Blackmagic Forum

Currently, own a MacBook Pro 15-inch, Late 2013 (Processor 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB GPU, and Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB). Thinking about finally upgrading it to something better, since editing 1080p projects has become a struggle now a days. And overheating and battery life has been terrible. When the MacBook overheats, even web browsing is a struggle. So I'm trying to figure out what to switch to, and looking for suggestions.

I'd say that the overheating is causing all the troubles, the specs aren't amazing but should do 1080p fine. If your looking to save money I'd open it up and clean it out or take it to get serviced. It's most likely just full of dust and in need of a reformat.

Otherwise feel free to send it to me I'd love an old MacBook over my current laptop.

But yeah for a new purchase it depends on the budget, what your editing and how much ease you'd like to do it in.

I thought it was just dust in the fan, but despite cleaning it out, it hasn't improved I'm afraid. I think it's just the Nvidia GPU not really being fully supported anymore, because Apple is more on Team Red now a days. That, or Apple is pulling a iPhone slowdown because my battery is old, and only lasts 2 hours when just browsing the web.

You didn't say which NLE you're using for editing, but in any case the Davinci Resolve hardware requirements guide http://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/DaVinciResolve/20170818-d861a7/DaVinci_Resolve_14_Configuration_Guide.pdf has a lot of useful guidance when considering a new computer (laptop or desktop) for video editing. This is obviously geared to Resolve, but even if you're using a different editor it's still useful.

The main consideration is that unless you need to use a laptop for other reasons, video editing is likely to be a better experience on a desktop machine. And not a Mac Mini, although I've had no trouble editing and rendering short video in Final Cut Pro X on my 2014 i5 Mac Mini. For bigger projects (which I'm about to embark on), I'll probably need to bite the bullet and upgrade to a 27" iMac; not the iMac Pro but the top-of-the-line standard iMac.

Desktops are generally a better value than laptops, although with the iMac it's questionable because you have that built-in monitor; if Apple made a small desktop with all the computing power of an iMac that you could connect to your existing monitor it would be the best solution, but I'm not holding my breath.

My personal mantra is "Linux for laptops." Since laptops are expensive, my policy is to buy refurbished laptops for cheap and install Linux on them for my mobile computing needs. For serious sit-down work, I use a desktop.

Something to consider, the 2012 and 2013 MacBook Pro's had that cheap solder used, and if you have used it for any period of time, that could be the problem. The connections can get worn down. I had a 2012 and my video went out, well moved to a bunch of lines going through it. The machine was always running hot during the end.

New Mac's are good options though.

Resolve is a filthy, fat, pig. It's going to take everything you've got and before it finishes it's appetizer it's going to want dessert. As soon as I fire up Resolve my battery life drops to an hour instead of six or eight from casual use. Get a PC if you can stomach the archaic interface, if not get the best Mac you can afford and relegate yourself to limited pro app performance from beautiful machine.

Chris Chiasson wrote:Currently, own a MacBook Pro 15-inch, Late 2013 (Processor 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB GPU, and Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB). Thinking about finally upgrading it to something better, since editing 1080p projects has become a struggle nowadays. And overheating and battery life has been terrible. When the MacBook overheats, even web browsing is a struggle. So I'm trying to figure out what to switch to, and looking for suggestions.

The adventures of increased heating may be different but in the case of computers. Apple usually deals with too tightly placing internal components due to the compactness and lightness of the devices. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the entire number of components is located in a small housing, the heat release inevitably increases. If you do not pay attention to the elevated temperature, this will affect the battery life in the course of time, and may also lead to the breakdown of other components, for example, a video chip.
Check the resource-intensive applications
Applications that use mercilessly Mac resources are one of the most important causes of overheating. Sometimes applications hang or crash, loading the processor to the maximum and, as a result, causing increased heat generation. You can find hung and resource intensive applications through System Monitoring: all processes that consume more than 70% of the processor power are "gluttonous". If this is not the main tool that you are currently working with, for example, Final Cut Pro, which calculates the project, it is better to complete the process. And the resources will be freed, and the Mac will not get warm like this.

Howard Roll wrote:Resolve is a filthy, fat, pig. It's going to take everything you've got and before it finishes it's appetizer it's going to want dessert. As soon as I fire up Resolve my battery life drops to an hour instead of six or eight from casual use. Get a PC if you can stomach the archaic interface, if not get the best Mac you can afford and relegate yourself to limited pro app performance from beautiful machine.

Safe to say OSX interface is pretty archaic by current design UI/UX standards. Getting the best Mac you can afford these days means buying an "new" 2013 Mac Pro (hardly beautiful) or a heavily throttled MBR which is just thin... not really sexy anymore.

Many creative have switched to PCs throughout the past 3-5 years due to performance gains using CUDA, Win10 (or Linux) with many times a cheaper price tag. No one really cares these days if you have a fruit themed logo on your box, or even what the interface looks like, especially once you're in your apps doing your thing. Antiquated dots, flat designs and horrible finder windows be damned. It's about getting the job done.

Any device experiencing overheat will cause a lot of problems including it's performance. If it still can be cleaned inside, check it with Mac store if they are offering such kind of service.

I am constantly surprised by by Mac book pro 2017 with Touch Bar (full specs). They hit a sweat spot as the 2018 MBP are reporting huge throttles on the CPU. Get the E-GPU if you want desktop performance. But the value of four USB-C TB3 ports is priceless. On set, offline editing, and working at studios with out lugging around the iMac pro.

The most fun though is to be had with the iMac pro ~$7000 price range. I seriously haven't had as much fun in DaVinci on any other computer. The Vega GPU says it all.

That being said! Splurge on fast storage as this effects every aspect of the operations.