12'' iBook or PB for video editing??

[ChibiOne]

Hello all. Been watching the forum, the rumors... Gathering info to switch

I had been waiting for the sweet upgrades we just got a few weeks ago, but I'm still not sure what 'Book to buy!

I will be using the 'book as "My Machine", for surfing, email, word processing, some Java and web programming... However, I have an itch to explore the world of digital video editing. So, you see, I may have a need to get FW devices.

My question concerns firewire in Macs:
- Video editing feeds on hard drives. As both good storage AND DV camcorders make use of a FW port, could I, at some point, make use of a firewire hub to capture the video directly from the camcorder into the HW HD?


What about a 12'' iBook with extra RAM, a FW drive and AE card? Would that work or would I need the extra graphics memory in the PB? I don't intend to go Pro just yet, I just wanna wet my feet with iMovie and, maybe later, FCE (besides, would be nice to save a few hundred on the iBook vs. the PB).


Thanks fer reading!

 

[yoda13]

I would go with the Powerbook for several reasons. 1) the graphics card is better 2) you have the ability to hook up an external monitor and do screen spanning, which will give the capability for a lot of extra real estate, which is nice when ediitng video 3) you can get a superdrive in the powerbook, which will be nice once you make movies, then you can make dvds

You can't get one in a 12" iBook. Plus in my opinion, the new powerbook will function more powerfully, longer

just my 2 cents

 

[FuzzyBallz]

Yeah, too bad your PB battery's gonna run out right in the middle of your A/V project.

1) Radeon 9200 & nVidia FX5200. Both low end gfx card. It's like comparing Accord and Camery, when the big boys drive Mercedes.

2) Both iBook and PB have video out port. The only difference is the PB does DVI out and iBook does VGA out. Big deal. If someone wants A/V editing on a big screen, get a Dual G5.

3) SuperDrive. More like super slow drive. If you wanna burn something, buy an external 8x dual DVD writer, which is cheaper.

___________________________________________________________________

iBook w/ 1GB RAM, FW burner, AE will work just fine.

 

[Bigheadache]

The extra features Yoda says are nice to have, but they definitely are not worth the premium from ibook to PB.

As for Fuzzyballz points:

1) Definitely agree. Its like asking whether 7fps is a better gaming experience than 6 fps.

2) Pardon my ignorance, is there a way to hook it up to display footage on a tv? I may not have a second monitor around, but I can always count on having a TV

3) Definitely agree. Buy one of those new dual layer DVDburners like the Sony DRU700 and stick it in a external box. The premium to go from ibook to Superdrive PB is way too much just to get access to a DVD burner.

As for the camcorder direct to firewire HD, I am pretty certain (but not absolutely sure, so someone correct me) that you cannot do that, you need to hook it up to a Mac.

 

[Rod Rod]

the iBook will be fine for video editing.

yes, with a FireWire repeater/hub you can capture DV from a camcorder to an external hard drive. I've done that successfully on a 12" iBook and a 12" PowerBook.

gaming performance is not consequential to video editing performance in video cards. 32MB of video RAM is plenty for one screen + a television.

you can monitor-span from an iBook by way of the well-known and safe modification. it worked on my old 12" 700MHz cd-rom G3 iBook and it works on iBook G4s too.

it's easy to connect a TV to your Mac for video edit monitoring. this works in Final Cut Pro. I'm not sure if it works with FC Express.

you most likely don't need a superdrive. all the superdrive-having PB owners I know hardly ever burn DVDs. save the money, buy a pioneer 107 (8x dual format burner) and put it in a FW case. combo drives burn CDs much more quickly. if you're worried about using iDVD, check this out (the easter egg link is on the first page).

I hope this helps.

 

[ChibiOne]

Thank you all for your replies

1) Regarding the 32MB vs 64MB video memory issue, I mostly wanted to know if they would prove useful in video editing. So now I guess it's not really an issue (considering they are not 'full sized' graphic cards).

2) As for the Superdrive comments... Yeah, I was thinking "Just how many DVDs am I going to burn"? Besides, SD's are already available (in my friends' PB17'' and iMac), so I wasn't really worried about it.

What's bugging me is the really smal hard drive in the entry level iBook. 30GB? Considering that 4.5 minutes of digital video ~ 1 GB, it may be just a bit tight, but I think I could manage (Given my location, I can only buy retail, not online, so no customization is available for me). I guess I could transfer the finished video back to DV tape and burn it at my friends'. Or, get the next model.

At any rate, all your comments have been very useful. Thanks.

 

[Balooba]

iBook will be much slower

The iBook can of course do everything that the PB does, just slower. Video editing is cpu intensive and in terms of raw processing power the PB runs in circles around the 1 GHz iBook. Not just because of the faster cpu but mainly due to its faster bus and (most importatly) the L2 cache. Compare benchmarks yourself http://ladd.dyndns.org/xbench/ .

The writer above who claimed that the superdrive is super slow must have missed the recent upgrades, DVD:s nowadays burn at 4x speed.

 

[ThomasJefferson]

It's like comparing Accord and Camery, when the big boys drive Mercedes.

Hey! I have a new 2004 Camry XLE. Awesome car, dependable, etc.. I will be driving it from SC to Wyoming this summer.

Flip side. I have had to pick my neighbor up twice on the side of the road this past year. He drives a Mercedes.

 

[Mr. Monsieur]

Not just because of the faster cpu but mainly due to its faster bus and (most importatly) the L2 cache.

Is this still true with the new iBooks? My new 14inch iBook says that it has an L2 cache, 512 KB...I'd certainly like to know!

