$5700 Mac Book Pro overkill for transfering P2?

S

seismore

New member
16 G P2 card is finally arriving. I will be shooting and handing off footage to clients. I currently don't get paid to edit. I really just need a machine to transfer footage quickly. I have been looking at 2.4 Ghz 17 inch Macbook Pro, 4 gig ram, 160 g 7200 HD, w/ FCP Studio 2. Overkill? Is the FCP needed or will I be able to get away without it. I am planning on getting the dual adapter, and lacie rugged 160 gb 5400 rpm hdrives for distribution.

BTW, I need a new laptop for general use. Sorry if this topic is a repeat.

Glad to be a new member of this community.

Thanks,

Chris
 
it might cost more but I think you will have less problems than if you buy at some third party. I only buy Apple stuff for my Powerbook and iMac.
 
If all you're doing is dumping the footage, no editing or anything, then yeah - you won't need something that powerful.

I use a MacBookPro 15", 1.8Ghz ICD, w/1.5GB RAM and it works fine for capturing, it'll even edit okay if you really want.
 
So, I don't need that much power in the proc. or ram. What about the 7200 rpm internal HD? Does one need to have FCP in order to transfer or will P2CMS or P2 Genie take care of my needs?

This all helps alot. Thank you.
 
If you only want to dump footage you can get a pc laptop with a pcmcia slot for 4 or 500 and you will be fine. No need to spend thousands of dollars for an offload device.

Jason
 
I find the 17" laptops unwieldy to carry in the field or plane. 15" is more portable. 17" MBP would not be overkill if you needed to use it for a lot more than just dumping cards and wanted an excuse to justify the purchase.
I rationalize a lot of my purchases this way.
 
I actually recommend against it. Don't buy it. Buy a used macbook pro like what Sam Davies has. All you need is a macbook pro you should buy one used for around $1200. In 6 months from now when you start editing a new model will be out. So you can get one 15" inch for the field to learn on, and a 17" inch or mac pro in the future when you are ready to get your keyboard dirty. DVCPROHD is very light on your system to edit. Are you editing more than 3 streams at a time? If you aren't doing motion graphics or multicam you would be throwing money out the window. I repeat don't buy that laptop! If the money is burning a hole buy the used macbook pro and a Mac Pro as your workhorse system. This would give you way more flexibility.
 
i transfer p2, edit and do general day to day work on an old 1.0ghz 17" mac powerbook.

works like a champ - now i wouldnt go doing any graphic intense effect work or exporting big files (as that'd be SLOOOOWWWW) - but on a day to day, card transfer and basic fcp edit work its GREAT!

and it's under a grand on ebay
 
What Jason said. Not only is a MBP ridiculously way overkill for the job of offloading P2, it's also not a very good choice for that job. You'd be better served with a cheap $400 or $500 PC laptop with a PCMCIA slot built-in.

If you want a portable mac because you want a portable mac, well, that's one case. But if you're looking for something to offload P2 with, a better choice would be the cheap PC laptop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top