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Is Mini DisplayPort same as firewire?

E

evenkiehl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 26, 2009
16
0
Hi,
sorry for what may seem a stupid question, but I have ordered the following computer to use with a Canon HV 30 camcorder, and I will upgrade to iLife09, to use iMovie.
But I cannot find any firewire info. Am I OK with this???
Thanks
Stuart
-------------------------------------

The MacBook Pro includes a next generation Mini DisplayPort, which delivers a
pure digital signal that can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display.
Apple MacBook Pro MB470LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB DDR3 RAM, 250

Apple MacBook Pro MB470LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB DDR3 RAM, 250

Details:
Product Features and Technical Details
Product Features

* Redesigned MacBook with thin, strong aluminum unibody frame and 15-inch LED-backlit glass display
* New glass trackpad with 40 percent more tracking area and supports more Multi-Touch gestures
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 250 GB hard drive, 2 GB DDR3 RAM (4 GB max), DVD/CD SuperDrive
* Dual NVIDIA graphics (integraed and discrete); Draft-N Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 2.1; Gigabit Ethernet; Mini DisplayPort video output
* Preloaded with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system and iLife 08 suite of applications

Processor, Memory, and Motherboard

The MacBook Pro includes a next generation Mini DisplayPort, which delivers a pure digital signal that can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display. The Mini DisplayPort is ultra-compact at just 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector, and is compatible with Apples 24-inch Cinema Display. Adapters are also available for using VGA, DVI/HDMI and Dual-Link DVI displays

Hard Drive and Memory
The 250 GB Serial-ATA (SATA) hard drive (5400 RPM) quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to FireWire and USB 2.0. The 2 GB of PC3-8500 DDR3 RAM (two SO-DIMMs of 1024 MB) has an industry-leading 1066 MHz speed, and the RAM capacity can be increased to 4 GB.
 
No. Mini-DisplayPort is like DVI-D or VGA, it's a video output. FireWire is a data interchange protocol that is more advanced than USB. Two totally different things.

The MB470LL/A is the current 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro and it has both mini-DisplayPort as well as FireWire 800. And USB for that matter.

So you're covered on all counts. That's a nice laptop, I'm envious. :) You'll eventually want to change out that 5400 rpm hard drive, but I'd wait until the prices drop on the 500GB 7200 rpm drives when they get more plentiful later this year.

Edit: Search Apple.com for "MB470LL/A" and you'll see what you are getting. The tech specs are here or here.
 
John.B said:
You'll eventually want to change out that 5400 rpm hard drive, but I'd wait until the prices drop on the 500GB 7200 rpm drives when they get more plentiful later this year.
Click to expand...

No need to do that for video editing... the media should always be on an external drive anyway. going to a 7200rpm internal on a laptop doesn't gain that much useful performance.
 
sushi said:
Why do you say this?
Click to expand...

simply drive speed. never ever capture video to the internal drive of a laptop (or the OS drive of a desktop).

video for editing should always be on a separate 3.5" disk away from your OS. that is one of the golden unwritten rules of video editing.
 
I've got that camcorder and love it. Get a 9 PIN/ 4PIN BILINGUAL FireWire 800 - FireWire 400 Cable and you'll be golden!
 
bigbossbmb said:
simply drive speed. never ever capture video to the internal drive of a laptop (or the OS drive of a desktop).

video for editing should always be on a separate 3.5" disk away from your OS. that is one of the golden unwritten rules of video editing.
Click to expand...

+2

My best friend just graduated with a Masters degree in BECA. He taught me a few things, and like you said, it is the unwritten rule. It also helps speed up the processing of the video because it dosen't have to read the video files while switching back and forth to read the actual program and os.
 
bigbossbmb said:
video for editing should always be on a separate 3.5" disk away from your OS. that is one of the golden unwritten rules of video editing.
Click to expand...
It's certainly best practice, but if you're working with low-data-rate video like DV you can easily ignore it if necessary. I can capture and edit using my 2.16 MBP's internal HD (a 200Gb 4200rpm unit) without any problems at all.

The only issue I've ever had is with trying to use an external 2.5" drive for both the media and as the scratch disk; any effects or other renders ended up corrupted. The solution was to set a different drive (be it the MBP internal one or another external) as the scratch.
 
bigbossbmb said:
No need to do that for video editing... the media should always be on an external drive anyway. going to a 7200rpm internal on a laptop doesn't gain that much useful performance.
Click to expand...
Good point, but I was recommending the faster drive for Teh Snappies(TM) on the Mac itself.

My blackbook was noticeably more responsive for certain tasks including booting and application loading the day I upgraded from the stock 5400 rpm drive to a 7200. As I said, "eventually" he'll want to upgrade. :cool:

As far as the external vs internal debate goes, I've been told the internal SATA speeds should trump any benefits of a FW drive, but my experience with external FW drives and FW audio interfaces has been just the opposite. Definitely worthwhile IMO to go with an external FW drive for critical data streaming applications.
 
bigbossbmb said:
video for editing should always be on a separate 3.5" disk away from your OS. that is one of the golden unwritten rules of video editing.
Click to expand...
Golden unwritten rule. Got it. Thanks.

So, you can still do it on the internal HD (laptop) or boot drive (desktop) if the need arises. However, it's not the optimum setup.
 
Thanks again, one more ques....

....based on this link:
should I get an external hard drive for editing?

Deal is this-Canon HV 30 will be used in Central America for Youtube clips of a few min, probably every week or so, for information and marketing of organic speciality products from a farm being run by an American woman with a lot of blog followers.

Will probably shoot in SD to start with, then come up to speed on camera, download, editing and posting to Youtube. I have supervised lots of editing sessions but never pushed the buttons, and I will be a one man band down there.

So, seems like a good idea to have an external HD with me?
Many thanks,
Stuart
 
evenkiehl said:
....based on this link:
should I get an external hard drive for editing?
Click to expand...
Not seeing the link, for whatever reason.

But if I were you traveling in that situation, the first thing I'd have would be an external FW drive to periodically clone from the laptop's internal HD (I use SuperDuper, Carbon Copy Cloner is also highly regarded). That way if your MBP's hard drive gets flaky, you can boot from the cloned FW drive and continue working.

The second thing I'd do is to make sure I had the video files stored on two separate hard drives until the file could be uploaded someplace reliable. One of those two hard drives could easily be the laptop's internal HD, space permitting.
 
sushi said:
So, you can still do it on the internal HD (laptop) or boot drive (desktop) if the need arises. However, it's not the optimum setup.
Click to expand...

if the world is about to end and you don't have an external HD, then go ahead and use the OS drive and hope it works alright.

evenkiehl: get an external FW hard drive.
 
sushi said:
Golden unwritten rule. Got it. Thanks.

So, you can still do it on the internal HD (laptop) or boot drive (desktop) if the need arises. However, it's not the optimum setup.
Click to expand...

If the need arises but you're looking at slow load times, slow render times, and most importantly the likelihood of problems relating to dropped frames and audio stutters goes up.
 
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