My Macbook Pro 2009 can't keep up with video editing (image and audio lag)

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Level 1

4 points

My Macbook Pro 2009 can't keep up with video editing (image and audio lag)

I was hoping to keep my laptop going until I had enough money to purchase a new computer without credit. However, I'm wondering if I can't prolong it any longer...

I need to edit a lot of videos in FCPX and there's a significant lag with the video and audio. I recently bought a new battery to see if that might help boost performance but it hasn't (I can just use my laptop unplugged now).

Is there anything else I can try before upgrading my computer? I need to make a decision asap because of all the videos that need editing and the problems I'm having are hindering that process significantly. I'm assuming that my laptop is just too old to cope with the demands since the software hasn't been able to be updated for a year either but maybe not?

Thanks.

MacBook Pro 15", OS X 10.11

Posted on May 9, 2019 5:24 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

64,682 points

May 10, 2019 1:31 AM in response to Demelza

I believe that the most limiting factor in your case is the gpu with the paltry 256MB of VRAM.

Your mac is still very much usable for most things but it is not very adequate for video editing today.

If possible consider a new(er) mac and repurpose or resell this one.

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Answer 2

May 9, 2019 7:05 AM in response to Demelza

We need to determine, if possible, where the major bottleneck may be - it could be the hard drive, or perhaps lack of RAM, or the GPU. Your mac is old, but depending on what you have and what you need to do, it may be able to serve you, or not.

In addition to what Tom asked;

where are you storing your videos? Hard Drive? SSD?

what are video frame sizes? HD? 4K?

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