Which MacBook Pro for Video Editing

[beefikeefi]

Hi there.
Hope someone can help me. Apologies if this is a really simple question.

I am editing video on Prem Pro and currently using my 2017 15 inch MBP with a i7 3.1ghz processor, 16mb of Ram and a 1tb hard drive. The graphics card is Radeon 560 4gb.
sometimes the machine really
Struggles especially with large projects or when using 4K.

I am looking to upgrade it and have 2 possible options and would like to know which one would be best and whether I would see any real Difference in performance.

thanks in advance for any help

Choice A
MacBook Pro 16" 2019 TouchBar
CPU:2.3GHz i9
RAM:16GB
GPU:Radeon Pro 5500M 4GB
SSD:1TB

Choice B
MacBook Pro 15-inch 2019
Core i9 2.4GHz
GPUPro Vega 20 4GB
Ram: 32GB
SSD - 1tb

 

[lclev]

If those are the two choices, I would definitely go with Choice B. The 32GB of RAM would be one reason. The other reason would be the faster i9 in the 15 inch. (Multi-Core benchmarks: 15" - 6812 vs 16" - 6655)
Screen size is irrelevant as I would use exterior monitors.

I have two friends who create 4K video projects on 2019 16" MB Pros. One model is an i7 with 16Gb and the other is an i9 with 32GB. Both perform well although the i9 is faster. Both love their MBPro's.
I have a 13" i7 with 32 GB that does an acceptable job with small HD projects but not what I use for larger 4K ones. I have a Windows desktop that does my 4K work. I am waiting for the next generation of M processors to come out. I most likely will upgrade if they look promising.

BTW: Just an FYI - all three of us use Adobe CC. One of my friends works for a large TV network and they supplied her i9 MBP along with a 4K Apple monitor which is a thing of beauty.

Lisa

 

[beefikeefi]

If those are the two choices, I would definitely go with Choice B. The 32GB of RAM would be one reason. The other reason would be the faster i9 in the 15 inch. (Multi-Core benchmarks: 15" - 6812 vs 16" - 6655)
Screen size is irrelevant as I would use exterior monitors.

I have two friends who create 4K video projects on 2019 16" MB Pros. One model is an i7 with 16Gb and the other is an i9 with 32GB. Both perform well although the i9 is faster. Both love their MBPro's.
I have a 13" i7 with 32 GB that does an acceptable job with small HD projects but not what I use for larger 4K ones. I have a Windows desktop that does my 4K work. I am waiting for the next generation of M processors to come out. I most likely will upgrade if they look promising.

BTW: Just an FYI - all three of us use Adobe CC. One of my friends works for a large TV network and they supplied her i9 MBP along with a 4K Apple monitor which is a thing of beauty.

Lisa

Thanks so much for the detailed reply Lisa.
my other research had also suggested that the extra RAM was key.
Do you think it would be a noticeable step up from my current machine as it’s gonna be an extra grand to upgrade.

 

[lclev]

I believe it would be a nice upgrade. BUT, if you decide to purchase one, I strongly suggest you get it from a place that offers at least a two week return period. When I purchased my 2020 MBP I ordered it with 16GB. I ended up returning it because it was not handling videos like I wanted. I upgraded to 32GB and like that. better. So if you get one through a project at it and if it does not perform as you need it to, send it back. You are investing a nice chunk of change so you definitely want it right.

Lisa

 

[beefikeefi]

I believe it would be a nice upgrade. BUT, if you decide to purchase one, I strongly suggest you get it from a place that offers at least a two week return period. When I purchased my 2020 MBP I ordered it with 16GB. I ended up returning it because it was not handling videos like I wanted. I upgraded to 32GB and like that. better. So if you get one through a project at it and if it does not perform as you need it to, send it back. You are investing a nice chunk of change so you definitely want it right.

Lisa

Thanks Lisa
Good advice. Will do.

 

[davefor]

The consensus seems to be 32GB so go for that. However if you're moving from a hard drive to an SSD as you've said then you'll also get a big performance improvement from that as far as general system performance is concerned. So I expect you'll be very happy once you upgrade.