Apple releases 16 in MacBook Pro with better thermals!

[Django]

Yeah the whole point of upgrading is to say adios to proxy workflows etc..

That said I'm going back & forth myself with various (Mac) options but also including a Lenovo ThinkPad / ThinkStation for my pro audio/video needs.

Lenovo is the only PC brand that imo competes with apple (no surprise they used to be IBM) on specs/reliability/design etc.

The new ThinkPad P1 Gen 2 offers Xeon/i9's, dual SSD drive options, 4K OLED display (!), a multitude of I/Os (USB-C, USB3, SD card reader etc), arguably the best keybed experience and of course upgradability. In a rather sleek sexy black matte carbon package:

That's all pretty sweet for a laptop VS the 16" MBP and the 4 USB-C ports forcing you to always have dongles connected etc..

I have no idea though performance" wise what that laptop is capable of compared to a MBP 16" and again I'm really weary going back to PC land because of virii, hardware compatibility issues etc. but damn I'm pretty tempted to pull the trigger (crazy cyber monday deal too at the moment!) especially considering I don't use FCPX or Logic.

[Paul Jonathan]

This thread seems to be getting waaaay off-topic, this is about video editing on the new 16" MBP, not the old windows vs mac or laptop vs tower discussion, smh..

So if anyone is actually in possession of the new Macbook Pro and can share some experiences regarding workflow in FCP, Premiere and DaVinci that would be very interesting, in particular in regards to the different configurations offered.

[Django]

You can't talk about the new MBP without talking about its potential shortcomings and alternatives. Just like in any other gear thread. 

I understand it might be annoying if you have no interest in switching systems but it's inevitable these things will be brought up.

Btw, a pretty thorough video was already posted showing the video editing performance increase you can expect with the new MBP.

[Turboguard]

I bought the maxed out model.

2.4GHz 8-core i9 (5GHz turbo)

Radeon Pro 5500M 8GDDR

64GB RAM

 

Will be receiving it this week as I'm bringing work on my holiday travels.

 

Usually work on my iMac Pro:

3.0GHz 10-core Intel Xeon W (4.5GHz turbo)

Radeon Pro Vega 64 16GB HBM2

64GB RAM

 

Will be exciting to compare as I've had zero issues working on my iMac Pro so far. And I'll be gone for 3 weeks to work on the new MBP so will def get an extensive trial of it's capabilities.

 

 

[kaylee]

8 hours ago, Dimitris Stasinos said:

Hi guys, i will repeat my self once again just to make sure that you have been warned about this.

Three out of four 16 inch units are producing pop sounds through their speakers during media playback.

I have a 2019 15 inch model and it does this too, but the 16 inch models are producing louder pop sounds due to the new speaker design.

This is by 90% a software issue but it's not known when and "if" Apple will resolve this through a software update. So maybe you should wait for a couple of months.

If you are ready to spend 3000$ on one of those units, please take some time to read my thread on Apple's site before stepping in an Apple store:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250758649?answerId=251719472022&page=1

I opened the above thread regarding my 15 inch unit's problem but many early adopters of the 16 inch laptop came in to report the same issue. 

I have uploaded 2 videos on YT demonstrating the issue. You will find the links there (there are 4 pages, read them all). In the second video you will see that during an editing session inside FCPX you will hear thousands of pops by just skimming through your media. There is a workaround but it will drain your battery faster.

 

thank you for reiterating this. that popping sound would drive me fn crazy

[kye]

13 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Yeah but after me bigging that route up, I've just been transcoding some footage on my cheap MacBook Air and...

Yeah..   notice I said "checking footage and copying files" NOT transcoding!!

and some degree of "checking" doesn't even require the ability to play the footage, you can still check exposure and stuff like that on a low powered machine  

On 11/15/2019 at 4:18 PM, Xavier Plágaro Mussard said:

Being poor I have tried so hard to like DaVinci, but I can't. FCP X is so smooth even in my late 2013 Macbook. These new Macbooks seem good, I can't understand how they can legally sell soldered RAMs and SSDs. Oh, they don't even pay taxes...

Does FCPX render proxies on import?  IIRC I heard that "importing" your footage takes hours?

