What Macbook Pro to get with FCP?

R

RoadandDirt.com

Member
Using HMC150, with FCP 6.0.6, Snow Leopard OS.
Need to capture while I'm on the road.

Looking at 15" or should i just get the 17"

I plan on using an external drive to capture to. I was going to use FW800. But I've read on here I should use the eSata instead because it's faster. But then I have to buy a card. Is it worth it?

I am going to buy a Mac Book Pro. I need to know what I will be happy with.

How many dual Ghz processers minimum should I go with?

Which internal hard drive speed? Is 5400 rpm good enough or definatly get 7200 rpm HD?

How much RAM?

Am I missing anything else to look for?

Thx in advance.
 
Processor speed will make the most impact on your capture/transcode speed, and a 7200rpm drive will make you happier and doesn't cost too much for an upgrade. I'd stick to the standard ram apple offers, since they charge a ton for upgrades and you can upgrade it down the road if needed. Firewire 800 will be more than fast enough to cope with AVCHD, since the transcode/import process is processor limited.

I'm eyeing the 17" model since the expresscard slot and higher screen resolution matter more than an extra pound or so, but it depends on your own vision of "portability".
 
The 17 is bigger to lug around, but you'll have way more options with the expansion slot. I've got a SATA card, a Matrox MXO2 LE and a firewire 800 card. Each one comes in handy at different times. Can't do that with the 15"

Don't worry about the internal drive speed, start with the SATA card and add an external drive. You'll want at least 4 gigs of RAM, 8 would be ideal, but Apple ram isn't cheap. It's better to get the minimum ram from Apple and then upgrade through someone like Other World Computing or Crucial for ram.

Cheers

John C
 
Be carefull with eSATA adapters. We had a mac crash every time it would export video using a eSata harddrive.

I also have had problems with the FW800 drives... so nothing is immune. (always backup)

I went with the 17'' - if you are editing video, desktop space is important. 4 gigs memory works well, 6 or 8 if you can afford it. For processer, Dual 2.53 is adequit - but get as much as you can afford for processor. Its the least likely thing you will upgrade in the future.
 
I didn't say processor speed wasn't important, I said internal drive speed wasn't critical. With the 17" Mac Book , you can get 2.8 ghz or 3 ghz processors. Faster is better, but you won't notice a huge difference between the two machines.

Sometimes I use ESATA, sometimes I use FW800, it just depends on which of my drives the media is on. The important thing to me is having the expansion slot so I have those choices.

Cheers

John C
 
What is meant by the terms "capture to?" Because you transfer SDHC card footage using L/T in FCP, not capture to it.

In that record, there is a slot on the MacBookPros to use, and a good fast quality external FW800 drive will work. Or you can pull the optical drive and install a second SSD drive.
 
I'm with everyone else on this, 17" has too many benefits to pass up for video production:

All the MBP's come standard with 4gb of RAM, and the 8gb option is astronomical (typical for apple, it's about 2-3x more expensive than it needs to be).

The 17" is bigger and is a tiny bit heavier, but also the screen resolution is much higher than the 15" and it's easier on the eyes, which is always good.

Using and booting OS, launching programs, etc. will be faster with the 7200rpm drive (or crazy fast with the SSD), but the 5400 is not going to slow you down or be inadequate, but it's one upgrade I recommend to people. If you want to upgrade later it's not a big deal, top of the line laptop hard disks are just over $100 right now.

jchristie is right, the standard processor is more than adequate to log/transfer avchd footage, but if your budget isn't stretched too far by getting the faster 3Ghz processor, the extra money won't be wasted.

But the kicker is that magic expresscard slot, allowing you to expand down the line with an extra firewire or sata bus, a capture card like the matrox, or quick access to p2 or sxs cards if your production calls for it.

Hope that helps!

oh, and "capture" i guess in this case means the place to put the transcoded prores files
 
If you can, I would recommend waiting until a quad core version comes out, can't be long, the current ones have been out for a while now!
 
Typically a higher Core 2 duo usually performs just as good as a lower GHz quad core*. So I don't think there will be a need to wait. Of course we will see lower prices on the duos when the quad comes out - but that happens over time regardless.

*except something like transcoding which can use all 4 cores (AVCHD2HQ).
 
