Macbook Pro for Video Editing?

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daivision

Jul 18, 2013
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#1
I am looking into a Macbook Pro setup for video editing. Edits will mostly be weddings, events, and some photo editing. I prefer the mid 2012 models over the new Retina models. The specific model I am looking at is:

Intel Core i7 Quad-Core 2.3 GHz CPU
Internal 4GB DDR3 RAM
Features 500GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
Intel HD 4000 Graphics& NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M
LED-Backlit 15.4" (39.1 cm) Display
Native 1440 x 900 Resolution
Wireless 802.11n WiFi & Bluetooth 4.0
Dual USB 3.0 Ports & Thunderbolt Port
Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

With the obvious upgrade of 16mb RAM, is this a suitable option for video editing?
 
#2
For video more ram is great, makes transitions nice and fast etc. However with a puny 5400 rpm drive your data throughput is going to be very very slow.

It will struggle to run the OS, run the editing app, and shift all that huge video data around.

So you need fast storage. You actually need three drives. One for the OS and video app. Your internal 5400 drive is just about the minimum you would need. I would urge you to upgrade the internal drive to an SSD, at the expense of capacity if need be. For your system drive, speed is more useful to you than capacity.

You now need a scratch disk. Again for video data you really want the fastest available. So thunderbolt connection is good. High capacity SSDs are prohibitively expensive for most. So I recommend a 2xHDD RAID array. This can give you up to 250MB/s or possibly higher with current Barracudas. It's relatively cheap. Big. And fast.

If you can run to a 2xSSD RAID then you will have through the roof data rates, but it might mean an overall capacity of 1TB rather than 4TB, and it may be double the price. If you shoot 10bit or RAW video and like to grade, this is probably your best option.

Storage capacity and throughput are important for video. RAM and 64bit platforms are worth nothing if you are capturing and rendering to a slow 5400rpm drive.

Probably not what you want to hear, but it's the truth.
 
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#3
Thanks Paul.

This specific model was the best option considering price point and the options of upgrading the Macbook itself. I was planning to upgrade the RAM to 16mb and purchase an SSD just for the OS and programs I installed. I normally work with my footage from an external Lacie or G Raid via Firewire.

Most of my work is DSLR footage from weddings, events, interviews, and some photo editing.

Thank you for the input and have a better understanding of how to shape the station.
 
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#4
I have a different set up, but installing a software raid between two barracudas in my mac pro spare bays gave me 4TB of 250MB/s + for around £200. Modest cost, HUGE performance dividened.

Firewire is kind of showing it's age these days, there are much faster connections, your RAID is probably strangled by the connection to some degree (80MB/s on a good day with fw800) RAM will mitigate. Fast storage through a fast connection will really make things sing.

What software are you using, and what format are you transcoding or mastering to? If you are in the APR family then even regular APR needs about 120MB/s with a bit of headroom, more if you go HQ, 10bit, 444 etc.
 
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#5
I am transcoding my footage into H.264 Quicktime or mp4 files. I am mostly using Premiere Pro, Lightroom, maybe FCPX in the future seeing how its starting to get better, and minor After Effects.

Based on your input, is a Macbook Pro Retina even worth it? I like the idea of being able to upgrade the laptop instead of paying a hefty price upfront for a pre-determined setup. This is obviously PC talk, but I am an Apple fan and staying on this course.
 
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#8
daivision said:
I am looking into a Macbook Pro setup for video editing. Edits will mostly be weddings, events, and some photo editing. I prefer the mid 2012 models over the new Retina models. The specific model I am looking at is:

Intel Core i7 Quad-Core 2.3 GHz CPU
Internal 4GB DDR3 RAM
Features 500GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
Intel HD 4000 Graphics& NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M
LED-Backlit 15.4" (39.1 cm) Display
Native 1440 x 900 Resolution
Wireless 802.11n WiFi & Bluetooth 4.0
Dual USB 3.0 Ports & Thunderbolt Port
Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

With the obvious upgrade of 16mb RAM, is this a suitable option for video editing?
Click to expand...
I've used mid 2012 MBP (same config as your, except with 16GB RAM and without the NVIDIA graphics card ... only the Intel HD 4000) ... I do quite a bit of video (shot with 5D MK III, 7D and D7100 ... now also using EOS-M & G1X) ... I had no problem but I mostly use iMovie and FCP ... but my mid 2012 gave up the ghost a few months ago, so I now have the 2013 MBP with Retina display & 256GB SSD, 8GBram ... this is a but quicker than the previous one I had ... with my limited experience I'm pretty sure your above config will be adequate and if you add SSD it will be faster.
 