Resolve doesn't do that, it just goes <link> and it's there.  Rendering proxies is easy, but you have to do it manually.  After that it runs super-smooth.

Of course, of you like FCPX better, then no worries, each NLE has strengths and weaknesses and suit different workflows better.

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

Truth is I never use proxy. But I think you can import your footage, asking to make Proxy versions. While those are being rendered, you can just edit in Original/Optimized mode. 4K 50p and h265 surpass my old Macbook capabilities. I should use Proxy for those. But I hope I will be able to get a Mac Mini or an iMac with six cores. 

[kye]

Yeah, I'd edit without proxies if I could, but I prioritised portability and light weight over pure grunt, so it's proxies for me.

Of course if it really mattered to me then I could shoot in 1080, use the 10-bit ALL-I mode on the GH5 and it would cut like butter, but.... 4k makes a difference  

[jpfilmz]

On 12/2/2019 at 9:51 AM, Paul Jonathan said:

This thread seems to be getting waaaay off-topic, this is about video editing on the new 16" MBP, not the old windows vs mac or laptop vs tower discussion, smh..

So if anyone is actually in possession of the new Macbook Pro and can share some experiences regarding workflow in FCP, Premiere and DaVinci that would be very interesting, in particular in regards to the different configurations offered.

Mine arrived early today.  So far its great.  In premiere 2020 i can multicam edit non choppy 4 streams on a 4k sequence.  c100mk 2 upscaled, uhd braw converted prores, xc10 4k, and bmpcc original up scaled.  Before on the 2018 560x this would choke up after a few secs of multicam editing.  All smooth now.

[Paul Jonathan]

@jpfilmz awesome, thanks for the update. Any DaVinci experience already?

I've been reading online that the 2.3 vs the 2.4 ghz 8-cores don't really make much of a difference given same memory and graphics. Wouldn't mind saving those 200 bucks if true. Can you perhaps provide some screenshots of your processor usage under load?

[Paul Jonathan]

@jpfilmz and could you perhaps try to monitor the memory usage as well? Would be interesting to see if DaVinci and Premiere take advantage of the 64 gigs memory, or if the processor bottlenecks before that..

[hoodlum]

On 11/14/2019 at 10:22 AM, Dimitris Stasinos said:

Guys, believe me the latest MacBook Pro generations are total garbage. After too much scepticism I finally decided to pull the trigger on an almost maxed out 2019 model.

Just 3 months ago i ordered a BTO Macbook 2019 with 32 GB Ram and a Vega 20 inside.

The first thing i noticed was the crappy butterfly keyboard but i already knew the story so I ordered a silicone cover to protect it from dust.

Then while installing my apps i noticed that the right speaker was producing a pop sound every 30-60 seconds. After an extensive research i found out that this is a common problem with 2018-19 MacBook generations and Apple refuses to investigate the cause of this issue and fix it. You can find many videos demonstrating this issue on the net. Here is mine:

 

The audio popping in my case is constant. On the video above you can see just a way to replicate this. Working with Final Cut is a nightmare as every time the cursor is falling on a clip or the timeline a pop is produced from the right speaker.

Almost every 2019 model produces this pop while playing - skipping any type of media, although in a different volume. If there is a volume threshold where this is starting to annoy you, mine is over that. I visited 3 different Apple stores and i could clearly listen the pop on their display machines, although in a much smaller volume than mine. So many models have been affected.

It is not known yet if this is a software or a hardware issue.

As i said above, Apple technicians are refusing to investigate this. I don't know if the new 16 inch model will have this issue, as they changed the speaker configuration.

So be aware, this new 16" model might seem ideal for video editing but if serious problems like mine appear, Apple may never fix them.

PS. Shot on GH5 and Olympus 12-40, LOL

A fix is coming...

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/12/06/apple-plans-fix-16-inch-macbook-pro-popping-sound/

Quote

If a customer hears a popping sound when playback is stopped on their MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

When using Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X, QuickTime Player, Music, Movies, or other applications to play audio, users may hear a pop come from the speakers after playback has ended. Apple is investigating the issue. A fix is planned in future software updates. Do not set up service, or replace the user's computer, as this is a software-related issue.