Final Cut Pro

 

Last weekend, before I went to the hospital again, I purchased the base Apple M2 Mac mini.  I wanted to start learning how to use Final Cut Pro on an Apple computer.  I had used FCP X about 7-8 years ago before completely switching to an Apple iPad Pro.  Apple released FCP for the iPad Pro last year but that app is just not there.  There is really no good colour or audio correction on the iPad Pro.   

Apple was also still running on Intel chips in those days.  No M series chips back in the 2010's.  I've been working on an iPad Pro for the last 4 or 5 years or so. 

On the weekends that I'm home in between hospital visits where I learn how to walk with my prosthetic, I've been learning how to  FCP X on the Mac mini.  Although pretty fast, much faster than an Intel based computer, it's not so good for video editing longer videos and adding edits such as video noise removal, and colour correction.  The iPad Pro with the M2 chip, 2TB of storage and 16GB of RAM is much, much faster. 

This coming week, I'm getting about 2 years worth of back pay from my job.  The plan is to buy a MacBook Pro with at least 2TB of storage and 64GB of RAM and an M3 Max chip on the inside.  I am hoping that is much more of a capable machine to handle 4k video editing.

I'm planning on using either my Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max with an external Samsung T7 2TB drive and editing off of that with the MacBook Pro.

An end to an era

It’s truly an end to an era for me.  I bought my first Apple product probably back around 2005 or 2006.  Since then, I’ve always had an Apple computer beside my iPhone or an iPad.  I’ve actually only had one Samsung product since about 2008.  I’ve always had an iPhone beside my MacBook Pro.  Now that I have the 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 512GB hard drive, I no longer need the Apple MacBook Pro.  I bought it in early 2013 just before my now ex wife and I went on a trip to Prague.  Later in 2016 I bought the 5k Apple iMac.  Both computer served me well.  I sold the iMac back in January 2019 and now I’m looking to sell the 2013 MacBook Pro.  It’s a great computer, don’t get me wrong.  It’s got 16GB of RAM and an SSD hard drive.  It’s great at editing my 1080p/60fps footage and my photos that I shoot with the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  It does have a hard time editing 4K footage.  Considering it’s now 6 years old, I don’t think it can handle the 4K footage I’d be throwing at it if I was shooting 4K footage.

I still have a Windows 10 laptop that I bought back in November 2018.  I’ll be using that for printing and scanning my timesheets for work and doing my taxes.  But I think for 99% of my daily needs, I’ll be using my 2018 Apple iPad Pro.  I create and consume a lot of media.  I find that I can carry my iPad with me anywhere with my Sony RX100 Mark VI all in one bag and I can be setup in literally less than a minute.  The iPad is always on unless I’m doing an iOS install that needs a reboot.  Apps on the iPad don’t need to reboot the tablet like a program many need to reboot a laptop or a PC.  I haven’t ran the iPad the whole day yet as I’m at work pretty much the whole day.

The apps I currently run are Luma Fusion for footage editing and Affinity Photo for photo editing.  I also use Snapseed and Camera+ 2 in a pinch.  I use the Shutterstock app to upload any photos I shoot with my Sony RX100 Mark VI.  I actually haven’t even had a chance to test that out yet as work has been very busy the last few months.  

I’m currently sitting at a coffee shop writing this post on my iPad Pro just relaxing, writing and listening to music.  It is truly relaxing. Got the ear pods in and just typing away.  Not that I couldn’t do this with my MacBook Pro but this is just more convenient.  I just open up the iPad and open my app and start typing.  I have iTunes running in the background pumping out some cool tones that I relax to.  And considering I live in Canada, I’m sipping on some really warm Timmies steeped tea.  No coffee for this bad boy.

I am really impressed with the 2018 Apple iPad Pro and my Apple iPhone 8+.  I don’t think for most of my productivity on a regular day, I won’t need anything else.  My iPhone, iPad and Sony RX100 Mark VI and I’m all set.  I am truly mobile.  I don’t need to carry around a 4-6 pound laptop.  This iPad weighs less than 2.5 pounds.  I’m pretty sure, in the next ten years, Apple will make the iPad into just a clear sheet of glass that will bend.  On purpose.  ;) 

Apple products

Don't even bother buying an Apple computer.  Any Apple computer.  They are overpriced and outdated.  Their phones are ok.  Their phones are the only product they're physically updating with new hardware.

 

I have a 2013 MacBook Pro and a 2015 iMac.  Those are the last Apple computers I will ever buy.  My next computer will be a Linux based laptop.  I cannot stand Windows 10.  It's slow and clunky on any hardware. 

 

Linux is the only way to go as an operating system.  Apple hardware is outdated and overpriced.  I like the Apple O/S but from the YouTube videos I've been watching with the Intel i9 processors over heat in such a slim device as the MacBook Pro.

 

The new MacBook Pros lack any viable ports unless you want to live the dongle life.  A dongle for your hard drives, Ethernet or SD cards.  No thanks.  Just stay away from Apple computers.  Apple is now solely an IOS hardware maker.

Edit:  If people buy this, they have more money than brains.  $1999 for a damn phone.  A phone!!!!!!  Something that is outdated the day you buy it and if you drop it and break the screen, you're out $2000 before taxes.