Which MBP to get???

[reinvented]

Hey guys,

So I'm in the market for a new MBP. Right now I'm using a MacBook Air Mid-2013 with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It's great for basic tasks but I've recently got into video editing. Sometimes in Final Cut Pro when I'm editing a 10-15 minute video everything really starts to bog down and I see the beachball of death more often than I'd like. It has become very frustrating to edit which is why I'm looking to get a faster laptop. I'm also forced to film in 720p with my GoPro because the laptop can't handle editing 1080p footage. I'm familiar with computer hardware but I'm a noob when it comes to video editing so I have no idea what's causing the slowdown (Is it the processor? RAM? GPU or lack thereof?). I'm also going to get a new camera for filming so the bulk of my footage will most likely be 1080p. I don't use many effects (if at all).. it's mostly just splicing footage together with some music.

I guess my question is, which MBPR will let me have a smooth editing experience with 1080p footage? I know I could just get a fully-loaded 15-inch MBPR with the M370X and call it a day but what would be the best bang for the buck in my situation? I'm hoping I can get by with a 13-inch with 16GB of RAM or perhaps a 15-inch with Iris Pro integrated graphics as the the fully-loaded 15-inch is a bit too expensive for me at the moment.

Cheers and thanks in advance for any recommendations!

 

[snaky69]

Hey guys,

So I'm in the market for a new MBP. Right now I'm using a MacBook Air Mid-2013 with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It's great for basic tasks but I've recently got into video editing. Sometimes in Final Cut Pro when I'm editing a 10-15 minute video everything really starts to bog down and I see the beachball of death more often than I'd like. It has become very frustrating to edit which is why I'm looking to get a faster laptop. I'm also forced to film in 720p with my GoPro because the laptop can't handle editing 1080p footage. I'm familiar with computer hardware but I'm a noob when it comes to video editing so I have no idea what's causing the slowdown (Is it the processor? RAM? GPU or lack thereof?). I'm also going to get a new camera for filming so the bulk of my footage will most likely be 1080p. I don't use many effects (if at all).. it's mostly just splicing footage together with some music.

I guess my question is, which MBPR will let me have a smooth editing experience with 1080p footage? I know I could just get a fully-loaded 15-inch MBPR with the M370X and call it a day but what would be the best bang for the buck in my situation? I'm hoping I can get by with a 13-inch with 16GB of RAM or perhaps a 15-inch with Iris Pro integrated graphics as the the fully-loaded 15-inch is a bit too expensive for me at the moment.

Cheers and thanks in advance for any recommendations!

The processor is the one limiting you. You didn't mention which size MBA or which processor you have so I'll assume you have the i7 in 13" size, for the sake of comparison. The i5 is much less powerful.

That particular configuration (i7, 13") scores 6152 in geekbench 3. In case you didn't know, Geekbench is a benchmark software, the more points, the more powerful the computer.

The current, base-model 13" rMBP scores 6938. That's roughly a 13% raw processing power increase. You get a more powerful cooling system which means the computer can sustain it for longer, more RAM and a much faster SSD.

Upping the ante to the base model 15" gives you a score of 13171, 114% power increase. I think you can do the math yourself.

 

[CE3]

The best bang for your buck would probably be the Mid-2014 15' model on b&h ($1799)

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1072689-REG/apple_mgxc2ll_a_15_4_macbook_pro_notebook.html

It will have plenty of power to handle your video editing tasks, and if you use Premiere Pro you'll find performance is more optimized for Nvidia's CUDA drivers.

That said, deals can be found for the mid-2015 models with AMD, which is still solid graphics card, and the SSD is considerably faster. I found mine for $2000 (500 less), so shop around and see what you can find.

 

[reinvented]

The processor is the one limiting you. You didn't mention which size MBA or which processor you have so I'll assume you have the i7 in 13" size, for the sake of comparison. The i5 is much less powerful.

That particular configuration (i7, 13") scores 6152 in geekbench 3. In case you didn't know, Geekbench is a benchmark software, the more points, the more powerful the computer.

The current, base-model 13" rMBP scores 6938. That's roughly a 13% raw processing power increase. You get a more powerful cooling system which means the computer can sustain it for longer, more RAM and a much faster SSD.

Upping the ante to the base model 15" gives you a score of 13171, 114% power increase. I think you can do the math yourself.

Wow I guess that's the major difference between quad-core and dual-core. Btw I have the i5 in my MBA, 1.3GHz I think, so almost anything will be an upgrade. If Geekbench performance has a high correlation with Final Cut Pro performance then I might have to rule out the 13-inch, which is a shame because I will probably be travelling with it quite frequently.

