C100: C100 AVCHD - are the new MBA beefy enough? Is a retina/HD+ display a must these days?

Spartacus

Spartacus

Veteran
Sorry for the lengthy title and in advance the lengthy post.
My MBP was dropped to its sudden death when rushing between locations and I haven't looked into laptop specs for the last three years.
I use Macs because I don´t care much about computers and Macs tend to just work, so I`d like to stick with them.

My main box is an iMac. I usually work with an editor and when times are busy, I sometimes edit smaller stuff on the laptop, while he does the heavy lifting on the iMac.

Is an Air sufficient for editing/transcoding C100 files?
Taking its time, it probably is, I wonder how it compares to my now dead MBP:
The destroyed MBP was an i7 2,4 (I think), 8GB RAM, no SSD from 2011. I still mainly use FCP7 and log and transfer to ProResLT.
On the iMac I also use FCPX, I´d maybe would just use X on the Air, if it is somehow engineered for the current hardware - is it?

For the ones of you with a Retina: Nice to have or a "how could I have ever edited without it"?
I´d like to try 13", always had 15"MBPs/Powerbooks, but since the C100 I'm on a smaller, lighter, faster trip.
So how important is the screen real estate of a Retina to you?

(If I could have both, meaning a Retina-Air, I probably wouldn`t ask all this right now...)

One last of the many questions in my head:
Could I just get away with getting either the entry level Air or Retina for simple editing and rather invest in a second iMac?
How do these basic models perform when editing AVCHD...?

Any help greatly appreciated, normally I would just try to educate myself for some time, but I need to get sth new ASAP - many thanks!:thumbsup:
 
I'll have a go at giving you a sideways perspective that might answer some of your questions.

I almost lost a client two years ago, when I foolishly tried to edit a fast turnaround event on a 2011 13" fully specced MBA. I wanted to travel light on the train, so took that instead of the usual 27" Quad iMac at the time.

Log and Transfer went through without a glitch. Editing-wise on FCP7, no issues with a couple of streams of ProRes422.

Where it caught me out, and I was shocked, was the subsequent time it took to transcode the ProRes masters to H264 web deliverables, using Compressor.

We went hideously overtime, just sat around waiting. What would have taken minutes on a 27" Quad Core iMac, took literally hours on the MBA. We should have been walking out of the client building at 2pm - we actually left 12 hours later. Cringe-worthy.

I now use a Retina 15 with 16 GB of RAM and I don't even think about it's capability to multi-task and chunk through data.

Screen real estate? I use an additional 27" Dell IPS monitor - I think even the Retina 15 is a bit claustrophobic, let alone a 13" MBA.

FWIW, I cut my very last project last week on FCP7 - after moving on from Avid 8 years ago. I'm now playing with Premiere Pro on the Creative Cloud. FCP7 has been getting harder to work with. Mavericks then killed off support for lots of 3rd party stuff, like my Matrox MXO2 monitoring box.

I'd say take the pain, buy the highest spec Retina you can afford and I think you'll get several years of fuss-free use. I would strongly suggest you move on from FCP7 though - you'll have to add all sorts of old Mac OS workarounds to make FCP7 work (it does work with Mavericks, by the way.) Difficult if your editor is working with a legacy enterprise FCP7 system, but perhaps a good opportunity for you both to move to another NLE? On the other hand, I'd rather stab myself in the leg with a sharp stick, than edit with FCPX. It's with great regret that I finally gave up on FCP7.

Otherwise, perhaps consider exporting FCP7-compatible XMLs from Premiere Pro or FCPX. It does work and I've done it successfully a few times before - although your timelines will never link back to your editor's project clips. Always a bit inelegant - but works.

Ben.
 
I don't really agree with editing on a laptop at all, but yeah, MBP minimum. They're not actually that much heavier, just battery life is significantly worse. MBA is seriously let down by it's screen - a 1440x900 TN panel. Performance will still be quite lackluster on the Pro unless you get the $3000 model with a dedicated GPU.
 
Thanks for your opinions!
I really need to decide now, how much of an editing station I expect a new laptop to be. Would be great though, if someone with a current MBA could chime in.
Benglies, I get your point and I don´t expect the current MBA to suddenly crunch numbers like crazy, but since the Airs are always on the low end of the performance spectrum,
the advance in technology might be more significant than with high-end MBP.
Wgtwo, the screen may the one single issue that will rule out the Air after all.
 
If you have access to a higher powered iMac for heavy lifting then the Air might serve you well. I have edited smaller jobs on my wife's 13" MacBook Pro (non retina) using a USB 3 external hard drive and while not the fastest it worked - I edit native C100 avchd (re-wrapped) using FCPx and haven't felt compelled to stab myself in the leg yet! If I had the choice I would go for the 15" Retina.
 
I see myself going for a 15" high-end model again, cursing 330 days of the year about its bulk and weight and praising it 20 days a year, because it´s almost as fast as the iMac ;)

Anyone using an Air for c100 editing at the Moment And telling the voices of reason to relax...? ;)
 
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I've edited a bit in a MBA with no issues, but no extensive testing.
Im hitting the point of needing to upgrade to a desktop or iMac possibly.
Currently on 13" MacBook Pro (2011 I think), i7, 16 gb ram - rendering a 1 hr 47 min wedding video - 29 hr render time from avid dnxhd 175 to h264 6000kbps using squeeze :/:/:/

So I'll echo other post - get the fastest possible machine you can afford (if you're going to need to export from it)
 
I don't do long formats but if i Break Down your example to 15 minutes, this will still take extremely long. I just found out the 13" i7 MBPs are only dual cores, another bummer. 13" with an external Monitor might have been the Sweet Spot, between Bull and power.
 
Yeah bit of a bummer on the 13 inch processor.
I feel like it might be 2-2.5 hours, instead of 3-3.5 hours for 15 mins, but either way, not ideal....

I'm using my Macbook Pro, 19" monitor, and iPad as a 3rd monitor (fullscreen playback from Avid) typically when I'm editing. Everything runs smooth and I don't have any issues working, its just the exports that kills me!
 
wgtwo said:
Performance will still be quite lackluster on the Pro unless you get the $3000 model with a dedicated GPU.
Click to expand...
Yes the most expensive model is the only one with an NVIDIA GPU, all the others use Intel graphics chipsets so if you are after full on GPU enhanced rendering then the top model is your only choice, as there's no GPU upgrade option for any of the other models.
 
Just to let you know:
I went with a 15" INVIDIA i7. There was kind of a sale on it, so I guess that means updated models sooner or later.
The 15" might not fit all of my bags and I will curse a lot again about its bulk and weight, but in the end I would´t buy it at all,
if it wash`t for (serious) editing with it once in while.
Thanks guys!
 
Spartacus said:
Just to let you know:
I went with a 15" INVIDIA i7. There was kind of a sale on it, so I guess that means updated models sooner or later.
The 15" might not fit all of my bags and I will curse a lot again about its bulk and weight, but in the end I would´t buy it at all,
if it wash`t for (serious) editing with it once in while.
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Hi!
Would you be able to give us some estimates of exporting times for C100 footage on this version of Macbook Pro? I want to get same setup as yours (ME294 model - i7 2.3, 16gb, GT 750M 2GB) and I am really curious of it's performance.

bengiles said:
I now use a Retina 15 with 16 GB of RAM and I don't even think about it's capability to multi-task and chunk through data.
Click to expand...
Hi Bengiles! What sort of export times you roughly get for 1hour footage on Premiere Pro?
 
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