iPad Pro for video editing

[eez123]

So I am in the market for a new computer as my MacBook Air suffered a sad demise by taking a bath (literally). I am looking for something that can do light video editing of my drone video as well as go pro hero 5 footage.

I was in a Store that sells and repairs Apple devices, its a premiere or (whatever apple calls it) place so they have more knowledge I assume than some of the other stores that do repairs. After we figured out that my current MacBook Air was a brick, no real surprise, I was looking at the new MacBook Pro both with and without the touch bar which would probably be adequate for what I need, maybe even overkill.

I then went over to the iPad Pro models and asked him if editing video would be possible on an iPad. His response surprised me and he said the a10 fusion chip is faster and it would actually process the video faster than the MacBook Pro I was looking at (3.1 ghz 256k memory with the touch bar) and said it should be more than adequate for what I need.

With iOS 11 it seems like apple is really blurring the lines between the laptop and iPad as far as capability and I think the iPad would do very well as a laptop replacement in most regards.

Anyone have much experience with video editing on the iPad Pro? How is it and what are the limitations compared to a MacBook Pro? I understand you cant get final cut on the iPad Pro but for what I am doing final cut may be overkill unless I get more serious about the videos I am making.

Obviously the cost savings would be significant as well so that is a factor I am considering as well.

Thanks for any input.

 

[xxray]

Only limitation is the software for it really. It’s going to be as good as the software made for it. You can get some pretty heavy duty editing done using LumaFusion and iMovie is good for basic needs.

 

[GrindedDown]

So I am in the market for a new computer as my MacBook Air suffered a sad demise by taking a bath (literally). I am looking for something that can do light video editing of my drone video as well as go pro hero 5 footage.

I was in a Store that sells and repairs Apple devices, its a premiere or (whatever apple calls it) place so they have more knowledge I assume than some of the other stores that do repairs. After we figured out that my current MacBook Air was a brick, no real surprise, I was looking at the new MacBook Pro both with and without the touch bar which would probably be adequate for what I need, maybe even overkill.

I then went over to the iPad Pro models and asked him if editing video would be possible on an iPad. His response surprised me and he said the a10 fusion chip is faster and it would actually process the video faster than the MacBook Pro I was looking at (3.1 ghz 256k memory with the touch bar) and said it should be more than adequate for what I need.

With iOS 11 it seems like apple is really blurring the lines between the laptop and iPad as far as capability and I think the iPad would do very well as a laptop replacement in most regards.

Anyone have much experience with video editing on the iPad Pro? How is it and what are the limitations compared to a MacBook Pro? I understand you cant get final cut on the iPad Pro but for what I am doing final cut may be overkill unless I get more serious about the videos I am making.

Obviously the cost savings would be significant as well so that is a factor I am considering as well.

Thanks for any input.

I used LumaFusion to do some extensive editing on some YouTube videos and I gotta say that it is a really powerful piece of software. Not only that, but the developers are very active with updates and there is a small thriving community for support, feature suggestion, bug fixes etc.

Seriously, since it launched in I think January, they've pushed out 4 major updates that introduced a ton of key features. They actually just pushed a huge one out that handles more extensive audio editing.

The software is starting to rival a lot of smaller desktop video editing platforms. If your work does not demand that you have adobe premiere or final cut and the extensive tools they offer, lumafusion may just be the thing for you. It has everything you'll most likely need.

File handling is a little wonky, but getting a lot better it looks like with iOS 11.

 

[GrindedDown]

Fwiw, I did a lot of this on both my 7 plus and my 2015 iPad Pro. I just upgraded to the 10.5 and honestly, the software is blazing fast. Easiest $20 spent on the App Store.

 

[Eric5273]

You should be fine with the iPad Pro. The big challenge is to find the right third party apps that help you work most efficiently. That includes a good app for file management, and other utility programs that are typically not needed on a PC or Mac. On the iPad they are out there, but you need to find them. In my experience of using an iPad Pro as my only computer for about a year and a half, the iPad can pretty much do anything you need if you find the right combination of apps.

 

[Romac]

I've switched exclusively to an iPad Pro (9.7 first and now the 10.5) with LumaFusion. It's been amazingly fast and powerful all things considered and would probably be perfect for what you're trying to do! Be sure to grab the lightning to ad adapter to transfer files from the GoPro to your iPad.

 

[eez123]

I've switched exclusively to an iPad Pro (9.7 first and now the 10.5) with LumaFusion. It's been amazingly fast and powerful all things considered and would probably be perfect for what you're trying to do! Be sure to grab the lightning to ad adapter to transfer files from the GoPro to your iPad.

Thanks for the vote of confidence on the iPad Pro and the other replies about Lumafusion