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What’s the Best Mac for Video Editing?
May 24, 2024
Article on Cult of Mac: https://www.cultofmac.com/857100/best-mac-for-video-editing/
More Apple news: http://www.cultofmac.com
Whether you run a video production studio or you’re starting a hobby YouTube channel, you’ll want to make sure you have the best #Mac for video editing.
Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac
Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones
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0:00
20 years ago there was basically only one Mac that was really good at video editing
0:05
the Power Mac G4. These days with the advent of Apple Silicon, basically every Mac is going to be
0:11
good at 4K video editing. So the best Mac is really going to depend on whether you want a
0:17
desktop or a laptop or the size of your budget. I'm going to walk you through all of the options
0:23
Let's start with some of the low cost options. Even the base model Mac Mini, iMac, and MacBook Air
0:32
can breeze through Final Cut Pro. Now if you edit video professionally every single day
0:37
you'll probably want something with a little more oomph. But if you're just starting a hobby YouTube
0:42
channel, you don't need to drop thousands of dollars on a Mac. The MacBook Air is the ever
0:47
popular laptop that packs all day battery life and a super thin design that weighs only three pounds
0:53
But as the saying goes, don't judge a MacBook by its cover. Even though it doesn't have a fan
0:58
it's still a surprisingly capable machine. And because it's so small and light, you won't even
1:04
notice it in your bag with all of your other camera gear. It's enough to get a rough cut of
1:08
a video before you even get home. If you can't afford the latest model, you should at least get
1:13
the MacBook Air with M1, which is available from Walmart for $699. Any Intel-based MacBook Air is
1:21
going to struggle. Keep in mind though that with the M2 and M3 MacBook Air, you get an extra port
1:26
on the side now that charging can be done via MagSafe. With that extra port, you can plug in
1:31
an external hard drive, an audio interface, and much more directly into the computer. It's faster
1:38
more reliable, and less complicated than using a Thunderbolt dock. Even the base model with 8GB
1:43
of memory and 256GB of storage will be sufficient for cutting together a basic video. It'll probably
1:50
struggle if you're exporting an hour-long masterpiece with motion graphics, but it'll
1:56
still do in a pinch. On the new larger 15-inch model, you'll still have plenty of space to edit
2:01
video in Final Cut Pro with a pixel-perfect 1080p view of the content. On the desktop side
2:07
we have the Mac Mini, which offers the best value in Apple's entire lineup. It's a modular machine
2:13
that you can pair with your own desktop display, keyboard, and mouse. Unlike the iMac and MacBook
2:19
the Mac Mini lets you buy your own display that matches your own preferences. You can save some
2:24
money getting one in standard resolution instead of Retina, or you can get an ultra-wide or curved
2:29
display. You can get one with a special high refresh rate. I made a whole video all about
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picking the best display for your Mac that you can find here. The Mac Mini with M2 is the cheapest
2:40
way to buy into the Apple ecosystem with a brand new model. It offers plenty of ports on the back
2:45
and it's available for just $499. Of course, if you already have the budget for it
2:50
then saving money on the peripherals means you can spend more money on the Mac. And the Mac Mini
2:56
unlike the other entry-level models, can be upgraded to the Pro chip, which gives you more
3:01
CPU and GPU cores that'll speed up the video export process. And it adds two more Thunderbolt
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ports on the back. I recommend this configuration that also gives you more storage and memory
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for keeping more footage on the Mac itself. Now, if money is less of an object, and you just want
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the best of the best, that honor goes to the MacBook Pro with the Max chip, which doubles the
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performance of the Pro chip. Now, in the Apple Silicon age, laptops and desktops give you
3:30
identical performance when you give them identical specs. The question of laptop versus desktop
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mostly boils down to whether you can afford to spend more money on the equivalent MacBook
3:42
over a Mac Studio. Get you a Mac that can do both. A video editing powerhouse by day
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a laptop you can stow in your bag, carry around the living room, or watch shows in bed by night
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The MacBook Pro has another leg up on its desktop counterparts. It actually has a better display
4:02
It can still crank up to 1600 nits of HDR brightness like the Pro Display XDR
4:08
and for a fraction of the price, it comes with an entire computer attached as well
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It also offers ProMotion, so you get 120 hertz buttery smooth scrolling when you're just, you
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know, mousing around the interface. Now, when you're watching movies or TV shows, it'll adaptively
4:26
match the frame rate of the content. So whether you're watching a 24fps movie, a 29.97fps American
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TV show, or a 30fps YouTube video, it'll always play back as intended. The icing on the cake is
4:42
the built-in SD card slot. You can swap out the memory card with your camera and have someone copy
4:48
videos onto the Mac while someone else keeps shooting. It's the computer that can do it all
4:53
This 16-inch model has no compromises. The fastest available chip on the biggest display
4:59
so you have a real video editing studio no matter where you go, with a giant hard drive and a lot
5:06
of memory, so you can edit through a gigantic video project zippy fast. This 14-inch configuration is
5:13
more of a Goldilocks middle option. The smaller frame will make it easier to carry around
5:18
and it still has plenty of power that's a little easier on the wallet. Now, I said earlier that
5:24
laptop and desktop Macs offer the same performance when you get the same specs, but Apple's highest
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end desktop Mac, the Mac Studio, actually comes in higher configurations than you're able to get
5:37
inside a MacBook, so long as you don't need the portability. The Ultra chip, again, doubles the
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performance over the Mac's chip. That makes the Mac Studio the best pick for businesses big and
5:50
small. If your work is always done at a desk, you might as well spend your money on extra power that
5:55
you'll appreciate every time you export a video, rather than the portability that you'll rarely
6:00
if ever, take advantage of. Finally, I should at least acknowledge the existence of the Mac Pro
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While it doesn't offer any additional performance over the Mac Studio, the Mac Pro, really its
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sole reason for existence, offers internal expansion slots. So if you need to add additional
6:21
internal storage or a bunch of I.O. cards, you can pay an extra $5,000 for that privilege
6:29
So those are all the things you should consider when you're buying a Mac for video editing
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Remember to like and subscribe. I'm Diego from Gens with Cult of Mac
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