How well does Final Cut Pro HD run on Powerbooks?

[elevenpower]

Hey everyone,
I'm a communications major in college and just purchased a 1.5 ghz powerbook to replace my ibm portable. So far i'm very pleased with the powerbooks performance in photoshop and other applications i use in class.

I'm going to be taking a digital video course and i was wondering if anyone here uses Final Cut Pro on their Powerbooks, and if they do, how is the performance?

I know it's not going to compare to a G5 Tower, but i don't want to purchase a desktop until i leave college. So if anyone can share their experience with Final Cut Pro HD on their powerbooks, it'd be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

[Logik]

Hey everyone,
I'm a communications major in college and just purchased a 1.5 ghz powerbook to replace my ibm portable. So far i'm very pleased with the powerbooks performance in photoshop and other applications i use in class.

I'm going to be taking a digital video course and i was wondering if anyone here uses Final Cut Pro on their Powerbooks, and if they do, how is the performance?

I know it's not going to compare to a G5 Tower, but i don't want to purchase a desktop until i leave college. So if anyone can share their experience with Final Cut Pro HD on their powerbooks, it'd be greatly appreciated, thank you.

i cant comment on FCPHD BUT i can say that if you want to make dvd's and require more than what iDVD offers... DVD Studio Pro absolutely rocks.. and runs incredibly well on a 1.33Ghz PowerBook. If you are satisfied with what others say about FCP HD then definitely spring for the Production Suite and get FCP HD, Motion, and DVD Studio Pro... i'm wondering if you might wanna wait though and see what they release at WWDC? I am kinda curious if they'll release updates to the Production Suite at WWDC.. any one here care to comment on that?

 

[JOD8FY]

I, too, cannot coment directly on the performance of FCPHD. However, FCE 2 runs very smoothly on my machine (see sig). My guess is that you should have no probelms at all running FCPHD on yours.

Also, you are going to love FCP. I used to use Adobe Premiere until recently when I switched over to FCE. They are similar in some ways, but Final Cut is much more powerful and intuitive.

Your PB will provide you with a great editing experience.

Best wishes,
JOD8FY

 

[WinterMute]

FCP HD runs fine on my 1Ghz 17" PB, with the proviso that rendering large files can be very slow, but the editing, effects, importing and capture all work very well.

You'll probably want a big fast FW800 drive to capture to, as most PB come with a 4200 drive unless otherwise spec'ed.

I have a 250Gig Lacie that runs very well, using the 800 gives you access to both ports.

 

[Logik]

FCP HD runs fine on my 1Ghz 17" PB, with the proviso that rendering large files can be very slow

I'm wondering if the introduction of CoreVideo in Tiger is what will speed up the rendering slowness.. This is why I am tempted to wait for the next version of FCP, hoping that Tiger will introduce some VERY quick rendering times (as in being done within the video card rather than CPU).

 

[maya]

FCP HD, runs a bit slow on both the PB and iBook. As long as you are working with a few video tracks and minimal effects your should be fine even with the rendering process.

Motion is not even an option to run on a G4, the wait will kill you.


FCP 3 and 4 run quite well on the other hand.

 

[WinterMute]

I'm wondering if the introduction of CoreVideo in Tiger is what will speed up the rendering slowness.. This is why I am tempted to wait for the next version of FCP, hoping that Tiger will introduce some VERY quick rendering times (as in being done within the video card rather than CPU).

I'm hopiing the same, although I don't think this machine will last far beyond Tiger, it was on eof the first 17" and it's due an upgrade, although I'll probably wait till the next revision now.

I think the 1.5 and 1.67Ghz versions fare much better int eh rendering stakes, and i don't think any laptop will compare with a desktop machine in any case.

FCP runs fine, and hopefully it'll run better under Tiger.

 

[maya]

I'm wondering if the introduction of CoreVideo in Tiger is what will speed up the rendering slowness.. This is why I am tempted to wait for the next version of FCP, hoping that Tiger will introduce some VERY quick rendering times (as in being done within the video card rather than CPU).

CoreImage will speed things up indeed for FCP HD and Motion, as it will use the GPU as a coprocessor.

 

[Logik]

CoreImage will speed things up indeed for FCP HD and Motion, as it will use the GPU as a coprocessor.

i imagine you'll have to wait for an update to FCP HD and Motion before you see those increases though. It doesn't just take advantage of it without the programming. So like i was saying, i hope that with the release of tiger, shortly afterwards we see a big update to the video production lineup.