The best bang for your buck would probably be the Mid-2014 15' model on b&h ($1799)

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1072689-REG/apple_mgxc2ll_a_15_4_macbook_pro_notebook.html

It will have plenty of power to handle your video editing tasks, and if you use Premiere Pro you'll find performance is more optimized for Nvidia's CUDA drivers.

That said, deals can be found for the mid-2015 models with AMD, which is still solid graphics card, and the SSD is considerably faster. I found mine for $2000 (500 less), so shop around and see what you can find.

Oh this is interesting.. I'm in Canada but even with the abysmal exchange rate it's still a decent price. It's about the same price as a 2015 with the Iris Pro integrated graphics. I know I should go for the 15-inch with a dedicated GPU if I can afford it but I just wanted to see if anything cheaper would do..

 

[CE3]

Wow I guess that's the major difference between quad-core and dual-core. Btw I have the i5 in my MBA, 1.3GHz I think, so almost anything will be an upgrade. If Geekbench performance has a high correlation with Final Cut Pro performance then I might have to rule out the 13-inch, which is a shame because I will probably be travelling with it quite frequently.



Oh this is interesting.. I'm in Canada but even with the abysmal exchange rate it's still a decent price. It's about the same price as a 2015 with the Iris Pro integrated graphics. I know I should go for the 15-inch with a dedicated GPU if I can afford it but I just wanted to see if anything cheaper would do..

Yeah, that model was actually $1599 Thanksgiving week, but this is still a great deal. Whether or not the price drops again (or goes up) is anyone's guess. I don't know how demanding your video editing projects will be, but if you're serious about video editing you really need a dedicated graphics card.

In terms of performance, if you're using Final Cut Pro, both 2014 & 2015 models should be very well optimized. Tests done with the mid-2105 model with dGPU show Final Cut Pro render times are about half of what they are in Premiere.

 

[reinvented]

Yeah, that model was actually $1599 Thanksgiving week, but this is still a great deal. Whether or not the price drops again (or goes up) is anyone's guess. I don't know how demanding your video editing projects will be, but if you're serious about video editing you really need a dedicated graphics card.

In terms of performance, if you're using Final Cut Pro, both 2014 & 2015 models should be very well optimized. Tests done with the mid-2105 model with dGPU show Final Cut Pro render times are about half of what they are in Premiere.

The thing is I don't really care that much about rendering times.. I'll just go make a cup of coffee or do something else while it renders. What I care more about is a smooth experience in the FCP timeline while editing projects that can be 15-20 minutes long. It's not like video production is my job, just a newfound hobby that I really enjoy. Even if I'm not using a lot of effects do you think a dGPU will make a big difference in the editing experience? Or does it have to do more with the CPU? Thanks for all the help!

 

[CE3]

The thing is I don't really care that much about rendering times.. I'll just go make a cup of coffee or do something else while it renders. What I care more about is a smooth experience in the FCP timeline while editing projects that can be 15-20 minutes long. It's not like video production is my job, just a newfound hobby that I really enjoy. Even if I'm not using a lot of effects do you think a dGPU will make a big difference in the editing experience? Or does it have to do more with the CPU? Thanks for all the help!

Both CPU & GPU impact performance for these types of programs. Iris Pro may be enough for your needs, but 20 minutes is fairly lengthy, and it's definitely going to be smoother experience (and more future-proof) with a dGPU.

 

[snaky69]

Wow I guess that's the major difference between quad-core and dual-core. Btw I have the i5 in my MBA, 1.3GHz I think, so almost anything will be an upgrade. If Geekbench performance has a high correlation with Final Cut Pro performance then I might have to rule out the 13-inch, which is a shame because I will probably be travelling with it quite frequently.



Oh this is interesting.. I'm in Canada but even with the abysmal exchange rate it's still a decent price. It's about the same price as a 2015 with the Iris Pro integrated graphics. I know I should go for the 15-inch with a dedicated GPU if I can afford it but I just wanted to see if anything cheaper would do..

The 1.3Ghz scores less than 5000, I think about 4900. 6938/4900 is a roughly 40% increase in computing power. So basically, the very base model 13" would run circles around your MBA especially during CPU heavy tasks such as rendering.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

The 13 inch rMBP should be fine for 1080p video editing not the fastest compiling or rendering but it should run fine. However you really want to consider how soon you are going to want to switch to 4IK.

I would get the base model 15 inch, if it were me, just for the far better IRIS Pro GPU, however if you can wait a couple off months for skylake the iGPU should be a lot better.