Will a MacBook Pro handle what I need?

King Cole

King Cole

Active member
Hey all,

I'm heading to UNC Chapel Hill in the fall, and I've got some money to purchase a laptop. I'm thinking the 17-inch MBPro, 2.5 (or 2.6) ghz processor and maxing the RAM. I was wondering if anyone has experience with editing HD footage with this machine (or something similar). From everything I've read, it looks like it should be able to more than handle the job, and from Shane Ross's blog, I'm looking at either CalDigit for storage options for my footage or at this (http://www.dv.com/reviews/reviews_item.php?articleId=196603852) Sonnet Fusion drive. I guess my questions are, does anyone have experience with this or a similar setup? Do I need to go with the smaller 7200 rpm drive on the MBPro if I'm storing my footage on an external drive? OR, should I buy a cheaper laptop and buy a desktop because a laptop won't be adequate as my sole video editing machine? Your ideas will be much appreciated.

Semi-related, I'm looking at either an HVX200a or Sony EX1 for my video camera and the Canon 40D or similarly-price Nikon DSLR if anyone has suggestions or experience with those.

Thanks,

JC
 
JC,
I've got the 17" MacBook Pro with Final Cut Studio 2 and it is fully capable. I wouldn't count on it as a compositing machine, but for simple editing, it works flawlessly.

I have the 7200 RPM drive in it and its really great. I generally edit and capture internally, and then move to externals for archive. I have not tested either of those drives, but they both look good.

On the camera side, the HVX200(a) and EX1 are both great cameras. I personally prefer the HVX200, I like the layout and control better, but the EX1 is slowly growing on me (I really like the focus on it).

Hope that helps
 
Hi King,
I have done a lot of HD editing on a MBP. MP's are better especially for rendering, but the MBPs are fast and work quite well. I would suggest you reconsider the 17" for the 15". I find the 17's are too big for portability.
As for the Fusion, I too have looked at it. As far as I can tell, it is a great drive for storage and some editing on the fly without reliable power (in a hotel room in India, or in the bush w/out power). Killer the way it draws power from the FW port.
However, I would caution you to think about longevity. No fans in that baby. If you are at UNC in a dorm, why not just get a G-tech raid or similar? I would hate to hear that the Fusion died after a couple of months of crunching HD sized numbers.
As for the MBP drive. All research I have done points to 7200rpm or higher. I personally would not go with a larger capacity at the expense of drive speed.

Finally, I chose an HVX200 over the EX1 for four reasons, which for me were deal killers. 1) rolling shutter. 2) highly compressed 35mgbt stream video. 3) long GOP compression. 4) 14+seconds to go between MCR and Camera mode.


Hope that helps - - - J
 
Hey guys,
Thanks for both of the responses; VERY helpful. It's good to hear that the MBPro can handle it. I was fairly certain it'd be able to, but to hear from people actually using it makes me even more confident. I mainly do simple composition for my edits, nothing more than a screen or overlay blend mode on two clips for sports editing, and very rarely anything too intense in Motion. I'm sure the MP is ideal, but I think for college at least for starters the MBPro will be what I need. You've both also convinced me to go with the 7200 drive.

Awakened,
I hadn't really considered the 15 inch, mainly because I thought I might be able to live with editing in FCP on the 17 inch screen when I'm away from an external display. Have you been able to edit on the 15 inch without dying for more space? I bet I'll be doing most of my editing at my desk anyway (where I plan to have an external monitor), so I'll definitely take another look at the 15.

The lack of fans in the Fusion makes me nervous too. Every drive I've ever bought without fans lived a short life, so I think I'll go with CalDigit. CalDigit either engineered or produced G-Tech's drives and recently split, so they make excellent hardware. I'll look at the Fusion if/when I come across an assignment that requires it.

Lastly, I'm also leaning toward the HVX200, especially since the recent upgrade. The 4 advantages you mentioned are pretty big.

Thanks both of you, great answers and feedback.

JC
 
JC,
I have never wished I had a 17". I find them too clunky and big (honestly). I love the flexibility / portability of the 15" and plug into an external monitor if I need more room when using the laptop.

Jason
 
I have the 17" and at times I regret it. Its great for pure editing, but for other tasks, it feels as if I'm lugging my desk around, beware, its HUGE to transport.

If you're looking at the 15", look at the middle model, with the 512MB of video ram. Also max out the ram on whichever you decide to get. Apples ram is quite over priced, I got my 4GB upgrade from OWC (http://macsales.com), which they currently sell for $91 USD (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/53IM2DDR4GBK/)
 
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