MacBookPro: Putting it through the Paces?

F

f5freddyj

Active member
I'm going to have to bite the bullet to really use this cam and get a real Project (Dare I say a film) off the ground. Two Words. Equipment Upgrade.

I can either buy a MacPro box and a monitor with no real field solution. Or... I can buy a macbook pro and a cinema display. I can't do both!

I run and edit FCP for a living. So PC's and their editing platforms aren't an option.
My HVX pkg is about to double in capacity. (2x16gb cards :)

Whose out there putting the Macbook Pro through the paces? Does it handle?

Can you use it as a desktop solution vga'd to a monitor?
Is it possible to hop up the gfx card and hook up to a cinema display and use both screens?

Copying cards on the fly. Real time with the 16Gigers?

The project will definitely be an eng style doc with some scenes shot on locations.

Let the waxing begin!
 
I don't use my Macbook Pro on location like what you want to do. But I do take it with me out on projects that are far away and I have to do the editing there on the road. I have a small eSATA two drive bay that I bring with me that has two 500GB drives in it.

Out in the field I use a P2 Store, which helps a lot. Then after I'm done shooting for the day or night I go back to wherever I have a table and start cutting things together. Not sure if that really helps your situation...just thought I would share how I sometimes do things.
 
The answer is all about the need for portability vs. power/expandability.

Things you do in the field:

1. review the shot before you lose the ability to reshoot

2. start the edit process because you are under the gun (or do all the edits because you are stuck out there and travelling light)

The Mac Pro can do that as well if you have the time, space, backbrace, etc. The MBP can also do it on a airplane or in the car...not so the Mac Pro.

The Mac Pro, however, has much faster CPU options, more RAM, local HDD, etc., and has more display card options.

If your wife has a problem with you setting up your MacPro in her kitchen, then you need portability.
 
Edit off a eSATA drive on the MBP with an ExpressCard/34 eSATA card.

Buy and use a duel adapter to transfer p2 cards at 2x RT.

Max the MBP out with 4 GBs of RAM
 
Whoops!

You're right David S. In the "things you do in the field" I forgot the P2 dump part, which is a major key to the workflow.

Also, if the FCP workload is all HVX shots, then the MBP has more than enough horsepower.

Not so sure about "hopping up the gfx", but you will really like the external display as an add-on to the MBP.
 
Last edited:
I hooked up dvi to vga to a us issue 640 x 480 monitor in the persian gulf on board the uss constellation after my 1gb Powerbook's screen was smashed.

Operation Iraqi Freedom. Seems like a lifetime ago.

Is anyone hooked up to a cinema display with their mbp. How's the resolution?
Thanks for the replies!
 
Cracking. I've got a 23" Cinema at 1920x1080 through an MXO and an A3 Wacom running off my MacBook Pro. It works so damn well that my Quad G5 has been reduced to a renderfarm/server with my main RAID hanging off it.

I've been doing 2K film work with Shake aswell as all my FCP stuff with ease.
 
I work on a 30" Apple Cinema Display and a 23" Apple Cinema Display (switching from time to time) and both work really well with my 17" Macbook Pro.
 
Just of topic and out of curiousity, why do you need 2 cinema displays and why not two 23" cinema displays in stead of a 23" and a 30"????


MarcMalkowski said:
I work on a 30" Apple Cinema Display and a 23" Apple Cinema Display (switching from time to time) and both work really well with my 17" Macbook Pro.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top