FCP on 2011 Macbook Pro 13"

Except for Color and slow rendering of Motion projects, you shouldn't experience any issues.

I'd suggest going for the dual core i7 2.7 GHz for the extra $300.00.

That's just about faster, except for graphics, than last year's 17" MBP.

I'm trying to decive on the 13" 2011.

Primary use is photo (no problem) and HD video editing from canon eos cameras.

I've not completely understood:

color is not working at all or only slow rendering?

Requirements for Color:

Display with 1680-by-1050 resolution or higher; dual displays are highly recommended.
For rendering of 4K files and DPX: a graphics card with at least 512MB of VRAM.
For 32-bit rendering: a graphics card with at least 256MB of VRAM.
Three-button mouse for full functionality.

I installed FCS3, except for Color, on a 2011 i7 13" MacBook Pro yesterday.

Everything runs well, except for slowdown's in Motion.

I used DVCProHD footage, and I would image that with a good, fast media drive, trancoded HDSLR footage from a Canon to ProRes LT would work fine.

Thank u David, Color refused at all to install or u just dont need it and skip installing?

It's a big difference to me, if color refuse at all to install i must think switching to 15" ... but definitely i wish not to do it due to my already full bag of photo/video equipment when travelling and weight restriction on airport checkin.

Color's interface requires a higher screen resolution than the 13 inch MBP provides.

Ok, and i plan to connect when i am at studio with a cinema led to make serious work.

But i would like to keep all my work in one place (es not having to syncro between mbp and imac).

Assuming i make color only connected to a higher resolution monitor,
can i make color to run (even at slow pace as it's only the final stem on video editing and so i dont need real time)?

This is the real problem to me.
If i can make color run on mbp 13" connected to cinema led i order it immediately.

Color is not really a Mac app. It was a Unix based very expensive bit of color grading software that apple purchased and brushed it with enough Mac'ness so that it will work with the FC suite of programs.

One of the things that was not touched was the interface. The size is fixed. You can not alter it. If you have two monitors attached, they both need to be the recommended size. If you are mirroring, the size must match the minimum requirement. If the requirements say "integrated intel video not supported" it means just that.

There is a larger issue here. Until there are thunderbolt devices from AJA, BlackMagic, Matrox, etc to do the video conversion to feed an external HD monitor, running Color on ANY Mac (including those that do meet the video requirements) that doesn't have a slot to add this device is a waste of time as you have no way to monitor the work.

x

So, wait, how does Motion and the rest of the suite run then? Is it useable? What exactly are the downsides of running the suite on a new 13" MacBook Pro?

The 13" is the ideal machine for me, but the lack of a dedicated graphics card really screws things up.

Chasetastic: same for me.

The 13" is a real bonus with his lightweight and small format.
I already walk around with many kilos of photo and video gear that save some space and wight for the laptop is a GREAT bonus.

I even wish to keep all my work in one place just to save myself from doing double check on versions of my work on different machines..

So my ideal setup is:


mbp 13"
27" display at my studio
iPhone to make thetering on 3g connection to my mbp

I need to pp photos (no problem really) but even video.
Video is prevalently shorts and videoclip for clients from hdslr (canon) cameras.
I can definitely accept slow color grading and 3d effects but definitely need realtime editing of clips.

I've some experience with adobe suite premiere cs4 and ae cs4 but reading around i'm tempted on switching to fcp.
I know after effect can work even with integrated graphic (tested myself) and same do Red Giant suite of Magic Bullet.

Someone manage to install color on integratd graphic?

I've not really understood the thing aboud thunderbolt attached hardware to be able to use Color.

Same setup I'm going for, Max.

I use Photoshop and Illustrator CS5 daily for design work, but I hear that runs just fine; I don't really expect that to not work as it's not extremely intensive on graphics. Heck, my G5 tower runs CS3 just fine, albeit a little slow.

I really just am concerned Final Cut Pro will be miserable to use. But if it's just comparatively slower than a machine with dedicated graphics, I'm okay with this. If there's features missing or unusable though, that has me a little worried.

Final Cut Pro should work just fine. However, to emphasize what Studio X mentioned above, the MBP is not designed to be a finishing station.

*I'm really just am concerned Final Cut Pro will be miserable to use. But if it's just comparatively slower than a machine with dedicated graphics, I'm okay with this. If there's features missing or unusable though, that has me a little worried*

It runs just fine with DVCProHD footage and Pro Res.

Not an issue and hardly miserable.

That's really nice to know. I'm going to be editing 720p video recorded from my Canon DSLR, and doing motion graphics in Motion. I assume that would run fairly smooth.

Has anyone had any experience in seeing how the 13" i5 compares to the i7? I hear the difference isn't drastic, and any current generation Mac will be 10x better (quite possibly literally) compared to my super old G5 tower at this point.