I'm about to replace my trusty G4 powerbook with a new mac laptop and wonder which one to get. I have never used FCP on a laptop and don't know how the performance will be, therefore I wonder if i'd rather get a macbook and forget about editing video on the field.

But maybe one of the new loaded MBP are good enough now? Im on the road/travelling very often and have obviously no access to a tower, so it would be great if I could edit when on the field.

For what I'm reading, to avoid the h.264 quicktime problem you should edit in h.264 instead in ProRes and fix the latitude bug later in color.
But will the MBP handle h.264 editing?
And what about ProRes editing, does the MBP cut it? (as i said have no experience with a laptop+fcp)


thx in advance

Get the fastest you budget will allow for.
I have a MacBook Pro and can edit just fine.

thx for the reply.

what does "editing just fine" mean? do you edit ProrRes fine? Can you edit 5D's H.264 files too without many hickups (at least cuts and fade In/Out)? And is it from the latest unibody MBP or from some older model?


I could get either a cheap MacBook and some basic MacPro, or get a loaded MacBook Pro now and buy a Macpro tower later in time.

As I'm always travelling, the first option means I'd hardly use the tower so it's a bit of a waste. On the other hand, if I get the MacBook Pro and it doesn't have the horsepower to edit video (I precisely fear H.264), then I won't be able to edit at all.

Regarding the MBP, I know I must get 4GB RAM, but does the difference 256 vs 512MB in the video card, or the small cpu difference between models matter at all reagarding video? And as for the HD, does it make sense to get the 7200rpm? (when I'll probably edit from a terabyte firewire800 ext HD)

I am looking into a new MacBook Pro as well, but I am waiting to see if the yet to be updated 17" MacBook Pro will feature Intel's new Quad-Core Mobile Processor. If so, I would expect to hear something hear something fairly soon.

That would by my advice as well: wait to see what MWSF brings. Beyond that, if you plan on editing in ProRes, I'd suggest a large 7200rpm boot drive. I'm personally banking on a higher res 15" screen option, as I consider 1440x900 marginal for use with FCP...

thx for the reply.
I could get either a cheap MacBook and some basic MacPro, or get a loaded MacBook Pro now and buy a Macpro tower later in time.

...
Regarding the MBP, I know I must get 4GB RAM, but does the difference 256 vs 512MB in the video card, or the small cpu difference between models matter at all reagarding video? And as for the HD, does it make sense to get the 7200rpm? (when I'll probably edit from a terabyte firewire800 ext HD)

Henry:

I purchased a MacBook about a year ago and every day I kick myself for not purchasing the MacBook Pro. Mine has Firewire 400 but not Firewire 800, nor does it have a cardbus slot which eliminates the capability of using eSATA. I also have an iMac 24" which does have Firewire 800 but no cardbus slot.

In my opinion, the lack of eSATA is a serious detriment to editing video. If I could start all over again, I would bite the bullet and purchase the proper equipment the first time. As it is, I will pay nearly twice as much to get to a proper system for editing video than I would have had I not foolishly tried to save the $1K difference between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro, or between the iMac and the Mac Pro (considering the cost of a new 24" monitor for the Mac Pro, that is. The Mac Pro itself was only about $300 more than the iMac).

I am really loving my 5D MkII, and, having been a purchaser of the original 5D for still photography, this camera is an order of magnitude better. My other video camera is the JVC HD110U. I can definitely say that editing video from the 110U has been a challenge on my limited capability systems.

Good luck with whatever decision you make.

With the approach of MWSF, rumors abound as usual.

Mac Rumors: Apple Mac Rumors and News You Care About (http://www.macrumors.com/)

Is anyone editing 5D footage in FCP in one of the new MacBook Pros (late 2008 unibody)? I have the last generation of 17" (before today's announcement) with the full HD display and while it can play clips at full res in quicktime Final Cut is pretty choppy when previewing full-screen. I can edit and view stuff smoothly in the viewer/canvas windows, just not fullscreen. I'm wondering if the new graphics chipset(s) have improved playback when editing - if so I'll get the new 17, otherwise probably need a mac pro instead.

For what it's worth I do most of my editing on my macbook pro 2.33ghz with 3gb of ram, that being said I've had more then a couple of occasions where i tried to edit h.264 footage and crashed the system. Maybe the new ones with the multiple graphics processors make this a moot point but I personally wouldn't try and edit h.264 with my laptop again.