Apple is now shipping the first Universal version of its Final Cut Studio video production suite that delivers up to 2.5x the performance when running on a MacBook Pro notebook computer.

Final Cut Studio features state-of-the-art tools that complement
Final Cut Pro 5 including Soundtrack Pro; Motion 2, the world’s first
real-time motion graphics application with GPU accelerated 32-bit float
rendering; and DVD Studio Pro 4 for professional DVD authoring.

“Final Cut Studio continues to set the standard in the new era of HD
production,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications
Marketing. “Now with the incredible performance of Final Cut Studio on
a MacBook Pro, customers can work more efficiently wherever they are.”

In February, Apple released Logic Pro 7.2 music creation and audio
production software, the first of the company’s pro applications to
ship Universal versions which run on both Intel- and PowerPC-based
Macs. Logic Pro 7.2 supports up to 4.5x the effect plug-ins and up to
2x the software instruments per session on the MacBook Pro along with
integrated support for the Apogee Ensemble FireWire(R) interface and
compatibility with Pro Tools HD 7 DAE.

Aperture1.1, the first Universal version of the revolutionary
all-in-one post production tool for photographers featuring greatly
improved RAW quality and impressive performance gains on both Intel-
and PowerPC-based Macs, will ship in April.

Pricing & Availability

The Universal version of Final Cut Studio is available now through
the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers
for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US). Registered Final Cut
Studio customers can crossgrade to the Universal version for $49 (US).
Existing customers of the standalone versions of Final Cut Pro,
Soundtrack Pro, Motion, or DVD Studio Pro can upgrade to the Universal
version of Final Cut Studio starting at just $99 (US). Full details and
further information is available at the Apple site.

*DV and HDV rendering from the Timeline is up to twice as fast on a
MacBook Pro with 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo than a 15-inch PowerBook(R) G4
with 1.67 GHz PowerPC. MPEG-2 encoding from DV and HDV for DVD
authoring is up to 2.5x as fast on a MacBook Pro with 2.16 GHz Intel
Core Duo than a 15-inch PowerBook G4 with 1.67 GHz PowerPC.

**Logic 7.2 can simultaneously process up to 135 PlatinumVerb
plug-ins and eight Sculpture software instruments in a single Logic
session on a MacBook Pro with 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo compared to 30
maximum PlatinumVerbs and four maximum Sculptures when running on a
15-inch PowerBook G4 with 1.67 GHz PowerPC.