I'm a little confused...
 

So is the latest release of Final Cut Studio different from/better than Final Cut Studio 2? I have 2, but the new box doesn't say 2.5 or 3 or whatever.

Seems a bit confusing.

Different, yes. Better? Depends on your perspective. Live Type is gone in the new version and here's a list of changes:

Apple - Final Cut Studio - Whats New

Yes. The new release of FCS (2009) is functionally superior to the earlier FCS2 release. It's not what you might call a night and day kind of difference for many of us, more of a disappointing incremental update, but nonetheless each app in the package is better than its earlier incarnations ... and at only $299 its a steal.

live type..
 

Luckily live type doesn't go away with a straight upgrade. Mine is still intact after upgrading last night... I however, did not do an uninstall first.

Just in case any one was wondering if they would lose livetype...

Mike W.

Some of the new features are not an incremental update. Adding things like media management takes a lot of code. 3D shadows and reflections isn't exactly a few simple lines of code either. I bet you there was just as many man hours and lines of code in this update as there was when FCS2 came out. They just don't jump out as much.

Faster rendering in FCP?
 

Weird, but I re-rendered a ProresHQ sequence that had a lot of Motion content, I didn't time it with FCP6, but it was quicker (noticeably) with FCP7.... don't know what is with that.
I'm on a Mac Pro 2.8 8core (early 2008)

I did a complete uninstall of FCS2 and after installing the upgrade ran Applejack.

Overall the programs feel more "snappy" imagination? perhaps, we'll see.
p

One more opinion.....I just upgraded from an old 1.5 ghz G4 powerbook to
a quad core 2.66 (2009 Nehalem).....I know I should have went for the octo core but in I just
couldn't quite swing it and this computer is BLAZING compared to my old one (of course).
So I had to upgrade my FCP from 4.5. Let's see, would I upgrade to FC Studio 2 for
$699 or this new version for $299? Hmmm :-) That's the one thing we seem to be
forgetting here.......the price is good....especially if you have an older version of FCP.
I too am disappointed in Apple for not making this a better update. At the same time,
at this point I can upgrade for $299 or go to Adobe for $1600? I'm sure at some
point in the future, if Apple continues in this direction I will be making a change. But
for right now, in this economy, I'm sticking with FCP for a little while longer....
especially since clients seem to be taking longer and longer (4 or 5 months at least)
to pay their bills.....it kinda hurts the cash flow. To me, it seems like Motion is the
app that really got some nice things. It is a really powerful 'after effects lite' now.