MacBook Pro 13,3" from 2017 sufficient for my editing needs?

[mosquito87]

My current old PC (Intel i7 (first generation i-7 950 quadcore) 3,06 GHZ, Asus Sabertooth X58 mainboard, Geforce GTX 570 graphic card, 6 GB RAM) has some problems and I'm thinking about replacing it but I'm on a budget.

I'm currently thinking about buying a MacBook Pro 13,3" (2,3 GHz Dual‑Core Intel Core i5, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD (+ external SSD), Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640).

I travel from time to time in long distance trains and would love to use this time for editing. At home I would use the MacBook with a big external screen.

I'm doing small projects on a non-professional base (3 to 20 minute films) with DSLR/DSLM material (Panasonic G85, DJI Mavic Pro). I do some warp stabilizer and Lumetri. My workflow includes the creation of proxy and I'm fine with sticking to proxies. I don't care if the final render process takes some time.

Do you think this MacBook is sufficient for my editing needs? I'm aware that a non-mobile workstation would provide better performance, but doesn't allow to edit mobilely. Will the MacBook perform better then my current old system? Are there any problems with Premiere and this MacBook Pro?

[Ann Bens]

Move from Premiere Pro to Hardware forum.

[RjL190365]

If you're going to be running strictly on battery power, no laptop is sufficient for video editing because they cap their maximum CPU clock speed to far below Adobe's minimum recommendation. The reason is to save battery, and if the CPU were allowed to run anywhere close to Adobe's minimum recommended clock speed requirement, the battery will "die out" (or more specifically, become discharged enough to require recharging via the AC mains outlet) before you get much if any rendering work done. And generally speaking, lower-power CPUs are still much less powerful than high-power-consumption CPUs of the same CPU generation.

In the case of your system, the combination of the above factors, plus the fact that your planned system has only two physical CPU cores, will effectively limit your entire workflow (both source and output) to only 320 x 240 SD (480p or 576p) resolution. Otherwise, the battery will "die out" before you get even a few minutes of video rendered. The reason is that manufacturers must compromise on battery size and weight. And today's smaller batteries still don't have anywhere near enough capacity or enough stamina to handle anywhere near heavy workloads such as video editing.

By my estimates, it will take that system about 10 hours just to render even one minute of video with the effects that you're planning to apply, even with a proxy workflow. That's far longer than the maximum battery life of any currently available laptop under high-load situations!

So, if you MUST have a MacBook Pro with a 13.3" screen, at least buy one with a Touch Bar. None of the 13.3" MacBook Pros without a Touch Bar can be ordered with anything other than a dual-core CPU. The MacBook Pro 13.3" with Touch Bar's specs aren't great, but at least they come standard with a quad-core CPU. And that is all because the 13.3" MacBook Pros without Touch Bar are still of an older design from 2017 (and accordingly, they use only 7th-generation Intel CPUs) whereas the 13.3" MacBook Pros with Touch Bar date from late 2018 (and hence use 8th-generation Intel CPUs).

[Warren Heaton]

You’ll be able to do 1080p with ease as well as take advantage of the proxy workflow for 2160p.

I highly recommend that you go with the Apple ProRes R22 (LT) CODEC.  So, transcode your camera originals to ProRes, setup custom ProRes Sequences and export edited masters to ProRes.  If MP4 is needed at the end of your workflow, transcode the ProRes edited master (it’ll be really fast).  By going all ProRes, you’ll also be taking advantage of Smart Rendering (faster exports).

If you can get the 16/512, I think that you’ll really appreciate the extra internal drive space and avoid the power draw of a USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 drive If cutting from the internal drive.

Be sure to set Mercury Playback to Mettle.

As you are aware, 2.3GHz i5 isn’t going to win any render races, but it’ll get the job done.

-Warren

[RjL190365]

True, Warren, but only when plugged into an AC wall outlet with its AC power brick. All laptops, the MacBook Pro included, will throttle down the sustainable CPU clock speed (and sometimes, to a level that's well below Adobe's recommended minimum requirement) when running strictly on battery power.

[Warren Heaton]

To be clear about something: every Apple computer form the release of Final Cut Pro HD (2009) is capable of 1920x1080.  Ideally the footage is either Apple Intermediate CODEC (now legacy) or Apple ProRes 422 (now widely available).  The workflow is in no way limited to 480i.

Battery life on a fully charged MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) is about two hours and 30 minutes.  On newer models, this has only improved.