If it were me - I would be looking for a large (500GB+) internal hard disk and a fast (FW800 or eSATA) external HDD and as big a screen and RAM as I could get IF I wanted to do any serious editing on it. Don't buy Apple RAM - get a third party to upgrade it - same with the larger HDD.

Having a fast external HDD is nice, but there are times when you can't use it (space/power limitations etc - especially when working off your knee in a tight space) so a large internal HDD (7200rpm preferred) is always welcome.

Currently I have the 15" MacBookPro (2.3Ghz I think) and often wished I had the bigger screen, bigger internal HDD, faster CPU etc etc. Then again, I'm used to working on a dual screen 8 core Mac Pro with 16GB of RAM and 4 internal SATA HDDs ;)

What ever you buy - it will be out of date in 6-12 months - so buy the best you can afford today and live with it.
 
I have a Octo Pro I use in my office. I won't do much editing in the field. I don't need one till the begginning of March (the next BIG MX race). I haven't done any research on the quad core Mac Book pro's. Cause i would like to take advantage of the price drop. I know Apple won't say nothing. Still waing on ilife 10.

from your input:
17"
dual 2.66 ghz. or above
7200 rpm (for FCP)
esata or fw800 (seems about 50/50 on that)
 
Just remember that it is possible that Apple may replace the ExpressCard slot on the 17" MBP with a SD slot when they upgrade next time around. They may not, but who knows? You may want to wait til they announce the new 17" and then buy an older one if the ExpressCard slot is replaced and get a new one if it is still available.

Jack

http://www.jhvideo.com
 
I just bought the 13 inch macbook pro. It's hard to pass it up at 999 refurbished price with the same warranty... The speed increase among the processors is incremental.. and I don't think of the screen size as a factor as I use an external. My logic is that you'll save enough money to put towards getting a tower and that's when the processor speed and cores pays dividents. The problem with the macbook pros is in the transcoding speed.. just not as fast as I'd like it to be, but on cuts on video it holds its own.. and it will run a 30 inch display...

I say get the bare minimum and then invest in other things like the MXO or whatever...
I'm so happy with my purchase and as soon as the 8 core is on the refurb site.. I'm buying it.

cheers
 
RoadandDirt.com said:
from your input:
17"
dual 2.66 ghz. or above
7200 rpm (for FCP)
esata or fw800 (seems about 50/50 on that)
Click to expand...

If you have a Mac Pro at the office, save on the cost of the Esata and just use FW800, other wise you'd need an Esata card at work and one in the laptop.

Rumor has it that newer processors will result in new MacBooks (soon-ish). Heck, if you're just going to transcode and dump your cards in the field and edit back at the office, you can use a 13" MacBook. But if you've got the budget, go for the 3ghz 17" with 4 GB ram and the 500 GB 7200 drive, you won't be disappointed.

Check out the refurbs on the apple store site, sometimes they'll have exactly what you need and you still get a full one year warranty.

One thing you didn't mention is the screen. The glossy screen really annoys some people, myself included. I have a glossy iMac at home in a dark room, but a matte finish on my MacBook. In any sort of mixed or bright light I find the glossy annoying.

Cheers

John C
 
Justyn said:
I just bought the 13 inch macbook pro. It's hard to pass it up at 999 refurbished price with the same warranty... The speed increase among the processors is incremental.. and I don't think of the screen size as a factor as I use an external. My logic is that you'll save enough money to put towards getting a tower and that's when the processor speed and cores pays dividents. The problem with the macbook pros is in the transcoding speed.. just not as fast as I'd like it to be, but on cuts on video it holds its own.. and it will run a 30 inch display...

I say get the bare minimum and then invest in other things like the MXO or whatever...
I'm so happy with my purchase and as soon as the 8 core is on the refurb site.. I'm buying it.

cheers
Click to expand...

Hey Justyn, I was thinking of getting the 13" 2.53 but if your happy with the 2.26 I might just save some money. Happy New Year

Buck
 
If you already have a solid edit system I would get the cheapest Mac Book you can get just to transfer material. A 13" is nothing to laugh at when you are talking about just transferring material. It is nice and light and very portable and doesn't take up too much space or stick out screaming steal me. For the price of a 17" you can get 2 or 3 13" laptops which will be able to do a lot more then a single 17"
 
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