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Final Cut Pro transforms video creation with Live Multicam on iPad and new AI features on Mac. Learn more >
Final Cut Pro transforms video creation with Live Multicam on iPad and new AI features on Mac. Learn more >
I have a 13" Macbook pro with the 2.4 GHz processor, 4GB Ram and im still running OSX on it. What modifications can I make to run Final Cut more smoothly, its very choppy at the moment and is practically impossible to edit with it. Will upgrading to 8GB Ram help at all? What about upgrading to OSX Lion, although I rather just wait for mountain lion now. Thanks for any replys
RAM will help, changing your OS probably won't. Are you storing your video on a 7200 rpm drive?
~D
Here are some things to check:
FCP X 10.0.3 runs very well on my 2009 MacPro 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 16 GB RAM and ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB
First, check the spec of your iMac against the system requirements:
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/specs/
Particularly your graphics card. If it's listed here, it's not suitable:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4664
If you are getting crashes, there is some conflict on the OS. Create a new (admin) user account on your system and use FCP X from there - if it runs a lot better, there's a conflict and a clean install would be recommended.
Other ways to improve performance:
Keep projects to 20 mins or less. If you have a long project, work on 20 min sections then paste these into a final project for export.
Create Optimised media - most camera native files are highly compressed and need a great deal of processor power to play back - particularly if you add titles, filters or effects. ProRes 422 takes up much more hard drive space but is very lightly compressed. It edits and plays back superbly.
Hide Waveforms at all times when you don't need them (both in Browser and Storyline / Timeline). They take up a lot of processor power.
Create folders in the Project and Events libraries and put any projects you are not working on currently, in those folders. This will help a lot.
Move your Projects and Events to an external HD (make sure it's formatted OS Extended - with journaled on or off) and run from there.
The biggest single improvement I saw in performance was when I upgraded the RAM from 8 GB to 16.
Andy
What do I need to run Final Cut Pro X smoothly on my 13" Macbook
