14 DAY TRIAL // Complaints regarding the new version of Final Cut Pro continue to flow on numerous Mac-centric forums and websites, as well as on Apple’s own Support Communities site where customers are extremely disgruntled at the fact that even relatively new hardware doesn’t support the new video editing software.
A report on groths.org cites a Hardmac user and FCP X buyer who shares his upgrade story:
“Yesterday I was unable to install Final Cut Pro X on my Dual-Core Mac Pro Intel Xeon rev. 1.1 (from September 2006) because the graphics card is not compatible with OpenCL,” he writes.
“I created a session with my name on a friend’s recent MacBook Pro and bought it with my iTunes account to test it on his computer and buy it on mine after would have changed the graphics card. Today I put the MacBook Pro in target mode to transfer some video files.”
He continues, “Then, from my Mac Pro, opened the Application folder of the MacBook Pro and I was able to launch the Application! I then copied it in the application folder of my Mac Pro and tried to launch it again, it worked! I went to the software update menu and the other softwares were installed!”
We can draw two assumptions from this:
1. either Apple is forcing customers to buy new hardware, or... 2. ...the company is simply cautious not to advertise FCP X as 'supported' in order to avoid complaints regarding the suite’s performance on older computers.
However, the real problem is that MacBook Pros launched less than two years ago are also not supported.
“Well the MBP I bought less than 1.5 years ago will not run it. No Open CL suport [sic],” a person writing under the name of Beachwood Productions sounds off on Apple’s Support Communities site.
Similar posts can be found on threads discussing the FCP X upgrade.
Many agree Apple has not only left many users out in the cold, but that FCP X is nothing more than an enhanced iMovie.
FCP X costs $300 on the Mac App Store.
Yet, there are some who have taken the time to test out FCP X and believe it to be a great upgrade.
One user on the sam Apple forum says, “Apple Final Cut Pro X is a SENSATIONAL step forward in video editing. It's just DIFFERENT (and takes some getting used to).”