New MacBook Pro seems slow/FCP7 at DVinfo.net

Chad Whelan · July 30th, 2010, 10:45 AM

I have a new I5, 2.4GHz, 4GB ram, 5400 drive, OS 10.6. I bought this to be able to do some editing on the road. When I say it is slow I am comparing it to my MacPro (2006 model) 2 X 2.66 Dual Core Intel, 7GB ram, 7200 drive, OS 10.5. This is my 1st laptop.

Here are some examples. Please tell me if these times seem slow to you, they do to me. I have been using the laptop for simple SD encoding and DVD burns, nothing HD yet on this machine.

1 hour SD video export to DVD using "share" in FCP7 takes about 1.5 hours. This does not include the burn. Burn times are averaging 1.5 - 2x on 8x media (normally I get 10-12x burn times on my other machine)

I have done multiple projects on here, all SD and am averaging similar results to the ones above.

I have run a diagnostic test per Apple and that passed.

Any input here?

Thanks

William Hohauser · July 30th, 2010, 11:24 AM

The DVD render in the Share menu is 2-pass MPEG2 so that takes a bit of time compared to your 4 core MacPro which you might have set-up for multiple-core rendering. If you go thru Compressor and choose 1-pass, it will speed up. Your notebook is a 2-core machine and has many components that are slower than a MacPro, even an older one. The DVD drive is one of them.

Dave Partington · July 30th, 2010, 12:58 PM

Share via FCP is not a good option. It's slower than exporting to a file then using compressor to make an MPEG2 file.

So, try exporting to a Quicktime file, then take the QT file in to Compressor and make your DVD from there.

Chad Whelan · July 30th, 2010, 01:18 PM

Thanks for the replies. I am not necessarily trying to find a quicker way to make a DVD, rather my point with this thread is to see if my macbook pro seems to run slow to you compared maybe to those of you who have one. I do realize there is quicker ways than share. If these speeds are normal then I question my investment since this is not my primary editing machine.

Robert Lane · July 30th, 2010, 02:48 PM

Chad,

What you need to realize about laptops vs. towers is that laptops - and iMacs for that matter (since they are in point of fact a laptop architecture that's been given an external keyboard and a very large screen) do not have the same amount of computing power as a tower. They do not have as many lanes on the front-side bus to throw data between RAM, CPU and GPU, they don't have as many CPU cores available, they only have a single internal drive, whereas you've obviously got multiples in a tower and a few other things that literally choke a laptops top-speed down several notches.

One way you could significantly speed up your MBP's processing power would be to use the MCE Optibay kit and and install a second internal SATA drive and have all your render files going there rather than being forced to share the single internal drive. See this review:

Grumpy Quail: MCE Optibay Review: A 2nd Internal HDD for Apple laptops!

Dave Partington · July 30th, 2010, 05:09 PM

Robert, you ay be interested to know that my 27" iMac i7 Quad Core performs almost as well as my MacPro 8 Core for rendering and exporting and even with compressor ;)

However, the MacBookPro is much slower :(

July 30th, 2010, 10:45 AM	#1
Chad Whelan Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Deep River, Connecticut Posts: 261	New MacBook Pro seems slow/FCP7 I have a new I5, 2.4GHz, 4GB ram, 5400 drive, OS 10.6. I bought this to be able to do some editing on the road. When I say it is slow I am comparing it to my MacPro (2006 model) 2 X 2.66 Dual Core Intel, 7GB ram, 7200 drive, OS 10.5. This is my 1st laptop. Here are some examples. Please tell me if these times seem slow to you, they do to me. I have been using the laptop for simple SD encoding and DVD burns, nothing HD yet on this machine. 1 hour SD video export to DVD using "share" in FCP7 takes about 1.5 hours. This does not include the burn. Burn times are averaging 1.5 - 2x on 8x media (normally I get 10-12x burn times on my other machine) I have done multiple projects on here, all SD and am averaging similar results to the ones above. I have run a diagnostic test per Apple and that passed. Any input here? Thanks __________________ ___________________________ www.ChadWhelan.com

July 30th, 2010, 11:24 AM	#2
William Hohauser Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 2,650	The DVD render in the Share menu is 2-pass MPEG2 so that takes a bit of time compared to your 4 core MacPro which you might have set-up for multiple-core rendering. If you go thru Compressor and choose 1-pass, it will speed up. Your notebook is a 2-core machine and has many components that are slower than a MacPro, even an older one. The DVD drive is one of them. __________________ William Hohauser - New York City Producer/Edit/Camera/Animation

July 30th, 2010, 12:58 PM	#3
Dave Partington Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: York, England Posts: 1,323	Share via FCP is not a good option. It's slower than exporting to a file then using compressor to make an MPEG2 file. So, try exporting to a Quicktime file, then take the QT file in to Compressor and make your DVD from there. __________________ Qualified UAV Pilot with CAA PFAW Aerial Photo / Aerial Video \| Corporate Video Production

July 30th, 2010, 01:18 PM	#4
Chad Whelan Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Deep River, Connecticut Posts: 261	Thanks for the replies. I am not necessarily trying to find a quicker way to make a DVD, rather my point with this thread is to see if my macbook pro seems to run slow to you compared maybe to those of you who have one. I do realize there is quicker ways than share. If these speeds are normal then I question my investment since this is not my primary editing machine. __________________ ___________________________ www.ChadWhelan.com

July 30th, 2010, 05:09 PM	#6
Dave Partington Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: York, England Posts: 1,323	Robert, you ay be interested to know that my 27" iMac i7 Quad Core performs almost as well as my MacPro 8 Core for rendering and exporting and even with compressor ;) However, the MacBookPro is much slower :( __________________ Qualified UAV Pilot with CAA PFAW Aerial Photo / Aerial Video \| Corporate Video Production

July 30th, 2010, 02:48 PM	#5
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,825 Images: 15	Chad, What you need to realize about laptops vs. towers is that laptops - and iMacs for that matter (since they are in point of fact a laptop architecture that's been given an external keyboard and a very large screen) do not have the same amount of computing power as a tower. They do not have as many lanes on the front-side bus to throw data between RAM, CPU and GPU, they don't have as many CPU cores available, they only have a single internal drive, whereas you've obviously got multiples in a tower and a few other things that literally choke a laptops top-speed down several notches. One way you could significantly speed up your MBP's processing power would be to use the MCE Optibay kit and and install a second internal SATA drive and have all your render files going there rather than being forced to share the single internal drive. See this review: Grumpy Quail: MCE Optibay Review: A 2nd Internal HDD for Apple laptops!