Which Mac Book will I be able to edit HD Movies on?

Any one of these will be able to perform video edits. It is simply a case of being able to spend additional money for more efficient performance that may or may not be an issue for you.

http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro

Ciao.

Absolutely, the MBA can edit video. Understand that video does take up a lot of storage which might influence your selection. MBPs can be configured with 1 TB storage (1.5TB for the non retina 13" MBP) where as the MBA is limited to 512 GB. You might have to consider an external HDD for storage in the final cost equation.

Ciao.

Keep in mind that it's just not the machine as such, but that you want the fastest processor and at least 8 or (better) 16 GB RAM for editing/rendering video. Otherwise, you can go for a walk and fix dinner while the file is processing. Also, you will need to keep at least as much empty hard drive space as your temporary files in your movie project in order for it to render properly; my last one hour HD project had 150 GB of files in it until it was finished and I deleted the individual files. Also, most laptops have a 5400 RPM drive which is about 30+% slower in read/write speeds than an iMac (7200 RPM) - you may want to consider getting an SSD as a hard drive in a notebook. So, any machine with a fast processor, large hard drive, and plenty of RAM will do.

I know this is an old thread but I have the same question and want to make sure I understand my options and their benefits. First I'm not very computer savvy, I work a lot of hours (not in an office) which limits my educational time, I want to buy quality products that just work. Currently I'm on a Mac Mini 2.4 GHz, 2 GB 1067 MHzx DDR3 Memory, NVIDIA GeForce 320m 256MB Graphics, OS 10.9.5 software. I use my computer to surf the web (shopping), storing photos that are mostly uploaded to websites/blogs. I don't edit much because I get the spinning pinwheel whenever I do anything, open e-mail 4seconds maybe? I have video and won't touch it, I'm to impatient to even cut the clips down. I WANT to buy a GoPro and edit the footage and want a computer that can handle this with minimal lag. I'd also like to go portable with this computer.

It sounds like I need the fastest processor i7, most memory 8GB but what about the hard drive? Do I need a terabyte? or can I go smaller and use an external hard drive without performance suffering? Also is the 13" mac book pro a large enough monitor to see my work and perform simple edits? I'll still have my old monitor I could plug into when needed at home. I'm not a pro, just an average joe user looking to update. If there are other considerations I'm missing please educate me.

Thanks,

Gerst640a