A refurbished 2015 15 inch Macbook Pro with 16gb RAM costs a little bit less than a brand new 2017 13 inch Touchbar Macbook Pro also with 16gb RAM. How do these two MBPs compare for video editing? Specifically 4k on Premiere Pro CC 2017? Many thanks!
What connections does your camera have? Is there an adapter to USB-C for it?
I guess "significant" is relevant; the 2015 15" quad is a bit slower than the 2017 13" dual core in single core speed, but in multi core tests, the quad is quite a bit faster (and you'll be tapping into quad core performance much more than single core).
The 2015 15" quad is roughly twice as fast as your 2009 iMac, with the 2017 dual being a lot faster than the iMac too. The iMac should not be in consideration here (and I wonder if you really want to use it as a monitor compared to the resolution on a modern monitor and given the work you do....).
I really think the bottom line is that the 15" is the way to go. I don't know how many minutes on a given rendering project it would be, but if you're not patient, or if time is money....
Hi,
The 2015 has a quad core CPU, which is faster than the 2017's dual core. The 2017 may have stronger graphics, depending on which configuration of the 2015 you're looking at. To me, the deciding factor would be all the ports on the 2015 vs only Thunderbolt 3/USB-C on the 2017. Is this important to you?
Thanks for your advice. The specific models I'm thinking about are:
Mid 2015 15.4inch MacBook Pro, 2.2ghz quad core i7 boost to 3.4ghz, 16gb 1600mhz DDR3L, 256GB flash storage, Intel Iris Pro Graphics.
Mid 2017 13.3inch MacBook Pro touchbar, 3.1ghz dual core 7th generation i5 boost to 3.5ghz, 16gb 2133mhz LPDDR3, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650, 250gb SSD storage.
I'd be editing XAVCS UHD4K footage from a Sony A6500 - hopefully in native UHD4K, otherwise via a proxy before reattaching. Preferably in Premiere Pro, though I have FCPX too.
The videos I'll be making will be under 10mins long, with simple colour grade (possibly with LUTs), basic animated titles and a few cross dissolves / fades. No heavy VFX. Exporting as 1080p for web.
I'd prefer a smaller laptop for travel, reconnecting via Target Display Mode to my late 2009 27inch iMac as a larger monitor. The idea being the laptop will perform better / faster than this 16gb, 2.8ghz boost to 3.46ghz iMac.
Happy to buy a USB-C to everything else adapter to take with, if it means I can travel with a lighter smaller laptop. But really after ability to handle UHD4K straight from camera if possible.
So... with all that in mind.... which of those two MacBooks would be best for me? Would there be significant difference in playback performance and render / export times?
And are either of them actually better than my beefy but old late 2009 iMac?
Many thanks again! Really appreciate it.
Thanks again. V helpful!
The camera shoots onto an SD card, the contents of which I'd transfer via the Mac to a portable hard drive (probably a 7200rpm G Drive - or possibly an SSD drive). I'd be working from that portable drive for editing.
I'd be using the old iMac as a monitor for cost reasons - only having enough at this stage to purchase a new laptop, rather than both laptop and monitor (and potentially a portable SSD drive).
One alternative I've considered is to buy an older second hand 13 inch MacBook only for travel and proxy editing, and instead saving the bulk of the budget for a new more powerful 27inch iMac for desktop editing (assuming the current iMacs are faster than the 2015 MacBook Pro 15inch).
I'm not too familiar with how multi-core performance or 'multi-thread' tasks work, or when they're used. I'm assuming from your reply they're needed then even for simple editing tasks?
Many thanks!
SD card: The use of a SD card would lean in the 2015's favor with its built in slot. Of course card readers are also available.
SSD: Whether you get a 2015 or 2017, consider a Samsung T3. Great little SSD, which works with both USB 3 and USB-C. Of all my drives (at least 10 of them around here somewhere 😉 ) the T3 is easily my most favorite due to its tiny size and the fact that it's the fastest, even compared to two other SSDs. There are faster Thunderbolt 3 and RAID solutions out there, but speed costs money.
Older 13" and new iMac: If you can live with an older 13" (I hope you mean MBP, not MB; the last 13" MB was produced in 2010), the new iMacs are definitely faster than the 2015 15" MBP, and have significantly better graphics (dedicated/discrete GPU with dedicated 2, 4, or 8GBs of VRAM) than either the 13" or 15" MBP, both of which have integrated graphics. Plus, you have your beautiful 5K display built right in, and four times the storage capacity (but it's a fusion drive, not pure flash storage). You will have to budget for more RAM though, as the least you want is 16GBs.
Cores: Yes, editing is going to use multi cores.
If you can live with the older 13", I think you'd be thrilled with the new iMac as a main work machine.
You are a total hero. Thanks again!
So if I can get an older MacBook Pro 13inch to run Premiere Pro CC, then yes, you're selling me on a new iMac!
I've seen a few customisable 2012 13inches with upgraded SSD drives and 16gb RAM. As far as I can tell these fit Adobe's system requirements, but don't have a 'recommended' graphics card.
Do you think that means Premiere Pro CC will still be installable and run, albeit with v slow render times? Will it be able to create low res proxies from UHD 4K for smoother v basic editing?
I'd just need to do some lightweight edits on the go - essentially slapping stuff on the timeline for inspection - the proper editing would happen back at my desk on an iMac.
Thanks again!
ElliotOnline wrote:
Do you think that means Premiere Pro CC will still be installable and run, albeit with v slow render times? Will it be able to create low res proxies from UHD 4K for smoother v basic editing?
Unfortunately, I do not know the answers to those questions. I would post in Adobe's forum where you're much more likely to get a solid answer than here: Community: Premiere Pro CC |Adobe Community
Thanks again. I've posted on the Adobe forum - let's see what the response is.
For what it's worth, having also posted on some FB groups, it looks like it's possible to run PPCC on the 2012 MBP 13" - though performance will be 'sluggish'.
You're welcome. 🙂 Hope you'll post back with your experience with whatever Mac/s you end up with.
4K Editing: 2015 MBP 15" vs 2017 MPB 13"?
