Macbook Pro: GeForce 8600M GT 256 or 512mb for Video Editing?

Question

I'm getting a Macbook Pro and will be doing video editing in college with Final Cut. I would like the 2.5ghz version because its video card has twice the memory. It is also $500 more though and I am tight for money.

Will the difference between the video card having 256mb or 512mb of memory make a huge difference? Is it worth the money when it comes to something like video editing?

Thanks

Answer 1

Your video card is PLENTY for this work -the 8600 is good enough for video editing, and more, especially on a smaller monitor (sub 17");you can use far less GPU's for this work) but you need

1) the fastest cpu and

2) most ram and

3) (possibly) biggest HD's you can afford, in that order.



spend it on CPU and RAM!!!!





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p.s

by the way, we're talking about the difference between 2-4 minutes faster on a 6-12 minute project, to spend this $500 extra... so it's relative, but you'll appreciate it unless you can afford it really to begin with- is 2-3 minutes faster for more ram than 2gb and a 2gb CPU worth it to you??? Will you really notice over a bigger HD that will have more uses and more storage for video files? How "Pro" do you need to be?

*wink*

Answer 2

No, the GeForce 8600 GT is absolute crap that giving it more video RAM won't help much.



You won't notice much of a difference with the 256MB version.

Answer 3

including to invoice answer (wich is right) GDDR4 is faster that GDDR3. meaning that it will fill the ram quicker in this occasion making that 256 quicker. larger buffer helps on severe resolutions, I also have a 8600m gt 256 and no complains (no longer as rapid as its computer counterpart). elect the 256 and shop the money to function ram.

Answer 4

the video card has nothing to do with video editing. focus on good main memory (2gb to 4gb) and a fast CPU (2.2-2.8 GHZ)