Which MacBook M1 specs

[Alexander B]

Hi,

my PC system has a hard time with the Komodo 6K files, so i want to switch to mobile with an Apple notebook.

- i use DaVinci Studio
- no fancy Fusion effects on my edits
- all i want is a smooth playback on a 4K timeline with all the grades, NR, stabilizer in full res.

Which specs are the proper ones on the new MacBook M1 for my requirements? I try to avoid an overkill on hardware and costs, of course.
Any suggestions or experiences?

cheers, Alex

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

I don't have any sensitivity analysis to refer to, but our M1 Max MacBook Pro chugs through Premiere Pro with 6K Komodo files and Colorista/Lumetri layers extremely well. It burns a full depth 1080p file in real time. I wish I had waited for the desktop version, but hey, there's always next year.

 

[Audy Erel]

Speaking of which.. I'll wait for Apple's next event on September 7th next week, there might be new Macs coming with the M2 chip (Mac Pro?) along with the iPhone 14. The M1 series should get more price discount.
I currently using the 16 incher, 64GB, M1 Max and it's been a fun experience with R3D files from my Scarlet-W Dragon 5K in Premiere Pro and Davinci Resolve (rendering to H.265 & ProRes is fast!) while finally be able to grade in HDR with its 1600 nits mini-LED screen.. Great machine!
From my experience I can safely say 64GB of RAM is an overkill, unless you know you need it for AE / Blender or Unreal Engine and the like.

 

[Jon Pais]

Hi,

my PC system has a hard time with the Komodo 6K files, so i want to switch to mobile with an Apple notebook.

- i use DaVinci Studio
- no fancy Fusion effects on my edits
- all i want is a smooth playback on a 4K timeline with all the grades, NR, stabilizer in full res.

Which specs are the proper ones on the new MacBook M1 for my requirements? I try to avoid an overkill on hardware and costs, of course.
Any suggestions or experiences?

cheers, Alex

No M1 MBP can be expected to play an R3D project of any length and frame rate on a 4K timeline with ‘all the grades’ (depth map, film grain, etc.), noise reduction and stabilization in real time at full res in DaVinci Resolve. Like many, if not most, I disable the noise reduction node until I’m ready to deliver the project. When exporting a 4:2:2 10-bit HEVC project in FCP on my M1 Max 32GB RAM MBP, the activity monitor rapidly goes into the red and the machine begins using swap; DaVinci Resolve does not.

 

[Jon Pais]

Are all the new Macbvook M2 Airs the special LED screen that does HDR?

No MacBook Air has a Liquid Retina XDR display.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

On our Mac Studio pro wich has 128gb ram Resolves uses at most about 25Gig.
I opted for the MacBookPro 32GB M1 Max and I'm happy with it. But it will never do full 8k R3D debayer in real time in Resolve in a 4k timeline so even less with Neat denoise. 7k r3d footage plays at about 20 fps in a 4k DCI timeline (strange thing 5k footage also...). It plays 7k footage at 25fps in Half debayer premium in a 4k Timeline. But I would mainly work on Quarter Res and look at full debayer for noise critical shots.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Disagree that 64GB of RAM is overkill for working with high resolution video files. The Apple Silicon Macs employ unified memory so both the CPU and the GPU can access the same data without transactions. Moreover, the 64G configuration doubles the memory bandwidth which can impact real time capabilities. It used to be that the VRAM and system RAM were segregated resources, but with unified RAM you want to be sure there is plenty left for the GPU.

Cheers - #19

 

[Jon Pais]

Disagree that 64GB of RAM is overkill for working with high resolution video files. The Apple Silicon Macs employ unified memory so both the CPU and the GPU can access the same data without transactions. Moreover, the 64G configuration doubles the memory bandwidth which can impact real time capabilities. It used to be that the VRAM and system RAM were segregated resources, but with unified RAM you want to be sure there is plenty left for the GPU.

Cheers - #19

I just finished rendering a 30-second project with film grain, two compound clips and depth map in Resolve and it took 30 minutes. Playback speed was less than .5 fps and the activity monitor showed memory pressure going into the red in small spikes and it had used up several GB of swap memory.

 

[Stuart Hooper]

I went with a 64gb 10 core M1 Max with a terabyte ssd. Could go bigger on the ssd if you wanted to edit of the internal drive on the fly. Its a pretty amazing computer. I'd put performance on par or slightly ahead of a totally maxed out iMac Pro.

 

[Jon Pais]

Are they "annoucing" any new M2 macbooks soon or are wet set for a few months still?

I can’t answer that, but there are great deals on every single 2021 MacBook Pro, the lowest prices yet, with as much as $700 savings on a fully loaded M1 Max with AppleCare+.

 

[JEFFREY HSIUNG]

oh, so from what I'm gathering here, even the M1 max (maxed out) might have trouble playing 4k/6k r3d raw 60fps/50fps in real time in davinci resolve? Or only if heavily graded/NR/Stabilized?