Review: Apple Final Cut Pro X

That Final Cut Pro (FCP) had lately been showing its age is no secret. Most of the innovation was actually taking place in the consumer field with iMovie, and there were many features that professional editors were eyeing with envy.

These were features such as: skimming through thumbnails to get a preview of clips to greatly speed up the selection process; being able to label clips with various keywords to make it easy to find the right one in seconds; giving each project its own scratch disk as opposed to having one set for the application; a more up-to-date font and text architecture instead of the antiquated one that hadn't changed since FCP's introduction; and being able to see when an audio clip is peaking just by glancing at the waveform in the timeline, rather than having to listen to it proper.

All these were added to FCP X (pronounced 'ten'), along with many others including a 64-bit architecture (meaning you can feed it as much RAM as you can cram into your Mac, rather than be limited to only 4GB), background rendering and the ability to work with any files from SD to 4K – even within the same project. All this sounds good, so why all the fuss online and even on comedy shows?

It's because Apple decided to remove a lot of what many professional editors depended on and never thought about until it was taken away from them.

Take the main column in the browser window, which used to remain anchored on the left-hand side – no matter how far down the right you'd scroll to see more of the clip's metadata, you'd never lose track of its name. Well, that's gone.

And what about adding keyframes to animate any parameter, which was automatic each time you modified its value after having set the first one? Missing in action. Then there are the clips in the browser that kept the last In and Out points you'd set; the free creation of chapter markers along your timeline; the ability to drag any clip anywhere on the timeline, creating gaps if you needed them (or not); and the projects that could be of virtually any dimension.

None of these – nor many others – are possible with FCP X. Larger omissions include: a complete lack of multi-camera support; an inability to natively export to OMF, AAF or EDL files to move your project to other programs for further manipulation; no option to send a clip to Motion from the timeline to add effects to it; no proper support for connecting to a broadcast monitor; and no possibility of importing projects created with an earlier version of FCP.

This is all because FCP X isn't an upgrade but version 1.0 of a completely new program. What's confusing is that Apple kept the same name and discontinued the Final Cut Studio suite when FCP X was released, forcing people to move to the new application. And if they couldn't, they had to consider their options – hence the anger and confusion.

Curiously enough, Apple kept the older version alive when transitioning users from Mac OS 9 to OS X and even iMovie 6 to 7, so why they haven't done so this time is a bit of a mystery. But if so much is missing, what does this new software offer aside from the above?

For one thing, you can edit more files in their native format, such as AVCHD, avoiding the lengthy transcoding process and saving you a fair amount of disk space. You can finally work with AAC and MP3 audio files without having to render them first, and clips shot with any iOS device now display as expected.

FCP X can also import iMovie projects, creating a clear and easy migration path for up-and-coming editors.

The new magnetic timeline keeps your clips together, avoiding unintentional gaps and making sure you never overwrite clips by mistake, or move the audio and video out of sync when moving things around (unless of course that's your intention).

There's no such thing as layers anymore: clips can be added above existing ones as you wish, but all are linked to the main Storyline, which is essentially the first layer. This is an entirely new editing concept that will take some getting used to.

The whole process feels like you're being looked after, which is great for first-time editors, but veterans may well feel constrained because they can't work the way they're used to. Many keyboard shortcuts are the same, but quite a few are different. Thankfully, there's a powerful shortcut customisation option, but this can't disguise the fact that you're having to learn an entirely new program.

There are a lot of things to like in this release, such as the ability to mouse over an effect and see how it changes a selected clip prior to applying it (holding down the Option key as you do so intensifies the effect), and the new colour correction tools are impressive, but too much is missing for professionals.

Since it's so cheap though, you should consider purchasing it and running it alongside FCP 7 (which will still work with Lion), then learn how to use it as you keep earning money with the older version.

Apple's promised to update its new program fast and you don't want to get left behind when younger editors can do things better and faster thanks to the changes in FCP X.

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Apple, Mac, Mini 2011

So farewell optical media (1982-2011). What joy you brought us, with your CDs and high definition videos. How you lit up students' lives when they threw you in the microwave to see what would happen.

Apple is reprising its role as Auger of Doom for a dying format. Just as the iMac shocked the world by arriving without a floppy drive, so the new Mac Mini has no front loading slot for DVDs. Have the Oracles of Infinite Loop got their timing right again?

Well, sort of
This isn't the first PC or laptop to dump discs, and the Mini arrives with the online simplicity of iCloud and the App Store designed into its Mac OS X Lion desktop. But if you want to install software you bought just a couple of months ago, or watch a DVD, you need to spend an extra £66 on a USB Superdrive. Maybe not such an issue with the lower-spec model but that could grate if you’ve shelled out £700 for the more powerful sibling.

It must have caught the Lion developers off guard too: in a rare moment of sloppiness, the Eject Disc button and Burn To Disc menu option still sit sadly on the desktop and main menu.

Review continues after the break...

Still small
The removal of the optical drive wasn't a design-led decision; the 2011 Mac Mini is exactly the same size as the 2010 one. It's still incredibly small but there's no physical compensation for the loss of the drive.

The USB ports are all old fashioned USB 2.0. There's a Thunderbolt port for high speed peripherals, but USB 3.0 external hard drives are widely available and inexpensive whereas Thunderbolt ones are not. If you run a monitor with a higher resolution than 1920x1080, or want to use two screens, you'll need that Thunderbolt port for a display adaptor, as the HDMI port maxes out at 1080p.

