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MacBook Pro, MacBook, or MacBook Air?


PistolPete

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I'm starting a new business and I need a dedicated computer and have decided to go with a Mac laptop. I was originally thinking of just buying a Macbook Pro but was curious if I really need the Pro or not. The computer will be for storing information etc. etc. of course. All of these computers will be able to do this without issue. I also want the computer to be good for building videos and photo effects etc. I will be creating a lot of videos and want a computer that has decent editing capabilities. I'm a total newbie when it comes to editing but plan on taking some classes etc. to get better at this. What are the pros and cons of each model and will I be better off shelling out the money and just buying the Pro or will the others be perfect for what I need? I won't be playing any video games or anything on this machine so no worries there.

Thanks in advance,

Pete

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Actually from seeing the performance of MacBook Pros and Mac Towers, MacBook Pros do pretty well especially if you go 15" and higher. In fact, 13" dealt with Final Cut Pro a lot better than I would have imagined. However, when it comes to actually rendering the video, you are gonna see a HUGE difference between a laptop and its tower counterpart. At least from my experience, it's probably because our MacBook Pros were dual-core while our towers were 8-core to 12-core versions. Cost between a pimped up MacBook Pro laptop and Tower is between 2500 dollars to between 8000-10000 dollars for the towers. This is extreme though, considering you've never edited, at least for now the laptop would do fine. As much as I try to avoid the little shiny buggers, I got to admit that its laptops are a powerhouse when it comes to video/sound editing.

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  • 1 month later...

I just went from a 15" Macbook pro with 4GB of RAM to a 27" iMac with 8GB of RAM.

Yes the iMac is MUCH faster and when you render video it can be hours of savings. That said, I put up with it to do light editing but my patience wouldn't allow anything too long...longer than 20 minutes.

Maybe the biggest issue is heat. The laptops can get really get hot. I bought a fan pad to rest the unit on and that did help but heat is always the enemy of computers...did I say hot, I meant HOT! A full sized tower with big fans and a cinema screen but I couldn't swing that - if you can, do it...

The macbook pro does an amazing job with video and photo work but as you know...bigger is better :ph34r: in this case it is for certain, buy the most you can afford.

Use an external drive to hold and edit your videos, don't even start saving them to your local hard drive. Buffalo makes a nice 500GB portable that is pretty decent but I've converted to a swappable case less system, at least for the time being.

Video is easy, good video not so easy, great video...very complex...your mileage may vary B)

ETA: If you are doing a bunch of video you won't want that to be your "main" machine for communication or even surfing the web...while your machine renders, you wait...or your WILL wait.

Edited by -JQ-
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For heavy photo editing, I always preferred to have the application one drive, the raw take on a second internal drive, and to render the finished product to either the first, or ideally a third internal drive....

I can't imagine that video would be much different. And that's really where the Towers start to shine, with their ability to contain multiple high speed drives....

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This is one of those applications where I really wonder why someone would even try to use a laptop at all.

I know most people don't use desktops anymore, but I sure wouldn't give mine up for anything after having only a laptop for a few years and then going back.

I also suspect the OP could save a LOT of money and have better performance from a purpose-built PC, but if money is no object, I guess it doesn't matter either way.

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I wouldn't buy a tower right now, according to macrumors they may be getting ready to come out with a slimmer rackable tower. The basic current tower STARTS at $2499 now, I think, and goes up from there, and that's with no monitor.

For external drives, I'd wait around a bit for the Promise (amusing name given the current state of things) external 4 or 6 disk raid array that runs off of the Thunderbolt ports. (Assuming a current generation May 2011 iMac, Feb 2011 Macbook Pro, or speculated next generation tower.

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