MacBook Pro for Video Editing

[cnisbett48]

I'm looking into getting a laptop (15" MacBook Pro), and I'm not sure of all the specs that are best for video editing.

I currently have a mid 2011 iMac with a 2.5 GHz quad core i5 processor, 4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 memory, and 500 GB hard drive, but it can be a bit slow on playback while editing some things.

For the processor, should I go with the 2.5 GHz quad core i7 or pay $ 180 more for the 2.8 GHz i7? Do you think that the i7 processor will solve the playback issue, or do need to go for the 2.8 GHz?

Also, the laptop will have 16 GB memory. I'm not sure if that in itself may help. Lastly, I thought I'd go with the 256 GB Flash Storage since I have an external hard drive with 1 TB of storage.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

 

[pigoo3]

I currently have a mid 2011 iMac with a 2.5 GHz quad core i5 processor, 4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 memory, and 500 GB hard drive, but it can be a bit slow on playback while editing some things.

Are you absolutely sure you have explored all possible options with your current iMac? It would be a shame to ditch this computer…and spend some big bucks on a new one…if the current computer will still get the job done.

On the other hand. You mentioned wanting to get a new MacBook Pro. If this is the case…and what you are REALLY after is the portability of a laptop computer. Then this is a totally different matter.

- Nick

 

[cnisbett48]

I need something portable, so I am looking for a laptop. I just wanted to make sure I didn't have the same issue. I haven't looked into the issue too much for my iMac, but the laptop is my main focus right now.

 

[pigoo3]

I need something portable, so I am looking for a laptop. I just wanted to make sure I didn't have the same issue. I haven't looked into the issue too much for my iMac, but the laptop is my main focus right now.

Your first post made it sound like you wanted to ditch the 2011 iMac for a newer computer purely due to performance issues. But when you mentioned "MacBook Pro"…this certainly made me think that you were after more than just more performance. That portability was a factor (but this wasn't mentioned in post #1).

If portability is the greater concern…that wasn't mentioned specifically in post #1 (and probably should have been). Just saying.

As far as performance. The 2011 iMac (4gig ram, i5 cpu, 2.5ghz) was the lowest end iMac available at that time. So better performance with a newer computer should not be too difficult.

CPU benchmark performance for the:

- 2011 iMac is 7237.
- 2014 15" MacBook Pro with a 2.5ghz CPU is 14074
- 2014 15" MacBook Pro with a 2.8ghz CPU is 14701

In my opinion…the 2.8ghz CPU upgrade is probably not worth it.

What you didn't mention is…whether you were going with the 15" MacBook Pro with integrated graphics or dedicated graphics. The dedicated graphics is the more expensive model.

- Nick

p.s. As you can see. The CPU benchmarks are significantly better with the 2014 MBP's compared to the 2011 iMac!

 

[cnisbett48]

Thanks for the performance comparison! I didn't realize how much of an improvement has been made!

What you didn't mention is…whether you were going with the 15" MacBook Pro with integrated graphics or dedicated graphics. The dedicated graphics is the more expensive model.

I was thinking the less expensive integrated graphics would be the way I may go.