FCP on MAcbook Pro? Worth the $$

Z

ZzBog

Active member
Hello!
I'm considering a switch to MAc, and am planning to start with MAcbook Pro.

Can anybody tell - does it make sense to buy 1.8 GHZ Macbook PRo for Final Cut?

Anybody has experience with such combination of hard and software? (I've seen the benchmarks, but really want to hear some personal statements).

Thanks!

P.S. I'm talking about full length features
 
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If you'll be editing "full length features", don't you think you should build an editing bay, like a tower computer with plenty of reliable storage? I woul'd think of editing a feature solely on a laptop. Sure, if it's a DV feature, it probably can be done, given you buy some external storage solution, but still a Laptop doesn't feel like my "weapon of choice" for this.

But, the Mac Book Pro seem blazing fast, and considering how well the Powerbook G4 handles FC Studio, I have no reason to think this machine will not be good enough.
 
Well, full length feature - I mean indie films, with some FX (think Richard Linklater), but not blockbuster (don't think King-Kong =).
And I actually have a pretty fast PC, which has a high upgrade potential, but really need something portable, to edit on the move, as I spend serious amount of time in planes (I'm from Russia and it's pretty wide, you know).

Storage solution - yes, I can afford one. And what do you think, will there be many options of those for MAcbook?

Also I won't have any problems with getting soft for free, as I'm working for media company and can borrow some things.. So (Why am I asking for advice here? Well... there're some reasons).

So, do you think It's reasonable to grab current edition of Macbooks and not wait for the next gen? Time is really an issue here. For example - that GPU of MBP - is it good enough to handle some semi-serious stuff?

Thanks! Really hope to hear something and appreciate your reading all this stuff.

P.S. I'm talking about shooting with HVX200 particulary. No DV - HD only!
 
I'm running on an imac G5 (not the intel chip even) and I've been very pleased with my performance while cutting in FCP. considering that those new Macbooks are even faster than this computer I can guaruntee that you'll be very happy with the performance on their. I'll be switching over to one of those myself probably before the summer is over.
 
I would say, being a full time editor, that the tower is for serious editing, I find the Macbook too small, but great in a pinch...
 
If you want a solution to edit on the fly, I'd say yes, the Macbook Pro is perfectly capable of handling HD editing. The 17 inch is a better choice, because of the FW800. Using an external hard drive on the 800 and capturing from the HVX from the FW400 or a P2Store/Firestore, should do pretty well.
 
Hmm... getting an expresscard =>2 Firewire 800 adapter seems a more reasonable investment, then getting a bigger screen...
Any other reasons to choose 17" over 15.4"?
 
Hmm... getting an expresscard =>2 Firewire 800 adapter seems a more reasonable investment, then getting a bigger screen...
Any other reasons to choose 17" over 15.4"?

And also..
Can anybody tell if Graphics Card will be important (maybe for FX?)?

Thanks!
 
Here is an article on FW800 for MacBook pro 15.4
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/use_the_expresscard_slot_to_add_firewire_800_to_apples_new_macbook_pro/
Check out what he says about the eSATA card! Transfer Rates Up to 3Gbps W/ eSATA!!!

On 2.0 Ghz mbp the graphics card is the same as the one on 17".
"ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics processor, dual link DVI support, 128MB of GDDR3 on 1.83GHz configuration. 256MB GDDR3 on 2.0GHz configuration"
Zzbog, i think the 15 inch model would do you well.
 
Okay, but Expresscard34 to FW 800 adapters aren't availiable, are they? If you can wait for them, sure, get the 15 inch... If they're already selling, my bad!
 
i have a mac book pro 1.83 with 1gig of ram and i have final cut studio 5.1 and it works dope as all hell... id suggest the 2.0 tho bc of the better video card (256 vs 128) and also suggest 2 gigs of ram i kinda wish i went with thos but i am still more than content... i actually use this as my main editing machine now instead of my imac g5.
 
You should do an offline edit using SD import material from your HVX if you plan on using a mac book. Why worry about CPU speeds etc. when you can edit SD material just fine and then do an offline. I have edited both SD and HD material using a power pc 12" powerbook and it has worked great when i do my online at a later time. I just let it render and go get coffee or something. Online/offline edits are how the pros do it, and it works just fine.
 
I use the powerbook G4 17" with final cut Studio HD and it kicks butt. I use a Lacie external harddrive for my scratch disk and storage of projects. I edit for TV news as well as streaming media. I just purchased the DVX100B and am now working with the 24p and I am Completely happy with the outcome of my products!!!!
 
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