UPDATE: My 16″ MacBook Pro arrived last week and I ran a series of tests comparing the performance differences between the M1 MacBook Pro, a 2013 MacBook Pro and a 2017 27″ iMac. So, assuming you are like most of us to whom money IS important, here’s how to decide how to configure your new laptop keeping a budget in mind. Faster performance saves you time, or, conversely, allows you more time to experiment on the best way to tell your story.

Spending more money does not buy you greater quality or better effects. No one watching your videos will be able to tell which system you edited it on. If your budget is really limited, but your need for power is great, even the base model 14″ MacBook Pro can edit video successfully with high-quality. But that will set you back more than $6,000, and, in my opinion, even if money were no object, you are spending more than you need to get top-quality performance. If you have the money, buy the top of the line. But, compared to the MacBook Air, they are not cheap. Read the results here.įirst, these new machines redefine “powerhouse.” In performance, battery life, screen display and portability, they blow the doors off any other laptop in the market. As of today, we don’t know which, if any, of these is correct. UPDATE: Recent testing shows significant differences when measuring storage speed using Blackmagic Design, Katsura and AJA software. THIRD NOTE: This article looks at editing performance with 4K media on an M1 MacBook Pro. The results are surprising and can help you better understand what to expect from your new system. Here’s an article that compares the speed of a 2021 M1 MacBook Pro to a 2017 27″ iMac and a 2013 MacBook Pro. SECOND NOTE: Performance is a squishy thing. This isn’t an Apple Silicon native version of Media Composer as it is running under emulation but it is fully supported.

UPDATE: As of Jan, 2022, Media Composer has been certified for both Monterey 12.1 as well as the new Apple silicon M1 chips. My thoughts apply whether you use Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve. Instantly, I started getting questions about how to best configure these laptops for video editing. These new computers feature two new Apple silicon chips: the M1 Pro and M1 Max.

Earlier this week Apple released a major update to their MacBook Pro line of laptops.

Best imac for video editing