[videoblogging] Re: Mac Questions
--- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Laura Moncur [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am switching from my PC to Mac and I'm trying to decide if the new MacBook Pros with the NVidia video chips are worth an extra $1000. Have any of you noticed a big difference between the MacBook Pros and the normal MacBooks? The MacBook uses VRAM that is shared with the system's memory, so I would consider maxing the RAM on the MacBook. Otherwise, the Pro has a FW800 connector, DVI output, a bigger screen, etc. Either computer is a winner. It takes forever to render a DVD on my PC using Adobe Premiere Elements and I'm hoping to streamline the process. Rendering time depends on different things, the processor speed being one of the important ones. Any new computer with a Core 2 Duo chip will speed up the process. Additionally, is Final Cut Pro worth the extra $600 or should I just go with Final Cut Express or even iMovie/iDVD? I am having a hard time justifying the expense to my husband. Can you give me any ammunition? Start with iMovie and see if it meets your needs. It worked great for me until I wanted to layer video tracks, so I bought FC Express. For my needs, I could not justify the cost of FC Pro. BTW: the following link is for a humorous video I made when I first got my MacBook Pro. http://tinyurl.com/2urbco Chuck Chuck's Vlog http://runchuckrun.blogspot.com
[videoblogging] Re: Mac Questions
Final Cut Express is really very good and a good place to start. You might want to check to see if Apple is still offering the deal where you get FCE for $100 when you buy a new Macbook or Macbook Pro. Thats a really good deal--that is ... if they are still offering it. The biggest difference between the MacBook and the MBP is the graphics card which is usefull when doing stuff in programs like Motion where a lot of the video rendering is done by the graphics card. If you aren't doing a lot of work that requires Apple Core image processing then a Macbook with FCE will do you just fine. Apple says that Finalcut Studio isn't compatible with the Macbook but thats mainly because Motion won't run on it. Most of the other programs in the package will run just fine on the Macbook. Bill Streeter LO-FI SAINT LOUIS http://lofistl.com http://billstreeter.net --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Chuck Leggett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Laura Moncur lauramoncur@ wrote: I am switching from my PC to Mac and I'm trying to decide if the new MacBook Pros with the NVidia video chips are worth an extra $1000. Have any of you noticed a big difference between the MacBook Pros and the normal MacBooks? The MacBook uses VRAM that is shared with the system's memory, so I would consider maxing the RAM on the MacBook. Otherwise, the Pro has a FW800 connector, DVI output, a bigger screen, etc. Either computer is a winner. It takes forever to render a DVD on my PC using Adobe Premiere Elements and I'm hoping to streamline the process. Rendering time depends on different things, the processor speed being one of the important ones. Any new computer with a Core 2 Duo chip will speed up the process. Additionally, is Final Cut Pro worth the extra $600 or should I just go with Final Cut Express or even iMovie/iDVD? I am having a hard time justifying the expense to my husband. Can you give me any ammunition? Start with iMovie and see if it meets your needs. It worked great for me until I wanted to layer video tracks, so I bought FC Express. For my needs, I could not justify the cost of FC Pro. BTW: the following link is for a humorous video I made when I first got my MacBook Pro. http://tinyurl.com/2urbco Chuck Chuck's Vlog http://runchuckrun.blogspot.com
[videoblogging] Re: Mac Questions
Good advice that. Ive only got the normal macbook myself. Specifically in terms of the nvidia chip, it really depends if you are going to be running any apps that make good use of such graphics power. Traditionally this has meant programs that use 3d in some way, although these days the lines are blurred a little more, because more and more apps are able to use the power of the graphics hardware to do a load of useful operations, rather than the cpu having to do them. So for example final cut might use decent graphics card to do some of the rendering of video effects. But CPUs are also a lot faster now, even in the much cheaper macbook, so I have found the normal macbook to be quite adequate for everything I need to do. I do like to muck around with 3D and games, so in an ideal world Id have gotten a macbook pro, but they are such a leap in cost, I cant quite justify it. Cheers Steve Elbows --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Chuck Leggett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Laura Moncur lauramoncur@ wrote: I am switching from my PC to Mac and I'm trying to decide if the new MacBook Pros with the NVidia video chips are worth an extra $1000. Have any of you noticed a big difference between the MacBook Pros and the normal MacBooks? The MacBook uses VRAM that is shared with the system's memory, so I would consider maxing the RAM on the MacBook. Otherwise, the Pro has a FW800 connector, DVI output, a bigger screen, etc. Either computer is a winner. It takes forever to render a DVD on my PC using Adobe Premiere Elements and I'm hoping to streamline the process. Rendering time depends on different things, the processor speed being one of the important ones. Any new computer with a Core 2 Duo chip will speed up the process. Additionally, is Final Cut Pro worth the extra $600 or should I just go with Final Cut Express or even iMovie/iDVD? I am having a hard time justifying the expense to my husband. Can you give me any ammunition? Start with iMovie and see if it meets your needs. It worked great for me until I wanted to layer video tracks, so I bought FC Express. For my needs, I could not justify the cost of FC Pro. BTW: the following link is for a humorous video I made when I first got my MacBook Pro. http://tinyurl.com/2urbco Chuck Chuck's Vlog http://runchuckrun.blogspot.com
[videoblogging] Re: Mac Questions
Thanks to everyone! That really helped me a lot. Since I'm not doing any 3D rendering, just straight video, it looks the the normal MacBook with as much RAM as I can get will be the best for me. I'm going to try out iMovie and see if it's enough and then move on to FCE if not. Thanks again!
[videoblogging] Re: Mac Questions
Cool, I forgot to say that I stuck 2GB of RAM in my macbook to be very happy with it, and also use an external monitor for doing stuff where the built-in screen doesnt seem big enough. I like how small the macook is, helps me to bother taking it places, but I must admit the 15 LED backlit macbook pro does seem a bit tempting, doesnt seem to weight much more either. Just to clarify further on my earlier point, since I dont want to overstate the 3d aspect of getting the right machine, or cause you to make the wrong choice... If you think you might be a heavy user of the full Final Cut at some point, the Macbook Pro is worthy of consideration. In previous version of final cut studio, it was probably 'apple motion 2.0' that would make the most use of graphics hardware, and have higher requirements for operating at a decent speed, than other apps in the suite. Now with Final cut studio 2, not only does Motion 3 now do more 3d stuff to tax the graphics card even more, but final cut pro 6 makes use of such hardware to do the funky stuff mentioned on this page: http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/finalcutpro/effects.html So people who wanted to do that stuff or make use of motion 3, would be the sort of users that a standard macbook would probably not be enough for. By the sounds of it this wont be much of an issue for you but I just wanted to clarify that stuff again in case my words about 3D were misleading, as this use of 3d graphics cards for non-3d things like realtime effects filters, has been gradually happening over this century, and now its used in lots of popular relatively high-end creative apps. So maybe its hard to be totally sure about your choice of macbook until you have seen quite what level of software you will need to run to do everything you need to do. But if you are reasoably confident that final cut express is the most you would need, I gues the macbook choice is safe enough. Cheers Steve Elbows --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Laura Moncur [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks to everyone! That really helped me a lot. Since I'm not doing any 3D rendering, just straight video, it looks the the normal MacBook with as much RAM as I can get will be the best for me. I'm going to try out iMovie and see if it's enough and then move on to FCE if not. Thanks again!
