Which Mac to buy for iMovie video editing?

[Benny0001]

Hello!

I am looking to buy a new MacBook, and I plan to use it primarily for video editing on iMovie in 4K and exporting in 1080p or 4K. I also will be doing some occasional light gaming, like Minecraft and stuff as well as the standard web browsing.

I plan to keep this Mac for around 3-4ish years, and would like to stay under $1700 dollars but that's flexible and the cheaper the better. I don't want to get something overkill.

I don't buy AppleCare+, Nanotexture, or the bigger sizes.

Also I am aware the M4 MacBook Air hasn't been released yet, but I hope it comes soon! Definitely not buying M3 at this point.

Please help me decide which MacBook to purchase! Thank you in advance for your input!

 

[BeatCrazy]

Any of those will be fine, and perform identically.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Video is highly demanding as your video creation ambitions grow. More RAM is better than too little... more internal FAST storage means getting through projects faster (than leaning on externals). If you are confident that you will "keep 'em simple" for upwards of the next 7-10 years you might end up owning this Mac (in spite of saying 3-4), then #2 is right. However, if you anticipate growing beyond iMovie and simple creations into perhaps FCPX and more complex/ambitious creations, I'd aim higher... even if it meant saving my money for longer.

M4 MAX or perhaps M5 MAX if you need enough time to save to get into mid-summer, with 64GB RAM or more. If you have to sacrifice something, perhaps leave the internal drive at 1TB but then allocate some money to bigger storage OUTSIDE the MB in a fast Thunderbolt enclosure. Fast 8TB m.2 was as low as $550 this past Christmas, so you might save toward next Black Friday-Christmas and try to get 8TB and a Fast Thunderbolt Enclosure. Then that big storage becomes your "scratch disk" for video editing. Even smallish projects can fill up 8TB fast as your video creation ambitions grow. Only 1TB is relatively small for 4K video project edits.

Education Store? Refurb? Maybe there will be some M4 MAX closeouts when M5 MAX hits?

Again, if you don't aim too high, any of the 4 will probably be OK. But I'm yet to ever meet anyone who doesn't start with iMovie/Garage Band/etc and then never grows into FCPX/Logic/etc. What inevitably happens is the creative part of you starts wanting to do things you can't do with the simpler tool. So then you step up to the better tool and they plus your bigger ideas need more RAM and fast storage.

With Silicon Macs, you can't add to either internally later... so you have to anticipate the most you will need, probably out in about 2030-32 or so and try to buy that. Else, expect to be laying out another pile of cash to replace the entire Mac if you buy too little. You say you only want 3-4 years out of this purchase but if there's any chance that that doesn't play out, you may still be rocking it in 5-7 or more years.

If the budget is rigid, you might do better to buy a PC, where commodities like RAM & SSD are at market instead of 3X-5X above market. There are great video editors on PC too... and a far superior pool of games. A PC purchased for 4K video editing is going to have the horses for some big gaming if you crave any of that (and no emulation is better than emulation). You can likely stay at your budget and get more of BOTH RAM & SSD in a PC.

 

[Benny0001]

Video is highly demanding as your video creation ambitions grow. More RAM is better than too little... more internal FAST storage means getting through projects faster (than leaning on externals). If you are confident that you will "keep 'em simple" for upwards of the next 7-10 years you might end up owning this Mac (in spite of saying 3-4), then #2 is right. However, if you anticipate growing beyond iMovie and simple creations into perhaps FCPX and more complex/ambitious creations, I'd aim higher... even if it meant saving my money for longer.

M4 MAX or perhaps M5 MAX if you need enough time to save to get into mid-summer, with 64GB RAM or more. If you have to sacrifice something, perhaps leave the internal drive at 1TB but then allocate some money to bigger storage OUTSIDE the MB in a fast Thunderbolt enclosure. Fast 8TB m.2 was as low as $550 this past Christmas, so you might save toward next Black Friday-Christmas and try to get 8TB and a Fast Thunderbolt Enclosure. Then that big storage becomes your "scratch disk" for video editing. Even smallish projects can fill up 8TB fast as your video creation ambitions grow. Only 1TB is relatively small for 4K video project edits.

Education Store? Refurb? Maybe there will be some M4 MAX closeouts when M5 MAX hits?

Again, if you don't aim too high, any of the 4 will probably be OK. But I'm yet to ever meet anyone who doesn't start with iMovie/Garage Band/etc and then never grows into FCPX/Logic/etc. What inevitably happens is the creative part of you starts wanting to do things you can't do with the simpler tool. So then you step up to the better tool and they plus your bigger ideas need more RAM and fast storage.

With Silicon Macs, you can't add to either internally later... so you have to anticipate the most you will need, probably out in about 2030-32 or so and try to buy that. Else, expect to be laying out another pile of cash to replace the entire Mac if you buy too little. You say you only want 3-4 years out of this purchase but if there's any chance that that doesn't play out, you may still be rocking it in 5-7 or more years.

If the budget is rigid, you might do better to buy a PC, where commodities like RAM & SSD are at market instead of 3X-5X above market. There are great video editors on PC too... and a far superior pool of games. A PC purchased for 4K video editing is going to have the horses for some big gaming if you crave any of that (and no emulation is better than emulation). You can likely stay at your budget and get more of BOTH RAM & SSD in a PC.

Thank you for the well-thought out reply. I forgot to mention that ma video editing will be relatively light. I definitely don't need Max chips for what I will be doing. With that in mind, would you still recommend balling out and maybe even buying a PC? Or perhaps something a little less "power user" vibes? Thanks again for your help.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

If you are sure you’ll keep it light over all the years you own it, any of the 4 should be fine. Its just hard to keep it light once you get into video editing.

 

[Benny0001]

If you are sure you’ll keep it light over all the years you own it, any of the 4 should be fine. Its just hard to keep it light once you get into video editing.

Thanks for the reply! Do you moonlight as a video editor as well?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I do lots of video editing… starting in iMovie with “light” ambitions… on to FCPX with ever-growing ambitions in big RAM and big SSD on Mac Studio.

 

[Fishrrman]

4k video?

At least 32gb of RAM,
AND
At least 1tb of SSD.

 

[StoneJack]

16/512 macbook air m3 is good enough for 4k video including effects and transitions. I use almost identical m3 macbook pro 8/512 and it is great for video