2013 MacBook Pro - OSX 10.8.5 - Premiere Pro 8.2.0 - Software Update Before I Continue Editing?

[User]

Hello Folks.

I've been working towards a feature doc for some years. The project was organized and pre editing done using this set up:

2013 MacBook Pro (16Gb) - OSX 10.8.5 - Premiere Pro 8.2.0

I'm just back to home base with a small mountain of new AVCHD material that I want work into the project.

I am and have been wondering if I should update my operating system and Premiere Pro before continuing forward? I will be editing for the next 1-2 years.

I am not up to speed on what build of OSX (Mavricks, Yosemite, El Capitan) runs best with what build of PP? Can anyone in the know suggest the best bug free combo?

Would really appreciate some well placed expert advice!

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

I am on El Capitan, but use FCP X. It's working well for me. 

[User]

Thanks for the note Xavier.
I've read a comment about El Capitan that the ability to drag and drop files - something that has been a Apple benchmark - has been disabled. Can you confirm?

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

Drag and drop from what to what? Make an example and I try it.

[User]

Drag and drop a file (any file) from one folder to another.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but I could see Apple doing this. We need a new Apple.

[Mat Mayer]

My hard drives stopped working when I updated to El Capitan. Apple stopped supporting a certain format. Would not update again if I could go back in time. I got them working again but it took a while to figure out.

[Turboguard]

I'm on El Capitan 10.11.4 with latest Premiere CC (2015.2 "9.2"). No problems at all here.

[Axel]

18 hours ago, Mat Mayer said:

Would not update again if I could go back in time.

Well, here is the answer. Make a Timemachine backup of your current system (any external drive will do), and you are back there within half an hour if necessary.

 

Drag & drop works. Of course every new OS has some bugs. I always read bug reports before I update. But I update eventually. I have an office iMac with Mountain Lion, and though it's working fine it feels slow and antiquated in comparison. Staying with an old OS is not the Apple way ;-)

Since Yosemite, the most dramatic change is the appearance. The system font changed from Lucida to Helvetica, which is harder to read on low res displays but easier on retina displays.

El Capitan supports "metal" for most Macs built after 2012. Apples statement that it would make graphics up to ten times faster has been challenged, but an average boost of round about 30% has been reported, depending on system and software. My 2009 MP with GTX680 feels faster, but I didn't measure anything, may well be a placebo.

The most annoying bug, NO BLUETOOTH, has allegedly been fixed with 10.11.2. Don't know, use no BT.

I didn't find this bug description, but my WiFi and Lan-Connection failed reliably after a while since El Capitan. I tested different things and identified the cause: Adobe Flash. I deinstalled this. Only little AV content will not be played back through HTML5 (Firefox announced "Shumway", a plugin that will play the dubious rest too), and Flash is risky anyway. Do not install it, even (and particularly) if you are prompted to. 

 

[User]

Nice breakdown Axel. Thanks!

[Mat Mayer]

The main reason I still use my Macbook is to use Preview and screenshots. It is really easy to resize images. Doesn't seem to be an easy way on Windows. If Apple can make it standard to take a screenshot of a part of the screen and show the pixel size, plus allow to easily cut an image up and past it, surely Windows can do similar. Instead I am probably going to order Photoshop just to do this a couple of times a month on Windows, which seems like overkill (unless I discover a Chrome extension). The only other reason to use it is when out and want lightweight laptop with long battery. Want to ditch it for a Chromebook one day; Apple are too "premium"and awkward with things like transferring files.

[DevonChris]

10 hours ago, Mat Mayer said:

The main reason I still use my Macbook is to use Preview and screenshots. It is really easy to resize images. Doesn't seem to be an easy way on Windows. If Apple can make it standard to take a screenshot of a part of the screen and show the pixel size, plus allow to easily cut an image up and past it, surely Windows can do similar. Instead I am probably going to order Photoshop just to do this a couple of times a month on Windows, which seems like overkill (unless I discover a Chrome extension). The only other reason to use it is when out and want lightweight laptop with long battery. Want to ditch it for a Chromebook one day; Apple are too "premium"and awkward with things like transferring files.

Check out the snipping tool in Windows 10. Pretty neat as it works better than the Mac screenshot functionality

[joema]

11 hours ago, Mat Mayer said:

The main reason I still use my Macbook...It is really easy to resize images. Doesn't seem to be an easy way on Windows.

This free image resizer tool works great on Windows: https://imageresizer.codeplex.com/

[Axel]

4 hours ago, DevonChris said:

Check out the snipping tool in Windows 10. Pretty neat as it works better than the Mac screenshot functionality

Do you only know cmd+shift+3 or also cmd+shift+4? Can't be easier.

14 hours ago, Mat Mayer said:

Instead I am probably going to order Photoshop just to do this a couple of times a month on Windows, which seems like overkill ...

With Affinity Photo (Mac only), you can save the Photoshop fee. It was $39 last year when I bought it (you pay once & get all updates free). Now it's $49. At first glance, you think it's just an overly simplified PS clone that offers much less functionality. After you got used to the "persona" workflow you realize it lets you do the same things, and sometimes more easily and logically:

BTW: Affinity also brings back the functionality of the old iPhoto (indeed more, and better) to the crippled Photo app OSX now includes:

In german of course on my system. This is one of the Affinity extensions that Photo gets from Affinity called "Develop" (meant for raw). Develop is a "persona".

Some of the classic Photoshop tools appear if you switch to "Retouch":

These screenshots were both made in no time with cmd+shift+4, drawing a rectangle with the mouse and letting loose. 

