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Video Editing on new powerbook?

corywoolf

corywoolf

macrumors 65816
Original poster
I am really into video editing, and I have an imac g4 right now(800Mhz) and want to get a new mac but I am on a budget of about $3000 for the computer itself. I will be doing that financing deal with apple. I like the idea of a 17" or 15" powerbook. i have seen this bag that is designed jsut for the 17" powerbook and a camera. I thought it was a really cool idea. I think the portability would be nice, but I am into after effects and fcp. I don't think the new powerbooks could handle after effects well, and I would like to use motion. Is the g5 powermac my only option? should I keep waiting until a g5 powerbook comes out? will a g5 powerbook really big a big improvement, will it handle motion? drop me a line about what you suggest. If I went with a powermac, I think I could either get a dual 2.5 Ghz with a crt off brand monitor. if i went with a dual 1.8 ghz, I could get a apple display. what do you think? 😕
 
Buy the PB for portability strictly, otherwise for Motion, your money is better spent on a G5 tower that you can upgrade to a 6800 or X800 and 4GB RAM.

I ran Motion on my PB 1.33 GHz and it was fairly decent, but don't expect top-notch performance. I would suggest the 15" PB for video editing, as it has the PC card slot you can add additional FW ports. I find the 17" too big, but its great as a silent desktop replacement.
 
Unless portability is a MUST HAVE, get the PowerMac.

Don't expect a portable G5 anytime soon.

If you want to run Motion, you'll need 2GB of RAM, and for the PowerBook, that's at least 425-500 dollars.
 
If you are really interested in having a portable, you could get a dual powermac and a 12" iBook. If you sold your current iMac, you would nearly have enough for the iBook, a dual 1.8Ghz, and the Dell 2005fpw 20" monitor.
 
AmnesiacOpera said:
If you are really interested in having a portable, you could get a dual powermac and a 12" iBook. If you sold your current iMac, you would nearly have enough for the iBook, a dual 1.8Ghz, and the Dell 2005fpw 20" monitor.
Click to expand...



i would like to thank you all for the quick response, very good ideas. I think I will go with the powermac. I might try to get a 12" Powerbook refurbished maybe the first edition 12". I have heard lots of complaints about the ibook's and I want to be able to do basic editing on the go. Plus I need a superdrive. but good ideas.

😀
 
I have used FCP, Shake, and DVDStudioPro on a 17" and on a G5- shoot for the G5 unless speed is what you need. Rendering for many effects is not real-time or is parareal-time on the PB. I do editing with FCP-HD on my 12"PB and I am happy. Regardless, get an external drive or two (manage your media!!!!) and max out the RAM. You don't have to go for FW800 on the drives, but in the future resolution may require it.

Compressor can take a lot of computing power. It takes a respectable amount of time to master full length DVD (especially if your maximizing the resolution) on a G4PB.

Don’t forget a UPS so that if the power drops for a few moments, you don’t corrupt data.

I don't have a MiniDV camera, as you upgrade, are you selling one?

Equipment:
Student license of FCP, 12” PB 1Ghz, 1.25GB DDR, 40Gb HD, OS 10.3.7.
320 Gb free on 2 ancillary FW400 Drives.

Background:
Going back to school to finish my degrees. Work currently as a postproduction audio engineer and production manager for a non-profit recording studio.
 
Eniregnat said:
I have used FCP, Shake, and DVDStudioPro on a 17" and on a G5- shoot for the G5 unless speed is what you need. Rendering for many effects is not real-time or is parareal-time on the PB. I do editing with FCP-HD on my 12"PB and I am happy. Regardless, get an external drive or two (manage your media!!!!) and max out the RAM. You don't have to go for FW800 on the drives, but in the future resolution may require it.

Compressor can take a lot of computing power. It takes a respectable amount of time to master full length DVD (especially if your maximizing the resolution) on a G4PB.

Don’t forget a UPS so that if the power drops for a few moments, you don’t corrupt data.

I don't have a MiniDV camera, as you upgrade, are you selling one?

Equipment:
Student license of FCP, 12” PB 1Ghz, 1.25GB DDR, 40Gb HD, OS 10.3.7.
320 Gb free on 2 ancillary FW400 Drives.

Background:
Going back to school to finish my degrees. Work currently as a postproduction audio engineer and production manager for a non-profit recording studio.
Click to expand...



thats good news, maybe I will go for the 15" powerbook. I have a crappy old sony mini dv camera, but I just use my college's cameras usually. thanks for the advice.
 
corywoolf said:
i have seen this bag that is designed jsut for the 17" powerbook and a camera. I thought it was a really cool idea.
Click to expand...

Do you have a link for this bag? I think I could use something like that.
 
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