Video Editing: 2013 iMac vs my 2011 MPB

[Chad Andreo]

I have a 2011 MacBook Pro with the following specs:
i7 2.2
16GB Ram
256 SSD + 750GB HD
AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1GB

My MacBook Pro is starting to get sluggish when editing photos and video especially when connected to my Shimian HD monitor and external HDs.
The amount of time it takes to Export a 1080p video or a batch of photos in Lightroom has become an annoyance. I wont even get into 4-6 camera multi-cam editing. Haha!

My question is, how much of a significance will I see in performance if I was to get a new iMac with either a 3.4 or 3.5 i7?

[Chad Andreo]

bump for some mac advice

[Al Bergstein]

Chad, there are a lot of variables. The Radion is not a great video card. Other than that you have about as much as you can, but isn't it's processor somewhat older? I've got a newer MBP and a 2012 iMac with full 2GB video RAM using CUDA. It's much faster than my MBP, which has 16 GBs of RAM and a standard hard drive, along with a high end video card. So all I can say is that the desktop machines are much more likely to be a better investment. And then there's that gigantic 27" monitor. Very nice. Also, are you using an external drive for your photos? That could have an effect.

[Nate Haustein]

Back up, wipe the SSD and start over from a fresh OS install. You never know what might be gumming up OSX after 2 years of hard use. If you're still not satisfied, you know a new machine is the next step.

[Charles W. Hull]

Kind of related to this thread:

Can you do any editing at all with a top end MacBook Air with CC? One camera editing, mostly DSLR? I know, no NVIDIA graphics, but I need something as I travel do some quick cuts. And the Air woud meet my other travel needs vey well.

[Charles W. Hull]

Originally Posted by Charles W. Hull

Kind of related to this thread:

Can you do any editing at all with a top end MacBook Air with CC? One camera editing, mostly DSLR? I know, no NVIDIA graphics, but I need something as I travel do some quick cuts. And the Air woud meet my other travel needs vey well.

Well I went to the Apple Store and ran some MB Air computers. They had one running Final Cut Pro, seemingly quite well, with DSLR footage. My thought was if it won't run CC then a fallback would be FCP. So I bought one, an i7 version. Now I've loaded CC Premiere; and it seems to be running okay, and I think it will do what I'm looking for.

[Rob Katz]

charles-

please keep this thread occasionally updated.

i am also looking at the 2013 mba i7 as a possible mobile easy cut tool.

any and all info you care to share would be helpful.

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc

[Charles W. Hull]

Originally Posted by Rob Katz

please keep this thread occasionally updated.

i am also looking at the 2013 mba i7 as a possible mobile easy cut tool.

any and all info you care to share would be helpful.

I don't have too much experience with the MB Air yet, but so far Premiere has done everything I've asked it to do. I'm traveling and have only worked with Canon 70D and Canon XF100 clips. I can trim and add transitions and titles. Have not added effects where processing power could be challenged. I did put together a two camera sequence and it handled this okay. Other cameras I use but don't have with me are a Canon 5D3 and lots of GoPros, usually three camera sequences or more with the GoPros. When I get some experience with these other cameras I'll update the thread.

As of now I highly recommend the i7 MB Air with Premiere as a traveling video companion.