About to buy a laptop + finalcut pro x

F

Fever Dreamer

Hi
I'm midway shooting a feature film , all going great, tons of hard work but so satisfying. In the past I have relied on friends to edit my short films on their computers and have yet to edit anything myself.
Now this is where I'm getting out of my depth. I was thinking of buying an Apple macbook laptop and getting Final cut pro x. I'm completely not a techy person but have to learn as I was thinking of editing the film myself. Any suggestions on what I should look for in a laptop GB etc and how easy/hard is it to get to grips with editing..Budget is around £2,000 hopefully less for laptop/final cut.. Thanks in advance from this complete newbie. :)
 
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get one with a GPU that can run Resolve.

It's the go-to program for color correction and color grading - the final step in an indie editors workflow.
 
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unless portability is really important i would consider a desktop.
it's hard to upgrade a laptop in case you make a mistake with your order. you'll be stuck.
 
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Fever Dreamer said:
what's GPU?
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Try THIS link.

FCPX has nice color grading/correction ability. Resolve is
better. But you can do fine color grading with FCPX



Fever Dreamer said:
Hi
Any suggestions on what I should look for in a laptop GB etc and how easy/hard is it to get to grips with editing..
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Get the most powerful laptop you can afford. Get a separate
hard drive to store all your media. RAM is more important them storage.
 
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Fever Dreamer said:
Hi
I'm midway shooting a feature film on a Canon 60d, all going great, tons of hard work but so satisfying. In the past I have relied on friends to edit my short films on their computers and have yet to edit anything myself.
Now this is where I'm getting out of my depth. I was thinking of buying an Apple macbook laptop and getting Final cut pro x. I'm completely not a techy person but have to learn as I was thinking of editing the film myself. Any suggestions on what I should look for in a laptop GB etc and how easy/hard is it to get to grips with editing..Budget is around £2,000 hopefully less for laptop/final cut.. Thanks in advance from this complete newbie. :)
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Hey congrats on the progress of your feature, and welcome to the wonderful world of filmmaking!

I know this isn't the answer you're looking for, but on your budget I'd recommend a PC and Adobe Premiere. I do realize that a lot of people are loyal to Macs and that's fine, we all have our preferences, so should you choose to stick with Mac more power to ya.

I'm sorry I can't answer your question, I'm a PC guy. Regardless, I wish you the best of luck, and I look forward to seeing what you make of it! :D
 
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Cracker Funk said:
Hey congrats on the progress of your feature, and welcome to the wonderful world of filmmaking!

I know this isn't the answer you're looking for, but on your budget I'd recommend a PC and Adobe Premiere. I do realize that a lot of people are loyal to Macs and that's fine, we all have our preferences, so should you choose to stick with Mac more power to ya.

I'm sorry I can't answer your question, I'm a PC guy. Regardless, I wish you the best of luck, and I look forward to seeing what you make of it! :D
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I'll probably will go with buying a 13 inch apple macbook & getting FCPX as I need to travel w/it..though I do realize many seem to prefere Adobe premier! Thanks a lot, best w/ yr own projects also.
 
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FCPX is a very capable program. It's still missing some features that some users want/need (namely OMF export amongst a range of others), but it's still very capable.

It's a different way of thinking about your edit than something like Premiere. I's great on some jobs, and acceptable at best on others.

Give it a go, see what you think. As said - get the best you can afford. 60D footage will be fine on any of the latest Macbooks.
 
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Fever Dreamer said:
I'll probably will go with buying a 13 inch apple macbook & getting FCPX as I need to travel w/it..though I do realize many seem to prefere Adobe premier! Thanks a lot, best w/ yr own projects also.
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When I said PC, I didn't mean desktop, but laptop. They're super-affordable, and with Premiere, you don't have to purchase the software outright, in fact you can't. Premiere can only be had via a subscription, and I personally love that. There's no contract, I just use it when I need it. And yes, it's the best software I've ever worked with.
 
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doing some research I'm a bit worried now about editing on a laptop..is it really feasable to do so..has anyone here edited a feature film or documentary using just a laptop? what should be the minimum at best regarding Ram ,GB etc thanks
 
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I haven't edited on a laptop, but I edited a feature film on a desktop that matched the specs of modern laptops (2.1 dual-core, 4gb RAM, no video card). It wasn't the most pleasant experience of my life, but I got it done. So yes, there are better options for you, but your plan will work.
 
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Cracker Funk said:
I haven't edited on a laptop, but I edited a feature film on a desktop that matched the specs of modern laptops (2.1 dual-core, 4gb RAM, no video card). It wasn't the most pleasant experience of my life, but I got it done. So yes, there are better options for you, but your plan will work.
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thanks..that's a bit reassuring..Having 0 experience w/ post production/editing,I assumed that indie filmmakers were now using laptops to edit feature films,but doing a little research I haven't really found this to be the case.. Was thinking of getting the Apple macbook pro 15 inch https://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-MacB...962&sr=8-1&keywords=apple+macbook+pro+15+inch does this have enough power and everything required for an edit on a feature w/FCPX installed? thnx
 
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That hard-drive is way too small to edit a feature. I question whether or not you know how much money you'd save by coming over to the PC side. That's money you could use for other things.
 
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Fever Dreamer said:
doing some research I'm a bit worried now about editing on a laptop..is it really feasable to do so..has anyone here edited a feature film or documentary using just a laptop? what should be the minimum at best regarding Ram ,GB etc thanks
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Minimum RAM is 4GB - the more the better. 8 is much
better 16 is optimum. 1TB of storage is usually enough.
Get the most you can afford.

I have never used only a laptop for editing a feature. I
always use separate storage for the footage so I jump
back and forth. But it is quite feasible to do so.
 
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