Editing software on MacBook Pro?

Hi guys,
I am new to this site and just had a question or two. Well first of all, I plan on buying a MacBook Pro for college on tax free weekend. I will be attended MTSU to study electronic media production. So we will be using some type of software, I'm not sure which one yet.
I am looking to buy either the NEW i5 or i7 13" MacBook Pro. I have a tight budget so I can't afford a 15". I also am not interested in iMacs because I will be commuting back home on the weekends. I am highly skilled with FCP 7, seeing as how I've used it for 4 years in media class. I am wondering which program would be right for the MacBooks I'm looking to buy. I really want to use Premiere Pro CS6, but I'm not sure if the computer can handle it. If any of you have Premiere CS6 on the MacBooks I'm looking at, I would really like to know how stable it is. So if you guys could let me know which program would be great for my situation I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!

Before you totally write off the 15in MBP you may want to consider this

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel i7 - $1359 USD
Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel i7 - Apple Store (U.S.)

Apple refurbs are generally like new quality and same as new warranty

Thanks for the info! I completely forgot about refurbs! Now most of the video editing I do would be using a GoPro, will the hard drives be big enough to handle those HD files?

danieljag1 said:

Thanks for the info! I completely forgot about refurbs! Now most of the video editing I do would be using a GoPro, will the hard drives be big enough to handle those HD files?

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Yes and no.

My video processing needs are minimal and for personal use, but my understanding is that to do it right you need to use externals for your Video files and possibly a second external HD for the final product. This is regardless of what computer you use (Windows or Mac), unless you use a desktop with multiple internal drives, where again you wouldn't have your videos on your boot drive.

Yeah I was planning on buying an external not too long after I buy the MacBook. The one you are talking about only has 4GB of RAM, and Premiere Pro CS6 "recommends" 8 GB. Will there be any issues running with only 4GB?

Shouldn't be a problem, though may be a tad slow, but we always reccommend buying from Apple with the base RAM then upgrading on your on (much cheaper).
A decent site to check for RAM is OWC.

or newegg Ya i have a 13inch macbook pro and I love it. I upgraded my ram to 8gb and I would highly recommend you do the same. It makes a difference and currently with all this ram-eating software you can barely survive without 8 gigs!

Ya thats what I was expecting would happen if I bought a 13". I think I'm going to go with the refurb 15". Thanks for all the info guys!

GoPro footage is rather large, but you should really look at upgrading the RAM as much as you can. I have 16gb in my MBP and FCP7 runs like a champ and the rendering is automatic, no time waiting.

Can the late 2011 model MBP handle 16GB? It says "up to 8GB". And do you load the GoPro footage directly into FCP using the "log and capture function? Or do you use the supplied gopro software?

Apple lies a little bit by saying that it can support up to 8gb. I will probably support more but they dont supply more so why advertise it that way. I add the footage to a folder on my desktop. then after I finish the video I move the footage to my external so I always have it.

TheAppleKid said:

Apple lies a little bit by saying that it can support up to 8gb. I will probably support more but they dont supply more so why advertise it that way. I add the footage to a folder on my desktop. then after I finish the video I move the footage to my external so I always have it.

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ya they can support up to 16gb on the macbook pro. I have 8gb of ram right now and i plan on upgrading to 16 someday because I am a huge ram hogger and i just don't find 8gb enough.