Macbook Pro for Adobe Premiere Pro / After Effects

[frenchtulip36]

Hi there

I'm looking to buy a Macbook Pro, and need to run photo and video editing software (namely Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro and After Effects) on it.

Due to budget, I've been thinking of purchasing a refurbished 13.3-inch MacBook Pro (2.0GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5 with Retina Display) - i.e. the previous generation of Macbook Pro before the new touch bar.

Does anyone have any experience of running these programs on the older generation Macbook Pro? Does it work ok? I noticed that 16GB of RAM is recommended to run premiere pro, but the Macbook Pros only have 8GB. Has this caused any issues?

Premiere pro requirements:

• 
  
  • Multicore Intel processor with 64-bit support
  • macOS X v10.11, v10.12 or v10.13
  • 8 GB of RAM (16 GB or more recommended)
  • 8 GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices)
  • 1280x800 display (1920x1080 or larger recommended)
  • Sound card compatible with Apple Core Audio
  • Optional: Adobe-recommended GPU card for GPU-accelerated performance
  • Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, validation of subscriptions, and access to online services.*

Macbook pro specs:

• Originally released October 2016
• 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display; 2560x1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch
• 8GB of 1866MHz LPDDR3 onboard memory
• 256GB PCIe-based onboard SSD1
• 720p FaceTime HD Camera
• Intel Iris Graphics 540
• More at https://www.apple.com/au/shop/produ...core-Intel-Core-i5-with-Retina-Display-Silver

Would really appreciate any guidance, experiences or links to other threads that you can share. Thanks.

 

[xbankaiz]

The 13" would simply be too weak for running the Adobe suite properly due to the RAM and graphics. If possible, try to find deals on the 15", although I would stay away from any of the 2016 models. Instead if you can find a used 2015 rMBP 15" with maxed out specs on eBay, I would suggest you get that. If not, wait a bit and see if there are any good deals on the 2017 15" models in the coming months.

 

[frenchtulip36]

Thanks so much! I ended up getting the 13, but reached the same conclusion. I had to render all clips to even get playback without lag on a project of only around 6 mins length, and rendering time was slower than ideal. I've decided to upgrade to refurbished 15.