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December, 2024

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Good for editing?

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LiamMcKinley
Posts: 865 - Karma: 2,771

I'm investing in a macbook pro to take away to college. These are the specs of what I'm getting. Is this gonna be prime for some video editing?

  • 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
  • 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
  • 320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm

    • ++karma. thanks.

    Nov 2 2009 7:51PM
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    A.Eberhard
    Posts: 4426 - Karma: 415
    Are you editing HD or SD footage and what will you be editing HDV, AVCHD...
    Nov 2 2009 7:56PM
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    freshlyDIPPED
    Posts: 1160 - Karma: 121
    yes
    Nov 2 2009 7:57PM
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    Peter.
    Posts: 23796 - Karma: 13,014
    don't know if it's possible because i am not that knowledgeable in macbooks, but try and upgrade to a harddrive with a higher RPM
    Nov 2 2009 7:59PM
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    LiamMcKinley
    Posts: 865 - Karma: 2,771
    editing AVCHD
    Nov 2 2009 8:08PM
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    eheath
    Posts: 61708 - Karma: 124,240
    You'll be fine, my MBP has only a 2.33ghz processor with only 3gbs of DDR2 (slower) ram (and harddrive really doesn't matter) and i edited DVCPROHD (p2 hvx, one of the best/biggest HD codecs) footage easily. You'll be perfectly fine.
    Nov 2 2009 8:10PM
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    LiamMcKinley
    Posts: 865 - Karma: 2,771
    awesome. thanks alot.
    Nov 2 2009 8:12PM
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    BryantPhoto
    Posts: 1574 - Karma: 891
    I have the 17 matte finish MBP for photo editing, but I know you'll be fine. If you can, get the 8gb of ram, i have used 4gb and it's amazingly fast, but once you go 8, you don't go back. I wouldn't recommend upgrading your hdd to 500 or above as through apple it's madd expensive. I'd invest in an externall hdd, preferably 1tb or more. I have the 2tb Seagate and it is partitioned into two hdd's so when i import something, it creates a copy on the other side so in actuality its there twice. This way if your computer breaks, or half the hdd breaks.

    I don't keep any photos on my computer as it takes up space and tends to slow my computer. I import to my comp and then transfer to the external and edit from there.
    Nov 2 2009 8:17PM
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    thisandthatfilms
    Posts: 7714 - Karma: 526
    i have a pc with 1gb of ram and a 160gb hard drive and i get along fine... so you should be set
    Nov 2 2009 8:19PM
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    LiamMcKinley
    Posts: 865 - Karma: 2,771
    yeah i was thinking about an external hdd. that would help alot. +k
    Nov 2 2009 8:24PM
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    dergblerp
    Posts: 1303 - Karma: 77
    Ya, definitely get a hard drive that can do 7200 rpm.  If you're editing HD, Getting a hard drive with eSATA capabilities is nice as well, but plain old usb does fine. 

    My Macbook pro is from 2007, 2.4 GHz, 2gb ram, and it does just fine for editing HD on FCP, so the new macbooks should be even better.
    Nov 2 2009 8:26PM
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    Trent_Palmer
    Posts: 226 - Karma: 936
    Dude, props to that! I think too many people think you have to have a good computer to edit, but if you are pulling it off with a PC and only 1gb of ram then DAMN!

    Good computer helps, no doubt there. But someone mentioned above that you should go for 8gb of ram, I wouldnt, thats $1000 extra, not worth it IMO, put that money towards software or get a faster processor if anything. I just got one of the 15" with the 2.8ghz dual core and 4gigs of ram, and a 7200rpm HDD, its easily fast enough. And I know my boss has the same computer and is editing all RED footage on it and doesnt have a problem with it. So for me its probably somewhat of an overkill.
    Nov 2 2009 9:28PM
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    BryantPhoto
    Posts: 1574 - Karma: 891
    I purchased the 2 4gb's from newegg.com for mad cheap, and when you have open 4 different Adobe Suite Applications with a 20gb photoshop document open, you can use all of the space.
    Nov 2 2009 9:36PM
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