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Participating Frequently
June 26, 2017
Question

Is this MacBook Pro good for video editing?

  • June 26, 2017
  • 5 replies
  • 27508 views

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-13-3-display-8gb-memory-128gb-flash-storage-silver/8532557.p?skuId=8532557

im not sure as to which is a good option. i was told that processor is what matter. i do some work in Photoshop and also want to get into after effects also, but if this laptop  good enough.

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    5 replies

    Warren Heaton
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    October 4, 2019

    The 13-inch MacBook Pro is a good option, but you really want 16GB of RAM and 256BG of Flash Storage as the base (not the 8GB/128GB that you linked).  Of course, the larger the internal storage, the better.   You'll probably want a USB-C SSD drive for footage (Thunderbolt for high data transfer rate footage).

     

    Since you mentioned that you also work in Photoshop and After Effects, I'd recommend a 15-inch MacBook Pro instead.  

    Bill Gehrke
    Inspiring
    June 27, 2017

    I have to disagree with some of the above I have a three-year old laptop with an i7-4700HQ and 24 GB of RAM with two SSD's installed and am able to smoothly edit 4K 100Mbit/s XAVC-S and GoPro 4K media.  Your ASUS candidate has slightly better CPU not quite as much RAM and a better GPU than I do at a reasonable price.  Now do not get me wrong not all 4K media will work smoothly.

    The first thing you should do it you get it is get your self a Samsung T3 portable USB 3 SSD because that 1 TB 5400RPM drive is useless for video editing.  (Actually mine came with that same drive and I immediately removed it and install the second SSD) but if you do not feel comfortable making that change go the Samsung T3 route to get started.  Do not think of that suggested USB3 RAID solution as it is cumbersome, not as fast by any means as the single T3 and no real advantage this day and age, hard disk drives really should only be used for archiving and backup purposes.

    Another very important action is to tune the new computer and turn off all necessary processes so they do not steal CPU cycles and use valuable memory.

    EDIT

    I just created a new project and loaded a GH5 4K 10-bit file with some very minimal cuts and effects (absolutely no CPU intensive Lumetri effects) and with one minute length I lost only 1 frame during playback at 1/2 resolution.

    Peru Bob
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 26, 2017

    I'm moving this to the Hardware Forum where the hardware experts hang out.

    tylerh89149221
    Known Participant
    June 26, 2017

    That laptop will not do you any good editing 4K. 1080 and lower resolutions it should run just fine though. Honestly with any laptop I highly suggest transcoding/using proxies even though I absolutely hate it. Either that or download and use FCP for any 4K work flows. Adobe Premiere Pro(updated version) sucks for 4K editing. Hopefully they will do something about it, but I don't recommend any laptop with PP and 4K footage. And by the way, I'm using the brand new 2017 iMac with all the specs completely maxed out and my 4K editing still lags in PP.

    Inspiring
    June 26, 2017

    Good enough is relative. What do you plan on editing? HD footage, 4K? What medium are you editing for, personal, social media, something else?

    A powerful GPU is incredibly important these days, and that's not something this machine has. It's using integrated graphics, rather than a dedicated graphics card. GPUs can render (GPU-accelerated) effects in real-time, or at the very least, orders of magnitude faster than a CPU.

    CPU and RAM matter the most for After Effects, although the GPU is slowly being utilized more.

    The internal storage of this machine is also pretty paltry. Do you plan on connecting a fast drive via USB 3 or Thunderbolt for editing off of? If you use After Effects and your cache folder (which retains rendered frames for previewing) is set to the default folder, than your internal drive is going to fill up very quickly.

    In short, I would not get this machine for editing or animating, as it's not upgradeable, and you'll be limiting yourself from the beginning.

    dawann423Author
    Participating Frequently
    June 26, 2017

    ok so what laptop regardless of brand would you recommend? that's in the $1000-1300 price range

    Inspiring
    June 26, 2017

    It still depends what you're doing. Can you answer The first few questions, as well as whether you have any external storage, and if so, what are the specs (SSD, HDD, storage size, Bus type/connection to computer)?