Buying Advice for Newbie Editor

[Tubafor]

Hey All,

I'm looking to get FCP and play around with video editing for the first time with the idea of maybe doing YouTube videos. Currently I'm on a refurbished 2010 16" MBP running High Sierra 10.13.6. Unfortunately I haven't been able to figure out how to install FCP due to the outdated OS so I'm looking at buying a new machine.

I'd love to get the new M1 machine but am hesitant to go down to a 13" screen, though I've never run editing software so maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I've considered buying a used 16" but have been dragging my feet wondering if a new 16" might be hitting in March. Would love some feedback on this from people with more experience than me. Most feedback I read is from heavy users and I don't know half of the terms they use. I'm pretty mobile so really don't plan on using external displays and this is starting as more of a hobby than a profession.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Apple_Robert]

Since this is a hobby right now, I suggest getting the M1 MBP 13" and see how it works for you during the trial period. If you find it is too small and feel comfortable waiting for a possible new M 16" sometime next year, you won't be out any money and will know moving forward, that the 13" wasn't for you.

In my opinion, the worst thing you can do is overspend, especially on a new hobby. What works for others here may not work for you, especially since you will be mobile so much. The smaller form factor may come in handy. The only way to know is hands on.

 

[AustinIllini]

M1 MacBook Pro or wait.

 

[casperes1996]

I agree with the above, but would actually go down to the Air, honestly. All accounts suggest the performance difference isn’t that major between the Air and Pro and since the Air is cheaper and should still do the job, you could put the saved money away for an external SSD to hold media files or perhaps in savings for a future 16” M1X Mac if you‘ll not feel sated with the 13” display. And the Air is DCI-P3 now too anyway

 

[Ethosik]

What are your videos going to be mostly? 1080p or 4K?

If battery life is very important to you, I would consider the Pro over the Air. Other than that, both systems are pretty identical, just missing the Touch Bar on the Air and the added cooling mostly which really wouldn't be that much of an impact for you.

 

[Tubafor]

Thank you for the feedback! I actually woke up this morning thinking to ask the question of pro vs air. I recall reading that the air was very similar in capability but unable to sustain power as well as the pro over time but I don't know that running FCP is considered a heavy load. Good advice.

 

[IowaLynn]

Reason you aren't looking at M1 Mini? Is being portable reqd ?

Use large monitor, more robust internals for starters.

 

[Tubafor]

Reason you aren't looking at M1 Mini? Is being portable reqd ?

Use large monitor, more robust internals for starters.

I briefly considered the mini as a stopgap until Apple announces a timeline for the next releases but I'm just rarely planted at a desk. The more reading I'm doing, the more tempted I am to just go with the baseline Air for a year or two before upgrading.

 

[casperes1996]

Thank you for the feedback! I actually woke up this morning thinking to ask the question of pro vs air. I recall reading that the air was very similar in capability but unable to sustain power as well as the pro over time but I don't know that running FCP is considered a heavy load. Good advice.

While you're actively editing, unless you're working with professional camera codecs like Red RAW or heavy plug-ins, the editing is usually a "stop-n-go" type of workload, where it's heavy for a bit, then nots so heavy, then heavy for a bit, then not so heavy. - So it's not one long sustained workload. Thus the editing experience shouldn't really be that impacted I think. Export times maybe, but it's insanely fast in either case

 

[Ethosik]

While you're actively editing, unless you're working with professional camera codecs like Red RAW or heavy plug-ins, the editing is usually a "stop-n-go" type of workload, where it's heavy for a bit, then nots so heavy, then heavy for a bit, then not so heavy. - So it's not one long sustained workload. Thus the editing experience shouldn't really be that impacted I think. Export times maybe, but it's insanely fast in either case

Is that also true if background rendering is disabled? I know a lot of people like to disable Background Rendering not sure why.

 

[casperes1996]

Is that also true if background rendering is disabled? I know a lot of people like to disable Background Rendering not sure why.

I have background rendering disabled myself. It's just about control, really. I'll ask FCP to run a render when things get a bit slow, if they get a bit slow. Otherwise I'll just work on the unrendered footage.

But yes, it remains true. With the slight exception that when you do click render those renders can, if they are long, be considered a sustained load.

But honestly in most cases you could probably do a lot with unrendered material. In fact I don't foresee you even needing to do a render other than final export for a long, long time, maybe even ever.