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#10
daivision said:
I'm still on the fence on which model to buy. Aside from the obvious need of 16gb RAM, is it a large difference from 2.3ghz (MPB) and the 2.7ghz (Retina)?
Click to expand...
As far as the processor speed, I did not find any noticeable difference ... but having an SSD in the Retina model made it much faster.
 
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#12
daivision said:
Thank you every one of you who gave your opinion. In the end, I went with a First Gen Macbook Pro Retina with 2.7ghz, 16GB RAM, and 512 SSD.. The overall speed is fantastic from startup to workflow.
Click to expand...
Congratulations! ... may it serve you well.
 
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#13
daivision said:
I am looking into a Macbook Pro setup for video editing. Edits will mostly be weddings, events, and some photo editing. I prefer the mid 2012 models over the new Retina models. The specific model I am looking at is:

Intel Core i7 Quad-Core 2.3 GHz CPU
Internal 4GB DDR3 RAM
Features 500GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
Intel HD 4000 Graphics& NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M
LED-Backlit 15.4" (39.1 cm) Display
Native 1440 x 900 Resolution
Wireless 802.11n WiFi & Bluetooth 4.0
Dual USB 3.0 Ports & Thunderbolt Port
Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

With the obvious upgrade of 16mb RAM, is this a suitable option for video editing?
Click to expand...

It should be..I'm using a late 2011 model MBP, core i7 (I cramed 16GB ram into it myself), and while yes I can bog it down (big renders from Davinci Resolve)..it works well for me.

I would advise, however, one thing to help is getting at least one or more FAST external harddrives. This really works well for Adobe products, where you can specify in their setups where to put work directories, etc.

I went for a good priced thunderbolt setup I found...was cheaper when I bought it to buy the pieces separate, but do look for the box with all included when buying to compare...they do have one.

I got this which ends up being a fairly cheap solution for SATA to Thunderbolt 1 connections...I have a 3TB drive currently in it, but i"m going to buy another sata to thunderbolt station..and put a SSD in it.

Connector
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009HQCAPQ/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Drive:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00829THQE/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thunderbolt cable:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B3Y4FAS/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Like I said, I'm likely gonna get another of the connector dock stations..and just slip a SSD drive into it, and daisy chain all of them together....but this alone helped my PS and Premier, AE stuff by quite a bit!!


HTH,

cayenne
 
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#14
daivision said:
Thanks Paul.

This specific model was the best option considering price point and the options of upgrading the Macbook itself. I was planning to upgrade the RAM to 16mb and purchase an SSD just for the OS and programs I installed. I normally work with my footage from an external Lacie or G Raid via Firewire.

Most of my work is DSLR footage from weddings, events, interviews, and some photo editing.

Thank you for the input and have a better understanding of how to shape the station.
Click to expand...

It almost sounds like you're planning to upgrade the RAM after you buy it...be advised to research this, I believe all MBP models since 2011...have the RAM soldered in place at the factory and are no longer user reachable/update able...you have to max it out at order time.

HTH,

cayenne
 
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#15
Do you need the portability of a MacBook Pro? They are fantastic laptops, but you will always get more bang for the buck with an iMac.

I have the last macbook pro to have a built in CD/DVD burner I use these a lot in my day to day, and did not want to give this up.
 
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#16
That MacBook Pro Retina should do very well! I am using a MBPro Retina 15 with 2.3GHz i7 quad core with 8GB ram and 256GB SSD. I hooked it up to an Apple 27inch Thunderbolt display and a Lacie 2Big 6TB thunderbolt external drive.

I have been pleased with it thus far. But I find that I rarely use the portability offered by the MacBook. So looking forward to upgrading at some point to the new Mac Pro desktop.

Kind regards,
Jason
 
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#17
cayenne said:
I believe all MBP models since 2011...have the RAM soldered in place at the factory and are no longer user reachable/update able...you have to max it out at order time.

HTH,

cayenne
Click to expand...
Not from 2011, I think its from 2013 ... I had replaced my 8GB ram with 16 GB ram for my 13 inch MacBook Pro, 2.9 GHz, mid 2012 model.
I cannot upgrade RAM on my 2013 Retina model now, as it is soldered.
 
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#18
Rienzphotoz said:
cayenne said:
I believe all MBP models since 2011...have the RAM soldered in place at the factory and are no longer user reachable/update able...you have to max it out at order time.

HTH,

cayenne
Click to expand...
Not from 2011, I think its from 2013 ... I had replaced my 8GB ram with 16 GB ram for my 13 inch MacBook Pro, 2.9 GHz, mid 2012 model.
I cannot upgrade RAM on my 2013 Retina model now, as it is soldered.
Click to expand...

Hey cool, thanks for the clarification!!

C
 
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