2014 MacBook Pro vs M1 MacBook Air - 4K Video Render Test

In this video we test a 2014 MacBook Pro versus a M1 MacBook Air with 4K video editing and rendering. Can the 2014 MacBook compete? Can a 2014 MacBook Pro, almost 10 years old, still do 4K video editing? If you are interested in older Macs and especially the 2014 MacBook Pro, please watch this video to see how the older Mac competes with the much newer M1 MacBook.
In the video we cover the following MacBooks for video editing:
2014 MacBook Pro - amzn.to/4495HzK
M1 MacBook Air - amzn.to/44mPkzS
Thanks for watching and please subscribe for hundreds of videos like this. If you are an Apple fan or a fan of technology then we have a video for you. Please note that if you buy a MacBook using one of the links above it's possible the channel would receive a small commission to help us keep making videos. Thank you.

[@joseph3164]

The 2014 can be upgraded pretty easily to the newest macOS using open core legacy patcher, so it can continue to recieve security updates and work with newer softwares. Great video, love seeing these older macbooks being easily used in 2023!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks. Yes I have used open core a few times but will leave that for another video. Thanks again for watching and I appreciate it.

[@francescofarina5331]

A really interesting comparison: your videos are always so clear and useful. Thank you!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the feedback and for watching. I really do appreciate it for sure.

[@bonbonjames16]

Great video, I’m currently using a 2014 Mac and trying to upload six different GoPro videos into one frame and having a hell of a time, long overdue for an upgrade. Hoping maybe a 2020 MacBook Pro well be enough to get by.

[@craigneidel]

It should be but I guess depending on your budget any M1 system with 16 GB of ram flys and would do all that like butter.

[@bonbonjames16]

@@craigneidel awesome, thanks for the advice! Subscribed!! Haha

[@craigneidel]

Great, thanks for the sub.

[@photo_n_art]

Great content Craig, you have earned an subscriber... Keep up the good work friend! 😎👍

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the nice words and the sub.

[@photo_n_art]

@@craigneidel thank you for taking the time to create interesting content, I find most "small/startup" channels much more interesting and trustworthy than "the big guys"

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the comment and the nice words.

[@asan1050]

As always Craig, Thanks Much !.......

[@craigneidel]

Thanks

[@eduardowatkinz]

I've done the same comparisons over time with the many Macs I have had. And always; if the system lacks a dedicated GPU, it will not fare as well during rendering. Of course; all the M series Macs have a GPU. I still have a 2017 MacBook Pro 15", i7, 16GB RAM with a 4GB GPU and it does fairly well, but used only sparely. Thanks for the video.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the post and feedback. I like to see how fast the older systems are compared to the newer ones too. Kind of a fun video to make. I would use this in a pinch for sure when editing my videos as the actual editing part is not bad at all.

[@jamesking212]

This is really helpful.especially for those of us that already have older units. I have a 2014 MacBook Pro that is in pretty much mint. And I’m just starting to get into some video stuff. This is helping me decide to make some upgrades to my machine to optimize it instead of spending 10x the amount on a new machine.

[@craigneidel]

The 2014 are not great video editing machines but can handle it if needed. 1080P for sure but 4K is not the best experience. If you are just starting then use it but if you plan on doing it full time it's worth the cost to upgrade.

[@jamesking212]

@@craigneidel yeah at least for now it should do the trick. I ended up getting a new battery & 2TB SSD for a combined $150 so a minimal cost to extend its life for a little while. And the video I’m doing is stop motion so none of it is very long (yet).

[@craigneidel]

Yes, it should do the trick for now and good luck with everything.

[@cloudsurfing3900]

Great video, the MacBook air is an affordable option for video editors (you can get second hand M1 MacBook air for £600). I'll go with that!

[@craigneidel]

Yes, the M1 Air is a great machine for sure.

[@craigneidel]

The test machine is the Base 2014 MacBook Pro (8 GB Ram and 256 GB SSD). If anybody else has benchmarks for the 2014 MacBook Pro for video editing you can post to them in another KZbin video. Thank you.

[@habibkoko251]

Thanks for this amazing video, honestly i have the same base model MacBook Pro Mid 2014 from my experience of 5 years using it this macbook pro i will is fine just for Surfing the web email photo editing. but huge staff like video editing in FullHD or 4k i don't recommend it yes it will do the job but the machine will suffer . i used premier pro when i start rending just 1080p video the fan start turning crazy and heats up.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the comment and for watching. Yes, the 2014 is not optimal when compared to something like an M1 machine. But I was able to use 4K 30 FPS video and edit it quite well considering the age of the machine. Of course you will see a few issues and it's far from perfect but I just wanted to showcase the differences and let people know what this machines can do. Thanks again for posting.

[@bryans8656]

Those old MBPs were surprisingly capable. I had a souped up mid-2012 MBP 13 that I that I traveled with and, aside from the weight, it was a great portable. I did finally gift it to a friend and purchased an M series laptop, but that's a different story.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, for what they are they are pretty good for sure. They can get the job done with 4K edits as long as you don't use the highest codec video. The M1 and M2 are much faster as you can see in the test but I would still travel with the 2014 and do a few videos on them for sure.

[@anupammahato7114]

How many layers of 4k can the m1 air handlewithout any5ing running in the background?thanks

[@craigneidel]

Not sure exactly but I normally do around 3 layers just fine. With other things like layers for text, transitions, audio etc.

[@callmeNeno]

How was the fans going on that Intel Mac

[@craigneidel]

I tested a few times and it appeared sometimes fast and sometimes slow which was weird for sure. I did see a time on the second test at a low of about 11 minutes but that was an outcast maybe and I averaged things out.

[@LordAlucar01]

i just noticed since i brought imac i never used my 4.5k display resulution haha.

[@craigneidel]

Funny, thanks again for watching.

[@radinhodepilha42]

Why not a play video in timeline bro?

[@craigneidel]

Not sure what you are saying

[@Shabbir-A.]

Totally correct. my 2015 Macbook Air is far batter than my new Microsoft Surface laptop. that's why Macs have brand loyalty.

[@craigneidel]

Funny, but for editing that is most likely true for sure. It's really the OS that is the main issue on the older Macs.

[@frazerweb]

Its a worthwhile upgrade from intel to an M series chips, but upgrading from M1 to M2 or M3 is only marginal. I wonder what the M4 will offer?

[@craigneidel]

I agree and thanks for posting. The M3 will be a larger step up than the M2 but we will need to see for sure. Plus if Apple starts offering 12 GB ram instead of 8 as the base that could be huge.

[@asinglefrenchfry]

I'm not sure if this is a typo, but the M3 is not out yet!

[@craigneidel]

Based on proposed M3 benchmarks for most it may not be worth it from M1 to M3 in my opinion. Of course a ton of people will benefit but the normal day to day users (email, browsing, web, youtube) will be fine with the M1 is all I was saying.