Video editing novice here

Hi, I am a video editing novice and am interested in using FCPX (I also need FCPX for college). However, I first need a MacBook. Can anyone tell me what MacBook I should be looking at, and what specs? One of my close friends recommended a regular 15" with a 2.7GHz dual-core i7 processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, 750 GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 RPM, and a Hi-Res monitor upgrade. Is this a good choice? Or is it possible I could go a little cheaper?

I'm still new too, but I do videography now as a hobby, I purchased a macbook pro and have final cut pro x, and one thing that I can tell you now is that I wish I had a BIGGER processor, and currently I do have a bigger one that what you are looking at. I have the 1 TB macbook Pro mid 2010 model w/ 8 GB memory, so it's a decent macbook pro, and it has a 2.8 GHz intel core i7 processor - and I wish it was over 3.0.

You will find as you start putting together videos that the fan will kick on pretty quick and the lap top will start to get very hot because the processor is trying to handle what you're giving it. It handles it, but it's slow compared to what I would expect, and it gets hot within 5 - 10 minutes of editing videos, it renders slowly, and I often let it rest after 10 minutes to cool it off.

I'm sure other more experienced people will have better more accurate opinions than me, but this is what I've noticed so far.

I'm using a mid 2010 macbook pro with an 2.6 dual core i7. I cut mainly DSLR, FS700 type footage and cut on FCPX. I use it full time, and I make a living off it.

The best advice I can give you with FCPx is to get a SSD. Because Final Cut Pro X does have a very dynamic timeline that provides a lot of visual feedback as you work, it makes a lot of calls information on the hard drive, far more so than 7 or Premiere. Because of this a spinning drive is really quite a bottle neck.

RAM is important - but processor speed, not so much. Though a faster processor will of course make your rendering quicker, I would argue that render times are far less of a barrier to your actual productivity than drive speed.

In response to videogophers concerns I would say that the heat is an inevitable consequence of the laptop form factor and the fact the Final Cut Pro X makes a very good job of using all the available processing power. It's worth pointing out that when a processor overheats it will generally scale back its speed so it doesn't cause damage to the chip, so a 3 GHz quad core probably would not make much of a real world difference, in fact it would more likely get hotter faster. Maybe look at the surface, or room temperature of where you are editing. I would also look at putting project to produce render files in ProResLT rather than ProRes, unless you have a specific reason for wanting ProRes renders.

For you Mike P, I would recommend similar to your friend, but go for the 2.6 i7 option (or even the 2.3 if cash is tight), and the cheapest drive option. Then aftermarket buy a 512 GB samsung 840 SSD. That should save you a little, and do the FCPX job a lot better than your current spec.

Do you plan on doing your editing at multiple locations? Are you able to do all of your editing from home and then bring a hard drive to school to edit on their computers?

If editing is something you're serious about and want to enjoy the process, I would suggest getting an iMac. Depending on the configuration it will be a little more expensive, but you still get a student discount and the power alone is well worth it.

I have a 2011 i7 with 16GB RAM, 2GB video card (just got recalled too), and a SSD that I installed myself. It's really the combination of all of these specs that make the system run well. My work computer is exactly the same, but it does not use a SSD so that makes it slower in some aspects.

Basically, if you get a laptop now you'll need to replace it in a couple years once you start working a lot as an editor (just the screen real estate alone makes editing on an iMac easier, two monitors is the best).

If you get a maxed out iMac now then it will take you well past school and into paying gigs without ever feeling too slow.

Here's the iMac I would get if the budget worked for you:

$2,484.00 before tax.

3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
256GB Flash Storage
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB GDDR5

Here's the closest I can get to that spec with a MacBook Pro:

$2,179.00 before tax.

2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB GDDR5 memory
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
128GB Solid State Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display

The MacBook can only take up to 8GB of RAM so you can never upgrade that, FCPX likes more than 8GB if possible. The video card is also only 1GB, FCPX loves to use the GPU, so those are your limits with the MacBook Pro, all at a difference of about $300.

I would get the iMac and use the 8GB of RAM for a while to see how it works out (look at activity monitor a lot while you edit), if you end up needing to upgrade the RAM, you can do it later and buy from macsales.com since their RAM is a reasonable price compared to Apple.

But all of it really depends on what money you have to spend on this now, will that extra $300 break the bank, or can you find a way to make it work?

Also, they might be updating iMacs and MacBooks soon, but this won't be until after the back to school special is over so you would miss out on the $100 app store gift card.

You are also going to have to factor in the cost of external Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 drives, so that's at least another $300 regardless of the computer you purchase.

Julian wrote: Do you plan on doing your editing at multiple locations? Are you able to do all of your editing from home and then bring a hard drive to school to edit on their computers?

If editing is something you're serious about and want to enjoy the process, I would suggest getting an iMac. Depending on the configuration it will be a little more expensive, but you still get a student discount and the power alone is well worth it.

I have a 2011 i7 with 16GB RAM, 2GB video card (just got recalled too), and a SSD that I installed myself. It's really the combination of all of these specs that make the system run well. My work computer is exactly the same, but it does not use a SSD so that makes it slower in some aspects.

Basically, if you get a laptop now you'll need to replace it in a couple years once you start working a lot as an editor (just the screen real estate alone makes editing on an iMac easier, two monitors is the best).

If you get a maxed out iMac now then it will take you well past school and into paying gigs without ever feeling too slow.

Here's the iMac I would get if the budget worked for you:

$2,484.00 before tax.

3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
256GB Flash Storage
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB GDDR5

Here's the closest I can get to that spec with a MacBook Pro:

$2,179.00 before tax.

2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB GDDR5 memory
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
128GB Solid State Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display

The MacBook can only take up to 8GB of RAM so you can never upgrade that, FCPX likes more than 8GB if possible. The video card is also only 1GB, FCPX loves to use the GPU, so those are your limits with the MacBook Pro, all at a difference of about $300.

I would get the iMac and use the 8GB of RAM for a while to see how it works out (look at activity monitor a lot while you edit), if you end up needing to upgrade the RAM, you can do it later and buy from macsales.com since their RAM is a reasonable price compared to Apple.

But all of it really depends on what money you have to spend on this now, will that extra $300 break the bank, or can you find a way to make it work?

Also, they might be updating iMacs and MacBooks soon, but this won't be until after the back to school special is over so you would miss out on the $100 app store gift card.

You are also going to have to factor in the cost of external Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 drives, so that's at least another $300 regardless of the computer you purchase.

I think I may take your option, Julian. I do plan on doing my editing at multiple locations (school, friends' houses/studios, home, etc). However, I AM in need of a new desktop computer (the one I have now is only getting older). If this job I have an interview at goes through, I would gradually save up money from my paychecks to get the iMac, then maybe eventually get the MacBook Pro (perhaps sometime next Sping).

Now, with the iMac, could I just go for the $1,499 one with 3.1GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz, 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB, 256GB Flash Storage ($1,999 total)? I'm trying to go with the cheapest option that I can get the best quality out of.

Also, what I would mainly be editing is short films and music videos that would clock around 3-12 minutes, at most. Could I get that from the $1,499 iMac?

If you want the 2GB graphics card then you have to get the best iMac as its not an option on the other ones.