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iMovie on MacBookPro with retina display

I plan to buy a new computer mainly because my 6 yr old MBP cannot playback 1920x1080p movies shot by iPhone4s (it can playback fine 1280x720, shot by iPhone4). My goal is not only to playback, but also to edit the movies in iMovie11.


So I went to Apple store and tested a MBP with retina display. I attempted to import a 1920x1080 movie that was sitting outside iMovie, full size. I got the same warning I get on my current MBP: "Selecting full on this computer may result in degraded video playback". I ignored the warning, created a project from the event, exported it back as 1920x1080. The exported movie did not look degraded.


Same result on MPB regular (of course, it only has 1440x900, but it still played it back fine, unlike my current MPB which has the same display, but significantly less muscle).


Now, my iMovie warns before I select the movie to import. I think the iMovie on the Apple Store MBPs did the same, but I am not sure. So I thought it was just a spurious warning but I repetead exactly the same experiment (same movie) on the 21 inch iMac. No warning!!!


The question is why would iMovie think MBP with retina display has a problem with full size?

I intend to do heavy editing in iMovie. Do I need to buy an iMac just to be safe?


I do not remember the format of the original movie, I took it from Final Cut events.


Thanks in advance

Posted on Nov 19, 2012 6:21 PM

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Posted on Nov 19, 2012 8:49 PM

That is a generic warning. The retina MBP is a great machine for iMovie.

6 replies

Nov 19, 2012 9:44 PM in response to AppleMan1958

Thanks again AppleMan (you answered another iMovie related question a few months ago, I think).


For complete peace of mind though I am curious why iMovie on iMac doesn't warn.


Also, I assume regular MBP works just as well for editing movies (aside from taking much longer to export movies or copy files)? I mean, it is the CPU and GPU that matter not HHD vs SSD, right?

Regading resolution, just because you only see 1440x900 doesn't have an effect on the actual 1920x1080 movie you export, is that right?

iMovie on MacBookPro with retina display

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