Final Cut Pro 4

Apple introduced Final Cut Pro 4 on April 6, 2003, initially planning June availability. Its June 5 release set the announced sales start for June 14 at 4 p.m.; no universal time zone is assigned here. The announced US price was $999, or $399 to upgrade.

Family

Pro Apps

Version

4

Historical US price

US$999 / upgrade US$399 · Apple 2003

Apple · Final Cut Pro 4 · 2003-04-06 · Apple · Final Cut Pro 4 · 2003-06-05

RT Extreme expanded effects preview and allowed an external monitor through FireWire or a breakout box. The package included LiveType for titles, Soundtrack for music, Compressor for transcoding and previously separate Cinema Tools for film work. XML interchange and FireWire I/O were presented as routes for integration with other tools.

Apple · Final Cut Pro 4 · 2003-04-06

The consulted Apple specifications explicitly cover 4.0.1: a 350 MHz G4 with AGP graphics, 384 MB RAM, DVD drive, Mac OS X 10.2.5 or later and QuickTime 6.1 or later. RT Extreme and Soundtrack have their own CPU thresholds. Apple separates 1 GB for installation, 5 GB Soundtrack content and 9 GB LiveType content, not one installer size.

Apple · Final Cut Pro 4.0.1 · Technical Specifications

In Independent, Greg Gilpatrick appreciated the audio mixer, editing tools and Soundtrack but criticised ancillary-app documentation and the cost of moving to OS X. He advised users already happy with FCP 3 to assess their actual need to change. This is his October 2003 assessment, not consensus or current buying advice.

Greg Gilpatrick · Independent · 2003-10-01