Apple Laptop for HVX Capture

escozooz

escozooz

Well-known member
Hi,

I'm looking to buy a used Apple Laptop but I am not sure which model has the the correct P2 slot. I haven't been keeping track of all of the new Apple laptops.

I know (I think) the new MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops don't have the right PCI slot. Which models have the correct PCI slot and what is the PCI slots official name?

Thanks,

Matt
 
PCMCIA. You'd want a PowerBook G4, none of the new Intel mac laptops have the right slot (although rumors are that an adapter is supposed to come out).

If you want to buy a laptop for P2 offloads, you can save a ton of money and get more reliable performance by just getting a PC laptop. You could offload the cards to an external FAT32 hard disk and then plug that directly into your desktop Mac for editing in FCP.
 
The people that have authority over these things now call the PCMCIA card slot a PC Card slot.

Only the non Intel Mac laptops have them
 
If you're editing FCP personally I'd avoid throwing a PC into the mix. Barry is right you'd save some dough but you'd also be dealing with some potential compatibility issues going across the OS line. For under a grand you could easily find a used Powerbook G4 with a PCMCIA slot that will do the trick very well and give you a running copy of FCP so you can check that your P2 imports are playing nice with Final Cut. My $.02. It would need to be a 15 inch or 17 inch model- go for at least 1Ghz Processor.
 
for what it's worth...

for what it's worth...

i use my 15" PB store my P2 files to the desktop then copy them to a FW400 80g in the field -- it works great! i also have a G-SATA that i capture directly to via FW thru FCP to the G-SATA. it works really well too.

add ing PC into the mix is initially cheaper, but probably more expensive in the long run.:costumed-smiley-047
 
Lill Creates: said:
add ing PC into the mix is initially cheaper, but probably more expensive in the long run.:costumed-smiley-047
Click to expand...
To each their own, of course. PCs are more reliable in offloading cards, they don't suffer from the dreaded glitch that affects Macs. Plus you can still buy a PC with the proper PCMCIA slot, something you can't do with the Mac. I think the PC laptop is a much superior choice over the Mac laptop, unless it's the only computer you intend to use (i.e., you intend to be editing on that laptop).
 
NoahK said:
If you're editing FCP personally I'd avoid throwing a PC into the mix. Barry is right you'd save some dough but you'd also be dealing with some potential compatibility issues going across the OS line.
Click to expand...

Can't you just use an external Fat 32 drive on the pc laptop and then plug it into the mac for editing?
 
Hi jumping in here, I have a macbookpro 17 which is working out fine.
However the claims that its 5 times faster than the powerbook should not keep you from buying a powerbook which is and still is a solid performer.
And one can be purchased very cheaply at apple.com under the refurbished models.

Kind regards
THE HONEST LIAR
 
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The refurb store is the best place to by macbook pros as well, and the only place to find the now discontinued 15" 2.0ghz w/ 256mb Video Card & 1gb Ram. Only 1999
 
Thanks for the replies.

Barry_Green: I would get a PC but I will probably use the laptop to do quick offline edits. My G5 workstation is for the online, getting a raid setup soon. :D

The powerbook G4 on ebay are around $1k for a very solid machine. I'm deciding between a sekonic-Cine or a laptop. I might just get the laptop and do a few music videos on the HVX first.

Thanks for the help. Why did Apple Axe the PC slot? Though if they didn't I would probably have a MBP with a battery that set fire to my P2 cards. :evil:

Cheers.

Matt
 
I concur with Barry. If you are building your system from scratch, whether or not you are using FCP or not, for field data management (IE moving footage from cards to drives) I would recommend buying a PC laptop. Again, unless you want to edit on same said laptop using FCP.
I bought a mac refurb G4 for the HVX ( I am mostly PC guy, but my wife has a mac tower with FCP) only to find (Horrors!) that has far as HVX goes mac is buggy and PC stable. (Talk about down the rabbit hole!)
If you insist on going Mac all the way I STRONGLY recommend P2 log software so you can play the mxf files natively quickly to verify they in fact actually made it off the cards successfully. Also remember that the file names are not completely random- 0001YD comes before 0002GH (the operative thing is first non zero gives you the order it was shot)- make sure nothing is missing, and make sure all the partitions on your p2 store mounted, AND play everything (at least the first few seconds) to confirm video as well as just icon made it over. Sounds like fun? not really. but it seems to work and keep me out of trouble.
one advantage of mac- p2 log plays HD footage at full res while panasonic freeware on pc plays it back at 50mbs essentially half res, good enough for checking and identifying, but not as pretty.
 
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