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dirkh96249369
Participant
July 26, 2018
Answered

4k video sources on Macbook Pro 2012 (mid 2012) possible?

  • July 26, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 3396 views

Hello!

Does anybody here has experiences with working with 4k source material on a Macbook Pro 2012 (mid 2012) unibody?

Is that possible anyway?

My question acutally relates to two different Macbooks:

1. Macbook Pro 13 (mid 2012), i5 2.5Ghz, 1 TB SSD, 8GB RAM (my current macbook)

2. Macbook Pro 15 (mid 2012), i7, 2.6Ghz, 16 GB RAM

For full HD my current Macbook (no. 1) was good enough, as I only use it for cutting simple videos (only one camera, no effects).

With 4k video sources I don't get a flued video preview, so I can't work with it.

I would be great to know, if upgrading to a used Macbook Pro 15 (no. 2) unibody would allow me to do this. I know that the latest unibody models from 2012 have a NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M.

I really love these old unibody macbooks due to their upgrading and maintanance options, so I would prefer it over a newer retina model.

Hope anyone can help!?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer exile1972

    The short answer is no. The older MBP's are way too under-powered for 4k editing. There's a workaround though. You could use the proxy workflow. Transcode all 4k material to 1920x1080 pro res and you should be able to edit smoothly on a 2012 MBP.

    2 replies

    A
    Anonymous
    July 21, 2020

    New participant here. My teen daughter has outgrown the limitations of iMovie and we got her the Adobe suite. She seems to have longer workflow times/rendering time/more crashes with Premiere Pro. She's using 1920x1080 source material, generally from an iPhone XS. She has a 2016 13" MBP with 8 gigs of ram. I am unsure if that is too underpowered and have similar questions to the OP. Is an upgrade in order for a 16" MBP or maybe an iMac?

    R
    RjL190365
    Legend
    July 21, 2020

    Here's the major problem when dealing with iPhone XS footage:

     

    • The file codec is HEVC, not AVC. HEVC is much more CPU-hungry than AVC to decode.
    • Not only is such footage HEVC, it is also VFR (Variable Frame Rate). Premiere Pro (and most other professional-level NLE programs as well) choke on such footage because these programs were originally designed for super-expensive, super-large, low-compression files that use CFR (Constant Frame Rate) from super-large studio cameras. Support for more-consumer highly-compressed files have been rather reluctantly added on over the years that these programs have been on the market.

     

    No wonder why these smartphone video formats are so tough to handle, even on a monster PC. Your best bet is to transcode these files using a third-party program to another, less-compressed, CFR file format.

     

    As for the hardware upgrade, right now the only feasible upgrade without having to spend potentially tens of thousands of dollars (Mac-wise) would be a 16" MBP. The iMac is a carryover from the early 2019 model, and as such uses old-generation GPUs and last-generation CPUs.

     

    With all that said, you might want to hold off until the new ARM-based Macs are released. Intel-powered Macs are right now at a dead end. Apple will not develop or release any more new Intel-powered Macs, while minor refreshes to its existing line will continue for a couple more years.

    A
    Anonymous
    July 21, 2020

    Thank you!  We'll try 3rd party conversion to CFR.

    E
    exile1972Correct answer
    Inspiring
    July 31, 2018

    The short answer is no. The older MBP's are way too under-powered for 4k editing. There's a workaround though. You could use the proxy workflow. Transcode all 4k material to 1920x1080 pro res and you should be able to edit smoothly on a 2012 MBP.

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