- Posts: 6
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:08 am
- Real Name: Nick Soits
It all depends what you want to do with your footage beyond editing and some simple grading.
The current M1 machines are entry-level models. Their strength is hardware decoding for nearly every GOP codec out there, so they'll play 4K H.264 or 265 smoothly.
Their limitation is limited GPU power. I wouldn't recommend a current M1 as your only machine on the long run. You may need processes like NR, which will bog these down, at least in 4K.
My wife has the MB Air M1 and is very happy with it, but she's a graphics designer and doesn't need heavy video lifting. Myself, I'm patiently waiting for the MX1 (or whatever they'll call it) for my next laptop, but I have my other machines.
If you need something now, like NOW, and only need HD for a year or, I'd suggest the Mac mini M1 with 8 GB RAM, you won't need to invest a lot.
I would recommend any good PC as an alternative, but strong GPUs are so expensive right now.