Young Editor, Needs Advice to buy a Mac Pro or just keep his MBP

[budha]

Hey guys,

I am a rising college senior in a crappy video program. I currently have a MBP 2.2 C2D 128 vram that has the final cut suite on it, and soon to have the CS4 Production Premium suite.

Because my program is so crappy I've invested in the lynda.com training for a year and constantly do reading online and elsewhere to learn how to edit better.

I've started to see the limitations on my MBP on exactly what I can/cant do (color grading is a no no, huge AE and motion projects are a no no etc).

Do you professionals out there think it would be wise of me to save all of my money this summer to get a pimped out Mac Pro that could handle all of these programs/in turn allow me to really practice my skills in advanced programs... or should I just stick with my MBP keep learning, and hope to get a job somewhere where I can have access to a big Mac Pro.

My school has an A/V lab with all of these things, but I live 45 mins away, and it is a serious pain in the ass to deal w/ the people there (computers also mess up constantly etc).

Would it be a worth while investment to have this nice rig and potentially get free lance contracts that I could use my own stuff with (even possibly getting a business license/tax #)

I really appreciate everyone's input.

-Mark

 

[sdp]

Hey guys,

Do you professionals out there think it would be wise of me to save all of my money this summer to get a pimped out Mac Pro that could handle all of these programs/in turn allow me to really practice my skills in advanced programs... or should I just stick with my MBP keep learning, and hope to get a job somewhere where I can have access to a big Mac Pro.


-Mark

just stick with the MBP. or maybe even try to sell and bump to another mbp. An expensive tower is big and bulky and you probably don't even know where you'll be living in a year let alone anything else. at least with the MBP you have a computer that moves easily and can be used for editing.

First off it's extremely difficult to learn how to truly color correct on your own. You can futz with it but Color Correction is pretty much a separate profession in "real life". for one man band editor stuff you have to do it, but again, to do it correctly and to spec is very hard. I edit for a living and don't have a clue.

Save your money and get an internship at a post house if you can.

 

[matt1219]

just stick with the MBP. or maybe even try to sell and bump to another mbp. An expensive tower is big and bulky and you probably don't even know where you'll be living in a year let alone anything else. at least with the MBP you have a computer that moves easily and can be used for editing.

First off it's extremely difficult to learn how to truly color correct on your own. You can futz with it but Color Correction is pretty much a separate profession in "real life". for one man band editor stuff you have to do it, but again, to do it correctly and to spec is very hard. I edit for a living and don't have a clue.

Save your money and get an internship at a post house if you can.

I'm a little newer to video, but I agree with him. Get a fully loaded MBP, 2.93 GHz, 4-8 GB RAM, etc. And maybe go with the non-glossy screen upgrade.

 

[Dr.Pants]

I'd go the tower route, personally. I'm not saying pimp it out, but having the PCIe slots just seems to make the thing a lot more expandable then a laptop. Need RAID, external (or with DIY magic on the new MPs) or internal? Pop in a RAID card and add drives. Need a couple more monitors? Shove in another GT 120 or what-have-you. Sure, the tower is more expensive, but the way I see it, it will last longer then a laptop.

I know where you're coming from. My college is 30 miles away and has an Apple lab with all sorts of powerful programs, but I can't access them on a regular enough basis and/or everything's screwing up because the school's sysadmins are idiots. I finally bought my own G5 quad as money is tight to go with FCS2, selling my gaming computer as compensation. (I do not advise the G5 as even though I'm using it for A/V, it isn't the basis of why I'm going to university in addition to the fact that Apple thinks PPC is obsolete)

If I had more money, personally I would partake in an older MacPro (and I should've, on hindsight). The older MacPro may not have the same V-16 engine as the Nehalems, but a V-8 engine will sure make your V-2 engine blush .

However, despite my talk of the tower being awesome, in your situation I would just grit my teeth with the MBP and save up over a longer period of time for the MacPro. You'll still have a laptop for "out in the field" previewing/work, which can be a godsend. Even more then that, the frustration of using what you have now will make the MacPro, when you get it, that much better.

 

[Chris7]

I'm a little newer to video, but I agree with him. Get a fully loaded MBP, 2.93 GHz, 4-8 GB RAM, etc. And maybe go with the non-glossy screen upgrade.

Anyone know how the graphics card shipping with the new 17" MBP's compare with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB or ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB shipping with the new Mac Pro's? Seems like this would be a factor is he's running out of power with Motion.

 

[bigbossbmb]

don't buy a new computer... save your money so that you can support yourself. you don't need a MP to get freelance work.

after you make some money from freelance work, then evaluate what your needs really are (faster CPU vs faster/larger storage vs color-critical monitoring etc).

 

[ppc_michael]

I agree with most everyone here, stick with the MacBook Pro. I have one and do all my HD video work on it with no problem.

 

[likeavaliant]

Keep using your MBP like you would any other day.
Continue to save for the Mac Pro.
When you have enough for a Mac Pro, go ahead and buy one.
Then keep your Macbook Pro for on the go.

Pretty simple!

 

[7031]

I'm currently using a MacBook Pro for all of my editing work, and while a Mac Pro sounds appealing, it's out of my budget right now.

Don't worry too much about colour. If you need something lightweight for colourgrading etc, just use the tools built in to Final Cut Pro, or use FXHome. If storage is an issue, do what I did, and get a ton of externals.

 

[iPhoneNYC]

I would stay with the MBP - the type of editing you're doing doesn't require what a Pro Tower would give you. Also, if you get hired somewhere, more than likely you will work on their equipment. And, along with all the techie stuff (which is important) also think about The Vision thing - what inspires you and what you want to say in life.