcore i7.

Also, consider downsampling to 720 for the edits before exporting in 4k. You'll have a much smoother experience.

 

[z31fanatic]

Definitely the 15". A maxed out 13" is a waste of money when for the same amount you can have the base 15" with a much more powerful processor.

 

[JoelTheSuperior]

Up to you.

In my honest opinion, the 13" is a more than capable machine for what you describe, so if you require the portability it's definitely a worthwhile investment.

With that said, the 15" is not a whole lot larger and still is a very light and portable laptop. You also gain the Intel Iris Pro and a better CPU out of it - 4 cores as opposed to 2.

Especially since you mention working with RED, 2k and 4k formats, I think you'd do well to get the 15" model if possible, especially considering the prices.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Echoing the others

The speed difference will be marked on the 15 inch with 4 cores especially in 4K.

Furthermore I would consider waiting for a 15 inch refresh if you can.

To be honest though a desktop will always be a better proposition for this work case....

This may interest you

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1855876/

 

[SDAVE]

people forget that the 15", even base model, is a beast of a machine. i've graded footage and edited 5k (albeit at lower res) on it and delivered so many projects...

 

[snaky69]

Hi fellows,

my early 2011 13' Macbook Pro is getting tired after countless hours of video editing. I'm thinking about the new 13 inches Macbook Pro 2015 with maxed out specs (except the hard drive). I know it will do fine with 1080p, but how would it perform with 4k video?

I mainly edit short films, 1080p and maybe 2k or 4k with pretty heavy codecs in the future (footage from RED and Alexa)

Should I be able to edit 2k and 4k without the quad core processor and the double graphic card? I work with an Apple Thunderbolt display.

Here's the config I'm talking about:

Hardware
3.1GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
16GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
Force Touch trackpad
Accessory Kit
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide

Thanks,
Pietro

The current 13" machines aren't much more powerful than your early 2011 variant.

The 15" runs circles around both.

 

[SDAVE]

The current 13" machines aren't much more powerful than your early 2011 variant.

The 15" runs circles around both.

Not necessarily true. SSD is about 1500MB/sec....RAM is faster, CPU is faster/energy efficient....etc etc.

 

[snaky69]

Not necessarily true. SSD is about 1500MB/sec....RAM is faster, CPU is faster/energy efficient....etc etc.

It isn't a night and day difference compared to what you'd get going from a dual to a quad, and SSD speeds won't do anything for you while rendering.

Assuming OP has the top end model from 2011, it has a geekbench 3 score of 5510.
The model the OP is looking at geekbenches at 7470

Let us simply say that the base model 15" from last year scores 13197, which is damn near twice as fast.