FCP on MacBook?

I'm in the market for a Mac (my first) and I just can't spend 2500 bucks on a macBook pro. The MacBook seems like a good choice if you add a few options (extra memory, etc...) . Does anyone out there have any experience with a MacBook? I'm not a master editor or anything, and I cant justify spending more money if I don't have to. I also have heard a few horror stories about the pros screwing up. Any advice?

Advice: never buy anything around a major Mac conference. WWDC is close at hand.

If you can't wait, get what works for your software right now: a MacBook Pro. I have not heard many bad reviews about them at all. A MacBook doesn't have its own video card, which is the major minus - so Motion will be a dog. Likely when the newer FC Studio rolls out in the future, it will heavily rely upon this video card. So looking to the future, don't cut yourself short. A few hundred more bucks for a lower end MB Pro is a far better idea. I have heard that the HD and RAM are very easily swappable, so you can upgrade when you can afford to.

Just get your credit card out and go for it. COMP USA has 12 month 0% financing. Pay it off with money from your next paying gig. Hey, even I can justify that.

You should also check out the online Apple store and check out refurbs. Both they and Comp USA have deals well under $2K. I've seen as low as $1600.



Kevin Monahan
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Thank you so much for your advice...Very helpful!

I have a MacBook. FCP runs great. Motion runs slow. I feel the $1000 in savings is worth waiting for a render once in a while.

Keep in mind that FCP is not supported on the MacBook, and that in the next version, they may flip a switch such that it can't even be installed. They may not, but -- keep it in mind.

-MW

Hello (Hi Kevin!)
I think this (rather cynical) post may shed some light about my experience with Apple consumer laptops and Apple Pro applications:

* When FCP came out in 1999, it required a 300 Mgz G3 processor. The iBook available at that time had a 300 Mhz G3 processor. Great. But someone made sure it had no Firewire ports andit had an 800x600 screen. Not very useful for FCP. Then, a second revision of that model came with Firewire ports, but it still had an officially unsupported screen resolution of 800x600. FCP required 1024x768.

* Then, in 2001-2002, good luck arrived: Apple released iBooks with Firewire ports, lots of improvements and a native resolution of 1024x768. A beautiful 12" laptop for quick, on the go projects, right? No, DVD Studio Pro/iDVD were released as G4 processor only, and the same happened to FCP and other bundled apps when version 4 arrived.

* Ok, so it was about the G4 processor. Apple then released an iBook with a G4 processor. That should do it, right? Wrong. Apple in 2004-2005 had this problem where the processor in an iBook/eMac/Mac Mini was almost identical to the one on the Powerbook, because they couldn't get faster processors. What did they do? They released applications which were about the graphics card, rather than the processor. Guess how good is the graphics card in an G4 iBook? Good enough for Mac OS X's Quartz extreme, but weak enough so it can't run Motion or Aperture. They also released a 12" Powerbook, essentially a silver iBook with a a graphics card worth $5 more. It did run those, because it had Power (now "Pro" in the name, see?

* Now we have a MacBook, still with a processor just lilke (or almost like) the one in the MacBook Pro. It doesn't completely refuse to run Motion and Aperture (yet?), but if history is any indication, the next versions of those applications (and even FCP) may make sure it doesn't.

I don't want to be sarcastic here. But notice that a MacBook is fantastic to run Maya and the most demanding visual applications in the world, even runs non-native After Effects in Rosetta translation quite decently, but it's not officially supported by FCS. Go figure.

This year, for the first time, I got a MacBook Pro instead of another consumer laptop. Yes, the MacBook should be perfect and it even runs FCP faster than a Dual G5. But when the people making it don't want you to, it's not a good idea, right?



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com

BEAUTIUFLLY WRITTEN post, and THANK YOU for the history lesson -- it's what I was looking for when I got the MB!

Thank you. If you consider how hard it is for me to speak or write in English (some friends from LAFCPUG could notice that when we met at NAB this year!), i feel really happy you find it beautifully written



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com

Brad,

If you're really interested in getting a Mac (and your first at that - congrats) may I suggest potentially looking at a second hand model. Not necessarilly something off of eBay or Craigslist, but from accredited companies that resale older G4 and G5 models (like a Daystartechnologies, with whom I've had very pleasant dealings with). One of the things you'll come to love about Macs are their expandability. They're great for that. But you loose a lot of that exandability with the iBooks and now the Macbook. And I gaurantee you in no time you'll find yourself saying, "Dang! I really could use that second monitor!" or "Man! This would be perfect if I had a built in Composite Video out!"

If you search this forum you'll see there are many people who still use G4's and Dual Processor G5 towers with FCP, and they're working great for them.

If it were an option of buy and older Mac Tower or spend a few hundred more and buy a brand new G5 tower, I'd be all over buy the NEWER machine. But being that it's an iBook (I don't care what Apple says, it's always going to be an iBook in my book. Macbook my @$$!) I promise, over time, you'll really miss the expandability.

One last warning, though, Brad. Remember, once you go MAC, you never go BACK! You have been warned my friend.

Steven Gladney



Sometimes the obvious is hidden in plain view.

Adolfo,
Your Engilish is awesome, so no worries mate. :-)
Hope you are doing well down there.
Wonderful meeting you and being able to hang out a bit in San Francisco.

Hope to see you again someday soon.

K.



Kevin Monahan
Social Support Lead, DV Products
Adobe
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro Community Blog
Follow Me on Twitter!