Retina Macbook Pro for editing

[beachbum]

Hi guys, I need to replace my 3 year old 17" MBP. I am using FCPX for editing and I find that it will totally struggle when working on h264 files. It works fine on proxies though, but can't handle too much layers and filters/effect.

I am thinking of buying the 15" MBP and am wondering if i should get the version with or without retina display and if the retina display makes a big difference to editing? anyone tried editing using just the retina display? Do you find the high pixel density screen make 15" usual able for location editing?

Thanks!

 

[Pewpew]

The retina display doesn't really make a diff in editing, its more of the specs... intel HD Graphics 4000 + GT 650M + SSD drives = much faster/responsive editing.

it's not like you edit in 4K native yeah?

 

[eleveninth]

The retina display doesn't really make a diff in editing, its more of the specs... intel HD Graphics 4000 + GT 650M + SSD drives = much faster/responsive editing.

it's not like you edit in 4K native yeah?

u wanna pay 1k more just for retina?? u go down apple showroom and compare first. frankly to me not much of a diff. and with that cost price u can easily buy a more powerful
machine.

 

[beachbum]

Thanks for the replies. Ya, I was considering between the retina and non retina 15" version. Just that by the time I configure the normal version, prices are pretty close to the retina version. Was at nubox to check out, but they don't have FCPX with sample footages installed, so couldn't really tell if it was useful for editing or not. For web surfing, the retina really doesn't make a big difference.

 

[metalgear]

retina screen resolution helps you see smaller lines better.
so best application is in reading.
pictures are "fuzzy"... unless you are pixel peeping outlines, don't think you'll see much of a difference.
but best you take an SD card down to showroom and see lah

 

[eleveninth]

Thanks for the replies. Ya, I was considering between the retina and non retina 15" version. Just that by the time I configure the normal version, prices are pretty close to the retina version. Was at nubox to check out, but they don't have FCPX with sample footages installed, so couldn't really tell if it was useful for editing or not. For web surfing, the retina really doesn't make a big difference.

just open the imovie they have sample video footage on it.

 

[beachbum]

just open the imovie they have sample video footage on it.

Good idea! Think I will give that a try : )

 

[Sgdevilzz]

I am using FCPX for editing and I find that it will totally struggle when working on h264 files. It works fine on proxies though, but can't handle too much layers and filters/effect.

Do offline editing.

And considering using FCP7 instead of X. It's terrible

 

[beachbum]

Do offline editing.

And considering using FCP7 instead of X. It's terrible

I would need to do fast turnaround editing for the wedding morning highlights so transcoding is not a good option. I may consider Premiere 5.5 or 6, but that again is also as hardware resource hungry as FCPX.

 

[beachbum]

just open the imovie they have sample video footage on it.

Just tried out at nubox using iMovie and viewing the sample footages. The footages on the retina display seems a bit sharper compared to the 1400x950 of the standard display. However there was no shallow DOF DSLR footages for me to see if judging focus is any easier. Btw, the preview panel was kept at the standard size to simulate actual editing usage and not enlarged to fulll frame. On my current 17" 1920x1200 screen, the DSLR footages on the preview panel seems kinda of soft and I would usually have to put it to full screen to check for sharpness.

 

[iunspoken]

I would suggest waiting for a refresh of the retina macbookpros if you're considering the retina version. Technically speaking, these GPUs, even the desktop counterparts, are not made to draw and support this humongous amount of pixels on the screen.
Which means that if you wanna really push the GPU to its limit with filters and effects, you could potentially see a certain lag in the graphics on your notebook display.

My suggestion, get the non-retina for now (if you need it urgently), and get a secondary monitor for your preview purposes.

 

[iunspoken]

I would suggest waiting for a refresh of the retina macbookpros if you're considering the retina version. Technically speaking, these GPUs, even the desktop counterparts, are not made to draw and support this humongous amount of pixels on the screen.
Which means that if you wanna really push the GPU to its limit with filters and effects, you could potentially see a certain lag in the graphics on your notebook display.

My suggestion, get the non-retina for now (if you need it urgently), and get a secondary monitor for your preview purposes.

 

[Nikkiflosky]

I have the non retina and my brother has the retina.. While I can say that retina does give enhanced quality of images viewed, do keep in mind that the pic is only as good as viewed on individual screens, so even if u have an awesome image on a retina screen, the person viewing on an old compaq monitor will still think the image looks bad.. So in the end it's really for yourself if u want to have a good image render

 

[beachbum]

My primary interest in the retina MBP is for FCPX usage. For photoshop and all other usages, my current 17" MBP can still tug along.
Read on the apple support forum that FCPX supports the full 2880 retina resolution. So the viewer to preview the clips can actually display full 1080p. I think for location editing of DSLR files that would be really useful.

 

[Pewpew]

Nikki: totally spot on with the comment. Extremely important to add that in client education 101.
Beachbum: Your client type sounds really demanding, most don't last long sitting in an edit session... wouldn't an external monitor do? I hope the $'s or experience is worth it.

 

[benalmeer]

Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs. Tasks can be automated using projects, job queue and powerful scripting.
Regard's,
Ben Almeer,

 

[azl-128]

Why not upgrade your 17" MBP to a SSD drive? That would improve your laptop by 50% at least?