Processing poke
But that's the griping over. The real star of the new Mac Mini is the Intel Core i5 processor. This may 'only' be a laptop chip, but it's plenty powerful enough for everything up to and including video encoding. What's more, it's so efficient that the fan is barely audible, the case never gets warm and it only draws more than 25-35W of power if you're gaming or encoding video. If you want substantially more power, the £700 Mini can be specced up with an i7 for an extra £80.

Not that either is a games machine. The entry level Mini has integrated graphics which aren’t up to much, and even the Radeon graphics in the £700 option struggle to get even Half-Life 2 based games to run at respectable settings.

Our advice? The Mac Mini trounces all other small form factor machines, and the cheaper option makes sense. However, step up to the £700 model and you don’t get enough tech for your money. A MacBook Air is more flexible for not a lot more, and the basic £1000 iMac is much better specced.

Apple, MacBook Air, 2011

Apple's original 2008 Macbook Air was like a human beatbox – a crowd-pleaser that quickly turned out to be, well, just plain annoying. The then 'world's slimmest notebook' slid from Steve Jobs' manila envelope promising a new era in ultraportable computing. It delivered a measly one USB port, two-hour battery life and lethargic user experience.

But after three years of measured evolution, the Macbook Air has come of age. With Intel's nippy Core i5 chips (or top-range Core i7, for an extra £100) plus the innovative Mac OS X Lion purring away inside, 2011's 11in and 13in models are fully qualified to be 'main laptops' for everyone bar gamers and power users. They're so capable, the standard white Macbook has been forced into retirement.

Backlit buttons return
At first sight, the 13in model seems identical to its 2010 predecessor. Indeed, there have been just two external design tweaks. The backlit keyboard, last seen in the 2009 version, has returned to aid night-typing. Its chiclet keys remain a pleasure to type on, if a tad lacking in cushioning.

Then there's the (currently useless) Thunderbolt port, which on the 13in Air sits alongside two USB ports, a headphone jack and an SD card slot. Apple's lovely Thunderbolt Display is incoming, but we await more affordable accessories.

A familiar sight it may be, but the Air remains one of the few slabs of tech with the magnetism of a newborn baby. Handsome rivals like the Sony Vaio Z and Samsung 9 Series have aped its aluminium charm, but no other laptop feels as bomb-proof, durable or premium as 'the unibody'. Its screen hinge alone could entertain a gaggle of industrial designers for an entire evening.

Speed demon
For all the Macbook Air's physical allure, the 2011 edition's biggest improvement, and the one that turns it from niche icon to mainstream star, is its performance. The combination of a solid-state drive (we'd ignore the feeble 64GB version) and a Core i5 or i7 processor certainly doesn't come cheap. But, for day-to-day tasks, it makes for a computing experience that's as slick, fast and downright enjoyable as any piece of tech we've used.

The Air boots in 20 seconds, wakes from sleep quicker than an insomniac mouse, and shuts down in a few seconds. Even with multiple browser tabs and apps like Reeder, Twitter and iTunes open, plus Spotify playing away in the background, the Air never gets flustered or spins beachballs.

Intensive tasks like rendering and editing HD videos bring the fan into play, but noticeable slowdown is rare. Apple claims the 13in model is twice as fast as the 2010 version, and it certainly feels it.

Demanding games are a little beyond the 2011 Macbook Air's integrated HD 3000 graphics – Crysis-lovers are better off looking at something like the comparably-priced Alienware m14x. But aside from the disappointing lack of an option to upgrade to 8GB RAM, which will rule out intensive Photoshoppers, the Air is now a serious option for Macbook Pro owners looking to move onto something more manbag-friendly. 

Making the Lion roar
It's also tailor-made for the new Mac OS X Lion. Like the Air itself, Apple's revamped desktop OS blurs the boundaries between tablet and laptop with its gesture-based navigation. Thanks to its speed and best-in-class multitouch trackpad, the Air makes it a joy to whizz around, as you flick unwanted windows off the screen or open Mission Control with a three-finger push. Once you've learned the gestures, it's hard to live without them.  

Review continues after the break...

Fortunately, none of these extra goodies have made any dent in the 13in Air's battery life. In our real world test, which involved watching a 720p film, web browsing, playing music via Bluetooth and short periods of sleep, it managed an impressive 8.5 hours. More intensive tasks like HD video editing with no rest brought it down to the five-hour mark, though it recharges swiftly in about two hours.

While impressive, this battery performance is largely matched by the Samsung 9 Series and Sony Vaio Z. And, in some areas, these new rivals trump the new Air. The 9 Series' matte screen is easier to read in sunlight than the glossy Apple equivalent, and it boasts superior connectivity. 

An equivalent Vaio Z is more expensive than both at £1844, but offers greater customisation with options for built-in 3G, 8GB RAM and a longer life battery. Its matte, 1600x900 display is also slightly superior to the Air's otherwise excellent 1440x900 screen.

The new Macbook
But if none of these features are deal-breakers, the 2011 Macbook Air is the best ultraportable, nay laptop, in the land for day-to-day computing. Its combination of lightning speed, slim profile and the gesture-tastic Mac OS X Lion mean it melds the benefits of tablets (portability, usability) with the power of traditional laptops. And, to top it all, it's an incredibly lovely thing. We recommend adopting one as soon as financially possible.