I should also mention another reason I at least like to turn off background render, is to reduce unnecessary storage usage. Every background render is saved inside the Library. You can clear off the unused renders from within Final Cut and I used to do that regularly as library sizes exploded, but if I did an edit that didn't require a background render; Wound up not using that scene, well, now a background render could've resulted in 70GB that never had any benefit at all.
Mind you 70GB was a number I pulled straight out my arse on this one. But I have had a single library with a single project be over 400GB in size, and reduce to like 85 after removing unused renders and optimised media. I also recommend that when you finish a project, you clear out all renders and optimised media before you archive it for backups or whatnot. That material can be recreated at any time and only exists to speed up editing performance. Once you're done with the edit, you can clear it from Final Cut to save space and if you ever need to edit the material again, you can recreate it all again to speed up performance again if needed

 

[Ethosik]

I have background rendering disabled myself. It's just about control, really. I'll ask FCP to run a render when things get a bit slow, if they get a bit slow. Otherwise I'll just work on the unrendered footage.

But yes, it remains true. With the slight exception that when you do click render those renders can, if they are long, be considered a sustained load.

But honestly in most cases you could probably do a lot with unrendered material. In fact I don't foresee you even needing to do a render other than final export for a long, long time, maybe even ever.

I should also mention another reason I at least like to turn off background render, is to reduce unnecessary storage usage. Every background render is saved inside the Library. You can clear off the unused renders from within Final Cut and I used to do that regularly as library sizes exploded, but if I did an edit that didn't require a background render; Wound up not using that scene, well, now a background render could've resulted in 70GB that never had any benefit at all.
Mind you 70GB was a number I pulled straight out my arse on this one. But I have had a single library with a single project be over 400GB in size, and reduce to like 85 after removing unused renders and optimised media. I also recommend that when you finish a project, you clear out all renders and optimised media before you archive it for backups or whatnot. That material can be recreated at any time and only exists to speed up editing performance. Once you're done with the edit, you can clear it from Final Cut to save space and if you ever need to edit the material again, you can recreate it all again to speed up performance again if needed

Isn't the whole advantage of FCP is the background rendering vs how Premiere Pro uses? When it background renders, the final result renders faster. Which is why Premiere Pro, Davinci Resolve and FCP competing FCP always seems to win on producing the master files.

 

[casperes1996]

Isn't the whole advantage of FCP is the background rendering vs how Premiere Pro uses? When it background renders, the final result renders faster. Which is why Premiere Pro, Davinci Resolve and FCP competing FCP always seems to win on producing the master files.

It is true that the final export is faster when it is background rendered beforehand. But actually, when you see comparisons online of export speed, that's usually WITHOUT a background render, and FCPX is still faster than Premiere and often roughly equivalently performing to DaVinci Resolve.
It's a tradeoff. Background render speeds up final export and can make editing faster if your working speed allows it to render some in the background while you work. But depending on the machine and the used codecs the benefits vary. And you can always trigger a render ^R is my shortcut for a full render; I can't remember if it's default or set manually.

 

[jeyf]

of couurse consider a external monitor

 

[Erehy Dobon]

It's worth pointing out that many YouTubers have been editing and publishing 4K videos ON THEIR PHONES for several years now.

Whatever Mac you chose will have enough power to handle basic-to-intermediate editing.

If you are heavily budget constrained, I suggest you go for the Air and pick up an external monitor particularly if you plan on extended periods of working on multimedia.

From an ergonomic standpoint, everything about notebook computers is wrong. Small screens, wrong angle, poor keyboards, bad keyboard height, bad trackpad placement. Poor posture, bad for neck, arms, wrists, elbows, shoulders, eyes, et cetera ad nauseam.

 

[casperes1996]

It's worth pointing out that many YouTubers have been editing and publishing 4K videos ON THEIR PHONES for several years now.

Whatever Mac you chose will have enough power to handle basic-to-intermediate editing.

If you are heavily budget constrained, I suggest you go for the Air and pick up an external monitor particularly if you plan on extended periods of working on multimedia.

From an ergonomic standpoint, everything about notebook computers is wrong. Small screens, wrong angle, poor keyboards, bad keyboard height, bad trackpad placement. Poor posture, bad for neck, arms, wrists, elbows, shoulders, eyes, et cetera ad nauseam.

On.... On phones? This hurts my heart a bit, I have to say. I may just be too old for this **** (ha), I mean, forget the performance, editing on a phone sounds like hell

 

[Apple_Robert]

I briefly considered the mini as a stopgap until Apple announces a timeline for the next releases but I'm just rarely planted at a desk. The more reading I'm doing, the more tempted I am to just go with the baseline Air for a year or two before upgrading.

Many people are experiencing Bluetooth disconnects with the Mac mini, (re:Apple keyboard and trackpad and some others as well) whether it is the M1 or the 2018. That is something to consider.