Whatever you get, you should make sure it has hardware encoding support for the codec you want to use. AV1 is pretty much the standard now, but you may prefer h265. Hardware level encoding offloads the work from the CPU to the graphics chip and is an order of magnitude faster in most cases than CPU encoding.
Processing 4k video at 60 fps kills my computers...
- Thread starter Vil_Riker
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Good point, thanks.
I need something compact - I'm not traveling around the world with a desktop computer.
Thinking a little bit more, a Macbook Pro would be a more robust tool. While I like the Macbook Air form factor, Macbook Pro would probably be a better fit.
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If you can afford it, for sure. But those m5 chips are no joke and unless you're encoding all day every day you have to ask whether saving seconds or a few minutes is worth the extra cost. An m5 air will be more powerful than an m2 pro, so everything in perspective.
You do get a better screen on the pro's, but if you've never owned one and won't know what you're missing then you'd be hard pressed to find fault with the air, it's still a great screen and better than almost anything you'd find on windows for that price.
Apple is so far ahead in hardware right now it's scary, and I say that as a guy who uses both linux and osx so I'm not biased, just my pair of pennies.
MBAs rely on passive cooling, so they will throttle down when pushed for sustained periods, so duty cycle should also be a consideration.
Would you entertain having a MB air for portability and an iMac desktop for the heavy lifting instead of only a MBP?
In either case, I think a MBP would be a better fit for you if you had a choice of one.
Have you checked out either think pinguin or system 76? Ubuntu studio is just as easy to use less resource intensive and you don't pay the Windows or Fruitbook tax.
Most movies made and edited over the last 20 years were all done on Linux workstations. Pixars Toy Story, Avatar, Kung fu panda etc. Id go with Pop OS, Ubuntu studio, or Fedora. Then install kdenlive, DaVinci Resolve, or Blender.
I have attempted to use Linux a few times but the GUI experience sucks.
Which GUI? There are several; some are bare-bones while other are very polished.
I'd give it another shot. There are numerous GUI options and many of the newer ones work well. Which distro did you use?
The last time I tried Mint about 3 years ago.
You might find this interesting, at least to read. I think any of the m4's would be mountains better than anything you are using right now. But its not my "field"
https://getupgraded.com/resources/best-macbook-for-video-editing/
Another, I actually have an M4 Mac mini as of 3 days ago. It replaced my i5 Mac mini that I had for 5 years or so.
https://www.techradar.com/best/best...021-great-options-for-any-skillset-and-budget
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Thank you. I'm sure your i5 Mac mini was still perfectly usable like my Macbook Air is.
So your experience was very likely 100% the "Cinnamon desktop" experience; Cinnamon being one of a large handful of GUI available and the one made by Mint. Others are profoundly different. Ubuntu by default uses a modified GNOME desktop and the other major one is KDE Plasma. Might be worth a look at those.
YES!
I do notice the pages come up faster but what is faster? *LOL* Its just faster as in maybe half of a snap of your finger instead of a full snap of your finger.
I do think but have not confirmed maybe those few times I might have up to 8 browser windows open that maybe I will see a difference.
and ... yes, with an M series now I can update to the latest OS.
I also have a MacBook Air M1 and just like the Mini dead on reliable.
Thanks, I'll maybe install it on the Surface and see how it goes.
They are not using consumer grade processors. They are speciality spec machines for a purpose.