[Mat Mayer]

10 hours ago, DevonChris said:

Check out the snipping tool in Windows 10. Pretty neat as it works better than the Mac screenshot functionality

Thank you. I was just using a Chrome extension before which was too limited, or the one where you do a screenshot then paste it in Paint. This is much better and I have now set it to open with CTRL + ALT + 4 so that it is as easy as with OS X. I think I can live without seeing the pixel size.

9 hours ago, joema said:

This free image resizer tool works great on Windows: https://imageresizer.codeplex.com/

Awesome thanks. This is so easy to use. Think I am going to be able to fully disconnect from my Mac now, which I will be delighted to do.

6 hours ago, Axel said:

...With Affinity Photo (Mac only), you can save the Photoshop fee. It was $39 last year when I bought it (you pay once & get all updates free). Now it's $49. At first glance, you think it's just an overly simplified PS clone that offers much less functionality. After you got used to the "persona" workflow you realize it lets you do the same things, and sometimes more easily and logically...

Thanks but I want to get away from Apple, I really despise them despite loving the experience of using a Macbook or iMac. It has given me the idea to look for something similar for Windows though. Adobe wouldn't let me add Photoshop onto my CC subscription as I signed up abroad, I think my current subscription may double in cost as I am back in the UK now, which would make Photoshop twice the price. Something like this would be more cost effective as I rarely use Photoshop type tools anyway- just for creating occasional graphics once every 2-3 months or so.

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

On 4/29/2016 at 0:42 PM, User said:

Drag and drop a file (any file) from one folder to another.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but I could see Apple doing this. We need a new Apple.

Drag&drop works perfectly, as ever!

[User]

Just now, Xavier Plágaro Mussard said:

Drag&drop works perfectly, as ever!

Good to hear Xavier. Thanks.

[M Carter]

If at all possible when you upgrade to a major OS version, stick it on a partition or a separate boot drive (clone your current boot drive and then boot from the clone and install the new OS and you'll see how everything will work through the upgrade process to actual real-world work). Test everything you can think of on the new one. if something's not ready for prime time, you can get straight back to work on your old drive. When you finally decide it's cool to switch over, keep the old version handy for a few more weeks just in case.

I assume most people working with this level of software are only using their boot drives for system, apps, and maybe email and invoicing. Maybe music and personal photos as well. That's really the way to go (and you should be backing up your boot drive as well as your raids and work drives). Keeping your boot free of work and renders and scratch files makes testing a new OS a lot easier.

[User]

29 minutes ago, M Carter said:

If at all possible when you upgrade to a major OS version, stick it on a partition or a separate boot drive (clone your current boot drive and then boot from the clone and install the new OS and you'll see how everything will work through the upgrade process to actual real-world work). Test everything you can think of on the new one. if something's not ready for prime time, you can get straight back to work on your old drive. When you finally decide it's cool to switch over, keep the old version handy for a few more weeks just in case.

I assume most people working with this level of software are only using their boot drives for system, apps, and maybe email and invoicing. Maybe music and personal photos as well. That's really the way to go (and you should be backing up your boot drive as well as your raids and work drives). Keeping your boot free of work and renders and scratch files makes testing a new OS a lot easier.

Well said M Carter. I cloned my current boot drive earlier today in preparation for this approach. Thanks again for the no nonsense, straight forward way.

[gsenroc]

Yeah, I make sure all my files are kept in a separate disk.

Check this out: http://www.macworld.com/article/1164891/mac-apps/keeping-mac-os-and-data-on-separate-drives.html  This is one hell of reason I like Mac OS, just like those Linux and Unix systems. Organizing files is a breeze. Actually most of the settings are still there after reinstall the OS if we do it right, saved a lot of time, and I don't need time machine any more.

I don't do upgrades anymore because it's actually quite buggy most of the time. Instead I just do a clean install. I normally spend about two hours for the install of everything and it's very easy with the above trick. Once per year for a Mac, doesn't sound too crazy, and it actually saved me quite some time from sorting out all the upgrade bugs. And sure the OS is blazing fast as it's a clean install, no matter it's Mac or Windows.

[M Carter]

3 hours ago, gsenroc said:

Yeah, I make sure all my files are kept in a separate disk.

Check this out: http://www.macworld.com/article/1164891/mac-apps/keeping-mac-os-and-data-on-separate-drives.html  This is one hell of reason I like Mac OS, just like those Linux and Unix systems. Organizing files is a breeze. Actually most of the settings are still there after reinstall the OS if we do it right, saved a lot of time, and I don't need time machine any more.

I don't do upgrades anymore because it's actually quite buggy most of the time. Instead I just do a clean install. I normally spend about two hours for the install of everything and it's very easy with the above trick. Once per year for a Mac, doesn't sound too crazy, and it actually saved me quite some time from sorting out all the upgrade bugs. And sure the OS is blazing fast as it's a clean install, no matter it's Mac or Windows.

…and after the last few major upgrades I've done, I've learned that grownups CAREFULLY SAVE THEIR PURCHASE CODES for plugins… the serial numbers or whatever, the download link, and a master list of plugins for everything, all in one place. It can be months after an upgrade and I'm mixing in protools and realize "that vintage comp emulation would be tits on this"… and it's not there… grrrr. Trying to remember to do that every time I buy something.

One thing I miss about the previous Mac Pro? All those places for hard drives. It was so easy to pop in an SSD and boot back and forth - and still have your older OS drive accessible if you needed to dig through the library or whatever.