Final Cut Pro - 10.1- A First Look

Ken Stone's FCP by By Steve Martin & Mark Spencer

Introduction

Final Cut Pro 10.1 is the next major step forward for Apple's professional editing software Final Cut Pro X. Not since its initial release over 2 years ago has there been a more significant version with regard to performance and workflow. The most visible improvement in FCP X is the new Library model, but there are dozens of editing and UI enhancements throughout that will have a major impact on your editing speed and efficiency.

In this article we will walk you through the key features that will matter most to both new and seasoned Final Cut Pro X editors.

Mavericks

You must install Mavericks in order to run Final Cut Pro 10.1.

The first thing you need to know about Final Cut Pro 10.1 is that it requires Apple's latest operating system, Mavericks (OS 10.9). In order to get the best performance out of Final Cut Pro, Apple built it to run exclusively on this new platform.

If you are already running Mountain Lion (OS 10.8), you should be able to upgrade to Mavericks. If you have an older machine that cannot be updated to Mountain Lion, it probably won't be able to run Mavericks either. For example, one of Mark's Macs is an aging MacPro (2 x 3 Ghz Core 2 Duo) on which Mavericks cannot be installed. While jumping right into a new OS may give you pause, as you'll see throughout this article, the performance benefits of using FCP 10.1 far outweigh any perceived negatives. Check Apple's website for system requirements.

Performance

Final Cut Pro 10.1 has been optimized to take advantage of the dual graphics cards (GPUs) in the new Mac Pro, but you should see improved performance on any hardware configuration that supports it. The performance improvement comes from a couple of sources: not only does Final Cut fully leverage the underpinnings of Mavericks, its new media management model results in much faster load times. read more...