" Mike, Apple confirmed for me that the MacBook won't run Aperture because its graphics card is unsupported. The MacBook Pro does support Aperture.
(I replied to him that after the report on running Final Cut Studio and Motion on an "unsupported" Intel CPU Mini earlier today, I'd not trust that comment unless it was proven. He later wrote)
I apparently was mistaken about Aperture on the MacBook. I found this post on Apple's Aperture Discussions Forum.
-Thomas

"Aperture does run on the new MacBooks, but it is NOT officially supported, due to limitations with the graphics card. This means if you call AppleCare, you'll simply be told that you're running Aperture on an unsupported configuration. It's an "at-your-own-risk" experience.
That being said, Aperture will install and run on a MacBook...at least you're not disallowed from using it. No hacks needed!
And of course, Aperture is fully supported on all MacBook PRO models.
Joe Schorr
Sr. Product Manager, Aperture
Apple"

" Just for the fun of it I installed Final Cut Studio 5.1 on my daughters Mac Mini w/1.5GHz Intel Core Solo processor with 512MB RAM. I have only tried FCP and Motion. I started SoundTrack but have not used it.

Final Cut starts and runs fine. I can capture from my VX2100 camera and edit in the timeline (just basic stuff so far).
Motion also works on this machine (it kicks the crap out of my Powerbook 1.25GHz). Ran the update for Final Cut Pro 5.1.1 and it also starts and does basic edits. So far so good on basic stuff.

(I asked if he had exercised Motion on the Core Solo Mini (i.e. rendering, previews, etc.-Mike)
Done one render of a template I edited, changes text and speed of some assets. All templates run fine. Previews are really slow on first pass but run at decent speed after. Will be testing more things this coming weekend.

Have only used the Mini on a LCD minitor at 1280x1024 will be connecting it to a Dell 2005FPW this weekend also and test at 1680 x 1050.
To say it installed and worked is an understatement, I was blown away it worked!!
I wanted to try it to see if I could use a Mini to edit some basic stuff during the summer here in Phoenix. My two 2x-2GHZz G5's create too much heat so if I could have a solution to capture and do basic edits to cut down on the heat indoors.
Next step is to test a Mini Core Duo.
-Richard M. "

So much for "Requirements" I guess. (Apple also notes a Core Duo as required...)
If anyone else finds any issues with running Final Cut Studio on a GMA950 based Mac, let me know.
Update Although the reader above seemed satisfied with how it ran for his needs, on May 19th, Apple revised the Kbase Doc on Final Cut Studio is not supported on Mac Mini (Early 2006) to add this note. (The same one in the new kbase doc on FCS and the MacBook)

" Note: The integrated graphics processor in the Mac Mini (Early 2006) does not permit float processing in Motion and will result in degraded performance and other issues in Motion and other Final Cut Studio applications. "

While on the subject of Final Cut Pro/Motion requirements, a reader with a Mirror Drive Door G4 tower with ATI 9000 card wrote that he was able to install all Pro apps except for Motion (dimmed out in installer). The 9000 card doesn't support core image/core video in Tiger but he's considering getting a new video card that does. (The cheapest option for 4x AGP G4 towers like that is the modifed OEM 9600 cards at $75.)

" Apple Releases Final Cut Express HD 3.5
A significant upgrade to the award-winning software solution for video enthusiasts, Final Cut Express HD 3.5 runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. New features include Dynamic RT for real-time playback of multi-stream effects, Soundtrack 1.5 with a complete suite of professional level audio production tools, and LiveType 2.1 with even more exciting animated text and titles."

Full price is $299(US), upgrade is $99. For system requirements see the Final Cut Express specs page.

(Update See Creative Mac's MacBook Final Cut Studio Benchmarks which showed a 2GB RAM/2GHz MacBook did very well against even a dual 2GHz G5, saying "...like the MacBook Pro, the 2.0 GHz 13-inch MacBook proves a thoroughly viable machine for users of Final Cut Studio.")

" Hi Mike, ....Just a counter to the following in 5/17/06 Wednesday's News:

"FYI - Matthew called to say he called an Apple store and was told that the MacBook (like the Intel cpu Mini), isn't a supported system for Final Cut Pro/Studio."

