Smartest MacBook option for editing BRAW in Premiere

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Grandemo

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  • Real Name: Emil Erstrand

Smartest MacBook option for editing BRAW in Premiere

PostFri Mar 08, 2024 10:13 am

Hi guys. I'm about to invest in a new Macbook – which I will use to edit my 4/6K BRAW footage from my BMP4K (will say that I'm also going to invest in another camera in the near future, probably the 6KFF). Looking for some advice and bet there are people here with the right experience and knowledge.

At the moment I'm using Premiere on a base model Macbook Air (might be worth taking in consideration).

These are the options I'm looking at:

M3 Max 16' (around $5450)
16 core
48 GB RAM
40 core GPU
1 TB

M2 Max 16' - refurbed - (around $4540)
12 core
64 GB RAM
38 GB GPU
1 TB

M1 Max 16' - refurbed - (around $3970)
M1 Max
64 GB RAM
38 core GPU
1 TB

What would you say is the smartest option here? I'll add that my budget ends somewhere around the price of the M3 above.

Also: has anyone experience with he Refurbed-site? I'd be buying from the Swedish version of the site.

REALLY thankful for all the input and guidance I can get! Thank you!
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Uli Plank

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Re: Smartest MacBook option for editing BRAW in Premiere

PostFri Mar 08, 2024 4:37 pm

Why not use DR on that MB Air? My wife's M2 has 16 GB RAM and works pretty well with BRAW in an UHD timeline. With a bit more grading, she switches to HD, but rendering still works without a hitch in UHD.
Do you desperately need the portability? For that amount of money you can get a desktop PC that leaves all three in the dust.
That said, M2 or M3 doesn't make much of a difference for video. But if you ever plan to run DR on that laptop, get at least 1.5, even better 2 GB per GPU core. Better take the older processor and up the RAM, or your machine may need a new Mobo too early.
Finally, refurb machines from Apple are very good, we have quite often gone refurb. All of the ones we bought were looking shiny and new.
Now that the cat #19 is out of the bag, test it as much as you can and use the subforum.

Studio 18.6.6, MacOS 13.6.6, 2017 iMac, 32 GB, Radeon Pro 580
MacBook M1 Pro, 16 GPU cores, 32 GB RAM and iPhone 15 Pro
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