June 8, 2017 at 6:58AM
2016/2017 Macbook Pro for Editing
Before you ask, yes I want the touchbar. I don't much care if it's helpful, I just like it! Now that that's out of the way. Macbook Pro for editing: is it doable? Just as some context, I work with the Adobe suite so Premiere, AE, Illustrator, Lightroom and Indesign mostly. I won't be working with 4K a lot unless it is simply cutting and assembling and color in Premiere (so no heavy manipulation and effects) and I don't intend to get a 4K camera myself for awhile (I might however want to work with Black Magic cameras). I plan to do a lot of work in After Effects (motion graphics and instructional videos, etc), and I do work on a magazine and other design things.
So my concern is, will the new Macbook Pro's hold up? I don't expect them to be super fast on renders and exports, but simply can I work on the timeline without having to stop and without any stutters and lag as my current HP laptop does? Secondly, everyone will say a discrete GPU is better than Intel graphics, but in your opinion can I afford to cut that cost? How much does Adobe actually use GPU acceleration especially considering that I've read online that the integrated Intel graphics are now probably better than the discrete graphics card in my old 2013 laptop (which was a NVIDIA GeForce 740M).
Thanks for any advice!
4 Comments
Despite what all the gamers masquerading as pros on this site (including contributors) would like you to believe, GPU is largely irrelevant for most of your tasks, as long as you have a decent base one. You may see some gains in export and preview rendering with top end cards, but nothing major. Still, that base is discrete graphics. Either way, you want to max out your CPU and RAM, so the question is irrelevant, you automatically get the top GPU when you select the top CPU model. My 2012 pro handles 4k dailies just fine, I'm sure the latest and greatest will be perfectly useable. Keep in mind the resale value on the top end models is excellent.
June 13, 2017 at 10:07AM
Probably one of the best answers I have received to this question! Thanks! It's frustrating knowing exactly what to get. Even with RAM. 'As much as possible' is not a good answer especially when it comes from gamers/computer tech people who don't know the specific needs of NLEs, Resolve, etc.
June 13, 2017 at 11:35AM
Hi, Tavis. I´m with you as i´ll be upgrading to a touch bar MBP latter this year but i need to ask. Why stay on Apple if you main suite it´s Adobe? Can you get a "better" Dell or Lenovo workstation for a little less money? I´m staying with Apple ´cuz i do work a lot on Final Cut Pro and Motion (for the motion graphics i need to do, Motion serves me really good)... And i really hate windows OS. When using apple hardware you get the most of it, using apple software as well. Test have proven that Adobe Suite Apps works best on Windows machines... Something to consider.
June 13, 2017 at 11:42AM
So just as an update I have received a refurbished 2016 15" Macbook Pro with Toucbbar in the mail and I am pretty happy so far although I have done no real testing. I am going with the MBP for a couple reasons over a Lenovo or Dell. For one I have had absolutely catastrophic experiences with Dell and will avoid those at all cost. More than that I am just done messing with Windows OS for now. I love the flexibility they offer in that you can do most anything with them, and although 3rd party software stuff is AMAZING, it started to slow down my computer. I was finding random large files that weren't used anymore in weird places deep in my hard drive and even a factory reset didn't speed my computer up THAT much. Apple makes a curated experience and strives to maintain control of their property. That sounds like a bad thing, but for me at least for now its a good thing. It means I don't have to worry about as many factors. With windows based laptops, parts don't always mesh well together. With Apple, they find the parts and put them together that are almost made for each other.
I've heard that Adobe works for Windows better, but to be honest I've found its the other way around in practical usage. When out computers were about 2-3 years in my friend and I worked on a project together. It was a motion graphics project. Her MBP beat out my PC constantly. Prior to that I was under the assumption that MBPs just couldn't match the power of my laptop, but it did. And yes I had an i7 and a discrete graphics card whereas she had an i5. Even now I read a lot of articles saying Adobe is catching on to the fact that so many creatives just gravitate to Apple and are adjusting accordingly.
Finally, everyone has an MBP where I work. Staying on the same page saves a lot of time and effort.
June 15, 2017 at 1:31PM
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