 

[csubear]

ibook has a 133mhz fsb, and the pbook has a 167fsb. Not to mention its 333mhz faster, more harddrive space, you won't void your apple care by doing moniter spaning, built in airport-x and bluetooth. The extra money is worth it. I am typing on one right now, and i love it.

btw. I have a 2004 Accord, and it is the nicest car i've ever had.

 

[Balooba]

No cache difference

Is this still true with the new iBooks? My new 14inch iBook says that it has an L2 cache, 512 KB...I'd certainly like to know!

That is right. All iBooks and Powerbooks have 512 kB L2 Cache. Sorry for the confusion. Still, the differences are significant (Xbench) but if it is worth the extra bucks will be up to each user to determine.

 

[idkew]

btw. I have a 2004 Accord, and it is the nicest car i've ever had.

that doesn't mean it is not a POS compared to a TOL Mercedes.

and i can say that, i drive a 9 year old corolla.




also- for those who think all you get in 9fps with the powerbook, why don't you actually try and see what it can do? you will find you are WRONG. so, you don't get 34,890fps, but who cares? do you think those hundreds of fps make a better game experience than one that con put out 60fps? lets not forget, the tv you watch shows *ONLY* 24fps.

 

[Rod Rod]

also- for those who think all you get in 9fps with the powerbook, why don't you actually try and see what it can do? you will find you are WRONG. so, you don't get 34,890fps, but who cares? do you think those hundreds of fps make a better game experience than one that con put out 60fps? lets not forget, the tv you watch shows *ONLY* 24fps.

point well taken about whether fps numbers matter that much, beyond a certain point. however, PAL TVs show 25fps, and NTSC TVs show 30fps. the highest frame rate available among all varieties of HDTV is 60. as far as 24fps goes, most (if not all) commercial/Hollywood DVDs are encoded at 23.98fps but reverse pulldown makes them viewable on 30fps (60i) TVs as well as progressive scan monitors.

 

[idkew]

i don't know what to say rod




i think you help my point though.

 

[h'biki]

Hello all. Been watching the forum, the rumors...

My question concerns firewire in Macs:
- Video editing feeds on hard drives. As both good storage AND DV camcorders make use of a FW port, could I, at some point, make use of a firewire hub to capture the video directly from the camcorder into the HW HD?

Thanks fer reading!

Back when I got my TiBook, this only produced problems for me. It really depended on the type of enclosure you were using and the camera. I think its probably better now, but for safety reasons I *always* run a drive on a separate bus from my firewire deck. Far less susceptible to problems.

But if you're only dabbling, then you might want to save money and go for the iBook.

But 12" is tiny for vid editing

 

[Mr. Monsieur]

That is right. All iBooks and Powerbooks have 512 kB L2 Cache. Sorry for the confusion. Still, the differences are significant (Xbench) but if it is worth the extra bucks will be up to each user to determine.

Are those xbench times still true, after the power boosts? I couldn't find a date on the web page...and all it said was "white iBook" which isn't too specific!

 

[mpopkin]

It is definetely true that the price premium is great between the computers
but 1) The superdrive i have in my new PB g4 1.5 is the fastest mobile burner available and i love it and do not need any faster speeds(it burns at 4x -r and 4x rw
Go the Powerbook way, the extra 330 mhz will mean a big diffference performance wise.

Yeah, too bad your PB battery's gonna run out right in the middle of your A/V project.

1) Radeon 9200 & nVidia FX5200. Both low end gfx card. It's like comparing Accord and Camery, when the big boys drive Mercedes.

2) Both iBook and PB have video out port. The only difference is the PB does DVI out and iBook does VGA out. Big deal. If someone wants A/V editing on a big screen, get a Dual G5.

3) SuperDrive. More like super slow drive. If you wanna burn something, buy an external 8x dual DVD writer, which is cheaper.

___________________________________________________________________

iBook w/ 1GB RAM, FW burner, AE will work just fine.

 

[Mr. Monsieur]

That is right. All iBooks and Powerbooks have 512 kB L2 Cache. Sorry for the confusion. Still, the differences are significant (Xbench) but if it is worth the extra bucks will be up to each user to determine.

Are those xbench times still true, after the power boosts? I couldn't find a date on the web page...and all it said was "white iBook" which isn't too specific!

 

[Dirty Harry]

Hello all. Been watching the forum, the rumors... Gathering info to switch

I had been waiting for the sweet upgrades we just got a few weeks ago, but I'm still not sure what 'Book to buy!

I will be using the 'book as "My Machine", for surfing, email, word processing, some Java and web programming... However, I have an itch to explore the world of digital video editing. So, you see, I may have a need to get FW devices.

My question concerns firewire in Macs:
- Video editing feeds on hard drives. As both good storage AND DV camcorders make use of a FW port, could I, at some point, make use of a firewire hub to capture the video directly from the camcorder into the HW HD?


What about a 12'' iBook with extra RAM, a FW drive and AE card? Would that work or would I need the extra graphics memory in the PB? I don't intend to go Pro just yet, I just wanna wet my feet with iMovie and, maybe later, FCE (besides, would be nice to save a few hundred on the iBook vs. the PB).


Thanks fer reading!

I am using the new 14 inch iBook 1.2 Ghz BTO SuperDrive for miniDV editing with FCExpress and it works fine. Powerbook is faster, but considering the price diference and how fast computers get outdated I don't think it is worth it; I'd rather spend the difference buying an external speedy FireWire drive and adding as much ram as you can. That will make the big difference in terms of speed, more than iBook/PBook differences...

14 screen size is better than 12; resolution is the same, but bigger icons on the 14 makes editing much easier after a few hours working, I can tell you.