HT3835: Final Cut Studio/Express: Compatible versions for Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard

Learn about Final Cut Studio/Express: Compatible versions for Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard
Yooper124

Q: Will final cut express 3.5 run on the newer mac os 10.8 or 10.9?

I am going to be purchasing a MacBook Pro when the newest model is released. I am wondering if I can run my Final Cut Express 3.5 with the latest operating system.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Oct 1, 2013 1:46 PM

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Q: Will final cut express 3.5 run on the newer mac os 10.8 or 10.9?

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  • by MartinR,

    MartinR MartinR Oct 1, 2013 7:50 PM in response to Yooper124
    Level 6 (14,891 points)
    Oct 1, 2013 7:50 PM in response to Yooper124

    You can try it, but there's no guarantee it's going to install or even run properly.  If it were me, I wouldn't do it.  At this point a new Mac will come with either Mt. Lion or Mavericks, and I recommend going with Final Cut Pro X, which is the currently released and supported product.

     

    FCE 3.5 was released in May 2006 (over 7 years ago, in the Tiger era - that's 4 generations of OS X ago).  FCE was discontinued over 2 years ago and is not supported on Lion or later.

  • by Alchroma,

    Alchroma Alchroma Oct 2, 2013 1:30 AM in response to Yooper124
    Level 6 (18,986 points)
    Video
    Oct 2, 2013 1:30 AM in response to Yooper124

    FCE 4 mostly works but as Martin suggests, 3.5 is pushing it with the later OS systems.

     

    Al

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Oct 2, 2013 9:51 PM in response to Yooper124
    Level 7 (32,034 points)
    iPad
    Oct 2, 2013 9:51 PM in response to Yooper124

    I've been using it with Lion and Mountain Lion and it is working well. It was updated to 3.5.1 via Software Update.

     

    However, you will have a problem with the installer as I got the "PPC applications are not supported" when I tried to install it in Lion after doing a fresh install (although FCE is a Universal application, the installer appears to be PPC). So, I followed the file locations in this article and moved every file from my Snow Leopard partition to the Lion partition into the same folder/location. Restarted and it has been working since.

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/TA38198?viewlocale=en_US

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Oct 2, 2013 11:56 PM in response to babowa
    Level 6 (18,659 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 2, 2013 11:56 PM in response to babowa

    You could probably use Pacifist to install it if the inbuilt installer refused to work.

  • by Yooper124,

    Yooper124 Yooper124 Oct 3, 2013 8:58 AM in response to Yooper124
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2013 8:58 AM in response to Yooper124

    Thanks for all your responses, as I need to make some decisions soon. I think that I will not use FCPEx when I finally get my new laptop. I have been using it here at school on our snow leopard imac..I like it. I have FCP1 on  my old G4 audio edition at home and it is what I am used to, but I am thinking of going to Avid Composer instead of FCPX...am concerned that Apple might decide to drop it.

    Thanks again.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Oct 3, 2013 9:43 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 7 (32,034 points)
    iPad
    Oct 3, 2013 9:43 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    Good idea - will try that if I need to do it again.