I had the same question yesterday for Apple UK's Technical (phone) Support (actually based in Ireland I believe) and was told the opposite i.e. that Final Cut Studio apps WOULD be able to run fine on the MacBook, although it had to be the universal version to work. Time will tell of course.
The only doubt in the FCS General System Requirements page is that the MacBook's Intel GMA 950 graphics processor isn't specifically listed in the 'Recommended Graphics Cards' section.
(But to add to the confusion, the Final Cut Studio specs page has an item before the 'recommended graphics cards" that says:
"Motion requires the standard graphics card found in any MacBook Pro, iMac Intel Core Duo, Power Mac G5, iMac G5, a 1.25 GHz or faster PowerBook G4, or a 1.25 GHz or faster flat-panel iMac."
but see the later news item above - a Mini Core Solo owner reported running Motion on it.-Mike)

What do you think is the problem/limitation with the MacBook sharing DDR2 SDRAM with the main memory? I'll have 2GB installed, so there'll be plenty to share and I wonder why this is an issue, compared to the MBP's dedicated VRAM?
Thanks, David "

I wish apple was clearer on this - the Apple kbase doc on the Intel Mini and Final Cut Studio (later revised) I quoted/linked to yesterday says the Mini (also w/GMA950 graphics) did not meet the "minimum requirements" - but in the past as noted in articles here readers ran FCP 4.x on even legacy PCI macs (with edits to installer/checks, etc.) although performance isn't going to match modern Macs and there may be some issues that are not readily apparent.
My main question after reading the (revised) FCS requirements is the graphics chip (especially for Motion) - but hopefully someone will try Final Cut Studio 5.1 (5.1.1) and report back if it runs. (If anyone tries this let me know.)
I'm not sure if apple knows of some functional/feature issue or if performance would just be very poor.
Update - see later news item above for a Mini Core Solo owner's comments on running Final Cut Studio 5.1, including Motion.
Note: As of Friday (5/19/2006) Apple had posted a new Kbase Doc on Final Cut Studio and the MacBook:

" Final Cut Studio is not supported on MacBook
If you have a MacBook, the Final Cut Studio (Universal) crossgrade Installer does not prohibit you from installing the pro applications, but this configuration does not meet the minimum system requirements for Final Cut Studio.

See the Final Cut Studio system requirements for complete requirements.

Note: The integrated graphics processor in the MacBook does not permit float processing in Motion and will result in degraded performance and other issues in Motion and other Final Cut Studio applications. "

" Didn't get much time with my 2GHz, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB MacBook as I'll need to return it due to an extremely loud, apparently broken fan, but I got a chance to briefly try out World of Warcraft.
All I had time to do was run around Gadgetzan for a couple minutes. I put the settings to their lowest point and within the city (average number of players in town) I got 10-15 FPS with frequent dips to about 6 when turning around. Outside of the city in the empty desert I saw about 20 FPS. In the inn I got somewhere in the mid 20s.
More RAM might help, but I'm tempted to get the MacBook Pro even for casual playing.
-William M."

I've added this to the previous page of Mac World of Warcraft Performance (on Intel and PowerPC Macs).

" Interesting post on a person that made observations at an Apple Store while looking at the new Apple MacBook, black. Paint flakes off!
http://marklem.com/mlem/?p=8
("First Impressions of Macbook" - down the page it has a note on an area of black plastic flaking off)
- William R. "

Update: Matthew spotted this post earlier today and called from a local Apple store after trying to replicate the problem. He said he used a key to try and flake off the plastic in the same area as the article's photo and could not get any of the finish to flake off. (He said it's molded in a solid color, not painted.) He also said a store employee tried the same test on a 2nd sample and wasn't able to get any finish to flake off either. (BTW - I doubt most Apple store employees are going to let you use a key on the finish of any Macs in the store - but he knew someone there and had shown them this post, so they wanted to nip this in the bud so to speak with tests on some of their MacBooks.)
Perhaps the sample mentioned in that article had a mfg defect, but if anyone else notices the finish flaking on a MacBook, let me know.

" Just found that there is a new version of Thoth (2.0) visit http://www.cortig.net/Thoth. This is a nntp reader, and is one of the strongest programs on the Mac.
However, the developer wants to receive payment for his work, and isn't willing to publish it until he hears from enough users. Could it be possible to list it in your site? This way most users would learn about the new version, and could show their support to the developer.
Many users were unable to register Thoth, since the program was retired before many of the current users were able to pay for it (seems it was developed only until 2003). However, the following, and the reliability that Thoth have shown speaks highly of both the programmer and the program.
Thanks, Ugo "

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