Im seriously thinking of buying a 15" powerbook for school. this will be my main and only computer. i know this is a pretty powerful machine and could probably handle final cut, but i want to know how well it can handle it. Have any of you used a powerbook for some heavy duty editing??? im definitly going to buy a 15" powerbook because i need the portability for school, but i was also looking at the imacs. how much better does the imac perform in final cut vs. the powerbook?? the powerbook set up im going to have is 1.67 1gb 80gb 128mb vram with final cut express installed. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Video Editing on 1.67 Powerbook
- Thread starter Gmac07
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Gmac07 said:
RAM is make it feel fast when editing, but the compression times will take forever. If you really want a video editing machine get a PowerMac, not a iMac. The iMac won't be that much better than the Powerbook, and it's probably a waste of money. Spend that money on an external monitor or something.
I have a 15" PB w/ superdrive, 2G, and 1.67 ghz and i use it with final cut studio and it works awesome....The one thing i would reconmend would be that you upgrade from the 1g from the factory and add another gig it is well worth your while, Final Cut is a program that runs many different proceses and that extra gig is well worth your while, also, cause i ran into this prob, when you buy your book get the 1 gig chip NOT the 2 512's... I originally got the 2 512's and i went to add another gig and i had to remove one so i only had 1.5 gig's...which isn't BAD but i paid for 2 ya know? So lluckily the people at the apple store in miami beach are super cool so they hooked me up and let me trade 2 512's for the 1 gig but dont expect everyone to do that for yOU! but i got off the subject...the PB is great for what you want...i am going to AI and i use it there and its awsome
Running Final Cut Studio on my 15" 1.67, runs great. Make sure you get the 128MB VRAM, 100GB HD, and as much RAM as you can afford. The Studio takes up 45GB of Hard Drive space, so you definitely want to have as much space as possible. Motion runs well, but not as well as my Dual 2.5 Power Mac obviously. Other than that, it's a perfectly capable machine.
I've got an older Powerbook with 1GB of ram and I think it runs FCP really well. Of course I don't have the rendering speeds I'd have with a G5, but if portability is needed at all, the cut in speed is well worth it. I don't think you'll be disappointed at all.
I'd say that it would be well worth your money to upgrade to the 100GB hard drive, unless you are planning to upgrade by yourself when 160 GB notebook drives come out next year. HD space is probably more of a concern for me than the rendering speeds.
I'd say that it would be well worth your money to upgrade to the 100GB hard drive, unless you are planning to upgrade by yourself when 160 GB notebook drives come out next year. HD space is probably more of a concern for me than the rendering speeds.
The Powerbook handle Final Cut just fine for the editing task.Gmac07 said:
The real bottleneck is in rendering, though, where the G4 chokes next to the G5. If you're on a Mac-centric network, you may be able to use FCP5's distributed rendering feature, but I wouldn't bet on it.
For the price of a 15" Powerbook, you could get a 12" iBook and an iMac G5. If you choose wisely, you can probably get a 12" iBook and a PowerMac G5, but you'll have to bring your own monitor.
HTH.
pb
i definitly need a laptop for school, portabilty is very important since im moving back and forth between new jersey, north carolina for school, and vermont for skiing in the winter. oh yea the main reason i need a computer for video editing is because im making a skiing and snowboarding movie. Im also planning on paintball and offshore fishing projects. As you can see im pretty active haha. But anyway yea the 100gb hard drive is probably worth the 90 dollars under edu discount. but i already have a 300gb ext drive. Also im only gonna run final cut express ($150) as i dont have an extra grand to throw at studio. so i dont think ill be eating up 45gb. I just want this powerbook to do everything i want for the next 2-3 years. i might just wait but right now i got a P4 compaq laptop that sounds like a jet is taking off in my room. the fans sound shot and its running pretty hot. My battery lasts for 5mins, so its not even portable anymore. so with classes starting aug 16 im thinking im just going to buy the powerbook now instead of waiting for an upgrade.
i definitly need a laptop for school, portabilty is very important since im moving back and forth between new jersey, north carolina for school, and vermont for skiing in the winter. oh yea the main reason i need a computer for video editing is because im making a skiing and snowboarding movie. Im also planning on paintball and offshore fishing projects. As you can see im pretty active haha. But anyway yea the 100gb hard drive is probably worth the 90 dollars under edu discount. but i already have a 300gb ext drive. Also im only gonna run final cut express ($150) as i dont have an extra grand to throw at studio. so i dont think ill be eating up 45gb. I just want this powerbook to do everything i want for the next 2-3 years. i might just wait but right now i got a P4 compaq laptop that sounds like a jet is taking off in my room. the fans sound shot and its running pretty hot. My battery lasts for 5mins, so its not even portable anymore. so with classes starting aug 16 im thinking im just going to buy the powerbook now instead of waiting for an upgrade.
Then the Powerbook is undoubtedly your best solution.Gmac07 said:
Max out the HDD and VRAM (for Motion) from Apple. Add 1GB of RAM from Crucial after you get it. Spend some money on a pair of good external hard drives.
Just be patient while it renders.
Hello there,
I'm new to the forums and i'm in the same situation as Gmac07. I'm planning on getting a 15" 1.67 pb (which will be my first mac ever, as well) and aside from using it to do school work, I want to use it for video editing. It's good to hear that FCP works fine on the pb but i was wondering how does After Effects run on the pb with about 1.5 gigs of RAM?
I'm new to the forums and i'm in the same situation as Gmac07. I'm planning on getting a 15" 1.67 pb (which will be my first mac ever, as well) and aside from using it to do school work, I want to use it for video editing. It's good to hear that FCP works fine on the pb but i was wondering how does After Effects run on the pb with about 1.5 gigs of RAM?
I've not used AE, so I can't share any personal experience, but it should run just fine, based on the required specs.Joul said:
I'm a filmmaker myself ----- the 1.67 ghz chip runs FCP excellently ---- honestly, it rivals my G5 PowerMac, in its ability to process real time effects
the others are right ----- definitely get a HUGE HD and 128 of VRAM
if you can do it, then 2 gigs of RAM also helps, but I think at least 1.5 would be essential
the others are right ----- definitely get a HUGE HD and 128 of VRAM
if you can do it, then 2 gigs of RAM also helps, but I think at least 1.5 would be essential
pb
yea im gona get the powerbook, but im gona get 512mb from apple and just upgrade it with crucial. i just dont know if i should wait till december if there will be an update anytime soon. i could make it through 1 semester on my compaq but it wont be pretty. but i only got 2 years of school left and i want the best tools to help me get through it. i truly feel that a new powerbook will help me get better grades. not to mention i can get started on my video projects! also im gona be in the market for a minidv camcorder. i need a compact but rugged camcorder that can take a beating and still give a great picture. any advice on a camcorder that fits this description under $1000 id appreciate!
yea im gona get the powerbook, but im gona get 512mb from apple and just upgrade it with crucial. i just dont know if i should wait till december if there will be an update anytime soon. i could make it through 1 semester on my compaq but it wont be pretty. but i only got 2 years of school left and i want the best tools to help me get through it. i truly feel that a new powerbook will help me get better grades. not to mention i can get started on my video projects! also im gona be in the market for a minidv camcorder. i need a compact but rugged camcorder that can take a beating and still give a great picture. any advice on a camcorder that fits this description under $1000 id appreciate!