Final Cut; Express or Pro

I just recently purchased a macbook pro. I am a film student and am wondering if I should try and get a hold of FCP or if express will do fine. As a student, I obviously don't have much money to be spending on this sort of thing. Anyone ever used both? What are the major differences?

well if money is an issue i assume express would make more sense, but pro comes witht final cut studio which includes motion etc.

studio does not come with pro.. pro comes with studio.

i meant that pro comes as a part of studio

Final Cut Studio also has a student discount price. Which is what I have now, Final Cut Studio 5 academic version.
It all depends on what you actually need. I for one, find myself only using FCP and DVD Studio. I also fool around with the Soundtrack program as well. I bought studio just in case however, cause you never know.

go to http://www.apple.com/finalcut/

scroll down to were the comparison is and make up your mind from that...

Would a 2ghz MacBook with 2gigs of Ram be more than enough to run Final Cut Express well? Would the screen size be proficient for viewing projects?

Greenredfield said:

Would a 2ghz MacBook with 2gigs of Ram be more than enough to run Final Cut Express well? Would the screen size be proficient for viewing projects?

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The 2ghz macbook with 2gb would run final cut express great...
the 13" screen is ok.. it is widescreen- good, it is 13"- bad

goto the apple store and try out final cut express on a macbook, for screen size only..



hope this helps..

Edit Xtreem

I recently purchased a MacBook, it's the 2.0GHz model with an 80gb HD and only 1gb of memory. I was curious, would it run Final Cut Pro? I know it wouldn't run it GREAT... but, would it even RUN? I know the MacBook graphics "chips" aren't so... great... so, just wondering.

iPolly said:

I just recently purchased a macbook pro. I am a film student and am wondering if I should try and get a hold of FCP or if express will do fine. As a student, I obviously don't have much money to be spending on this sort of thing. Anyone ever used both? What are the major differences?

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It's all in the name "Express" and "Pro"! Being a film student go Pro because it has all the extra features you will need.

Flash Fire said:

I recently purchased a MacBook, it's the 2.0GHz model with an 80gb HD and only 1gb of memory. I was curious, would it run Final Cut Pro? I know it wouldn't run it GREAT... but, would it even RUN? I know the MacBook graphics "chips" aren't so... great... so, just wondering.

Click to expand...

I run Pro on an ibook. It should work for you too.

sursuciofla-as a student, what sort of features in pro are you using that are unavailable in express?