How does iMovie perform on a Macbook Air?

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How does iMovie perform on a Macbook Air?

Hello. I'm looking to purchase a 13" Macbook Air with 8GB RAM & i7 upgrade with 256 Flash Storage. The main users will be students (8th grade an 5th grade) for typical email, web browsing, word processing, presentation creation and some moderate/hobbiest photo/video editing (iMovie or Adobe Premier Elements, Adobe PS Elements). I'm confident that the Air will work well for the standard tasks, but I'd like to understand how iMovie would perform. The Air has me intrigued due to its portability and lower price (plus that's the one the kids liked best). As an alternative, I was looking at a 13" MacBook Pro Retina (8GB RAM, i5 2.6, 256 Flash). It's about performance and longevity. Thanks.

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Nov 21, 2013 8:19 AM

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Answer 1

elikness

Level 4

2,640 points

Nov 21, 2013 1:12 PM in response to mikemoose

I've got roughly the same spec laptop as you have mentioned (256GB SSD). I've got an i5 instead of an i7. One slight issue was as I was exporting the fans came on and it's the first time I ever heard that on the Air. And it was LOUD, frighteningly loud. My recommendation is once everything's imported do everything to edit and playback and tweak. When it comes time to Share the video out, make sure you've got the power plugged in (if the fans are running loud the CPU is running full tilt too). And you may want to prop up the base of the laptop just to keep some of that metal on the bottom exposed to the air and not sitting against the top of the desk. More air will help the Air cool itself when you're doing the heavy lifting of sharing the final video out.

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