Buying a new laptop for EX1 work. What to get??

Krummi

Krummi

Well-known member
Hey people

I'm about to freshen up my laptop and my new baby will be used as my primary EX1 editing and post production computer.

I know the value of the MacBook Pro lineup and I am looking at them closely, but I am more interested in getting input on some alternatives to apple.

what are the other major players out there? What should I be looking for in terms of RAM, CPU and GPU??

All input greatly welcomed!
 
Well,

The only new MacBookPro that would work is the 17" since they've taken the ExpressCard slot off all the other models.

In terms of PCs, you'd want to look for the most RAM and CPU you can find. You say you are going to use this for editing and post. Quite honestly, laptops are terrible for this function overall. Not enough screen to edit effectively, and no color accuracy for grading or other work. There is also the issue of drives since rendering video is disk intensive and the laptop only has one drive. If you'll be connecting external drives that can be helpful, but you'll still be doing it with just USB or firewire.

In terms of a GPU, that will come down to which editor you plan to use. I got my Laptop with an nVidia Quadro card. It offers very nice performance in some applications, but I cut in Sony Vegas which does not utilize the GPU at all.

I cut on my laptop when I absolutely HAVE to. But I'd never think of finishing on one.
 
Krummi said:
Hey people

I'm about to freshen up my laptop and my new baby will be used as my primary EX1 editing and post production computer.

I know the value of the MacBook Pro lineup and I am looking at them closely, but I am more interested in getting input on some alternatives to apple.

what are the other major players out there? What should I be looking for in terms of RAM, CPU and GPU??

All input greatly welcomed!
Click to expand...

Look at the Sony Vaio AW series of laptops - I have the 290 - it has two drives inside but you can also get something like a GTech mini Raid 0 drive with an ESATA connection and connect it through the Expresscard slot - worked very well on a recent vacation - did all the trim editing (don't trust it for color/brightness/contrast correction. The screen is large 18.4 (1080p) and it has a blu-ray burner/player - made my backups on the road. The power was plenty enough to edit native XDCAM-EX up to 3 layers without rendering in Edius 5
 
I work full time in the contemporary arts department at a college and maintain their mac labs for video editing, still photo, and audio. With over 300 macs on campus I wouldn't consider anything else at this point. The are reliable and fast. My only complaint is with the forward push in technology by doing things like removing the express card slot on the smaller ones, and only having FW800 ports, or removing the FW all together on the lesser prices Macbook.
 
Just as an FYI for those who are looking for low-cost laptops for SxS offload purposes, my wife recently purchased a Lenovo G530 laptop for $379 at Newegg. While I was inspecting and setting it up, I noticed it has an expresscard slot. So there are laptops out there that cost less than an 8GB SxS card and can be used for offloading a day's shoot.
 
Mac book pro 17 inch , at least 2.4 dual core intel , 250 gb hard drive. A lot on Ebay some with a warranty Works great, Add ons , FCP2/3 w mxo2 or AJA IOHD

I got a 2.6 , 350 HD brilliant, i would not bother with a PC unless you got Vegas , etc...
Cheers
 
On the PC platform, I have 2 Sony AVIO computers. The AR series as Planetweckesser mentoned is what you want. It's made for this kind of work. Audio-Video-Input-Output or AVIO is there I think it got it's name. Vegas works well and the new 9 release has direct input for the EX series camera files. The laptop as all the bells and whistles you want, including Express port where you can buy an ESata card and connect directly to a 500K to 1 1/2 terra bit WD external "book" hard drive. Get the tripple with USB, "Fire wire'" and Esata connections. The ESata connection is double the transfer of either the USB or "Firewire" 400 I/O, I've tested it, but all three can be used for editing. You can take the clips to another PC desktop computer or a Mac via the "firewire." and if you have a computer with neither of these I/O's, The USB will connect you to 99% of everything else. Good Luck, Carl
 
here is (sort of) an alternative to a new apple.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro

best deals in town. refurb macs carry the same warranty as non-refurbs. they come packaged beautifully and are flawless cosmetically. plus, you can get the last gen models with the express slot. i am currently using a 15" 2.5ghz MBP with 4gb ram and it rocks ex1 footage. i'm running latest FCP, AE, etc. the internal drive is only 5400rpm but is still fast enough to edit multiple streams of ex footage if you don't want to carry an external drive.
 
No direct experience on that configuration, but I have edited on lesser qualified imacs without issue.
I usually keep the scratch on an external 7400RPM FW drive and things move smoothly with Final Cut.
I always buy the refurbs personally too. Get the apple care up to 1 year later (which will give you a 2010 write off) and have a 3 year warranty.
Good Luck!
 
macbook pro for sure - either the new 17" (make sure and get a matte screen! those glass screens suck) or a refurbished previous-gen 15 or 17" 2.6ghz model with the 7200rpm drive - those are still generally available through the refub store online.

My 15" 2.6ghz 4gb RAM macbook pro runs XDCAM transfer for viewing, and FCP great. I use external 7200rpm firewire 800 drives from OWC as scratch/storage disks. Love it!
 
Meeks,
That is almost the identical set up that I am using. Except I have the last gen. 2.5 intel core duo. The nice thing about yours is that they don't max at 2 GB of RAM. The OWC drives are great and reasonable. Also check out the Lacie Rugged Drives. Love them, but just look at the specs carefully if you buy, because that come in 5400RPM and 7200, and several port configurations. It's nice to partition the external with a bootable clone of your hard drive so you can always boot off of it and keep working if your OS or internal hard drive goes south in the middle of a job. Since you have a clone of your internal on the external and your scratch on the external you can continue to meet deadline and fix the problem later.
 
basspig said:
Just as an FYI for those who are looking for low-cost laptops for SxS offload purposes, my wife recently purchased a Lenovo G530 laptop for $379 at Newegg. While I was inspecting and setting it up, I noticed it has an expresscard slot. So there are laptops out there that cost less than an 8GB SxS card and can be used for offloading a day's shoot.
Click to expand...

I'd wait for the Lenovo s12 ion version out in august; will run hd, expresscard slot, and 12" screen--perfect for ex field work. $450.
 
Nice tip on the S12 laptop ion version, but I can't see myself editing in only 1280x800 screen space! My god, my PC in 1987 had 1280x960 Wyse WY700 display. My Sony GRX560 laptop that I bought in 2003 has a respectable 1600x1200 screen, still cramped, but one could do some minimal editing on it.
I was thinking of the laptop as an offloading device for the most part.
My last assignment 2 days ago was a shoot and hand over raw footage job, and it would have been great if I'd been able to offload my SxS to a laptop, then copy to an external USB drive and hand it to the client right there as the client hands me the payment in full.
Editing on a laptop seems like a step into insanity, both from a performance standpoint as well as a claustrophobic one!

Interesting demonstration of the Ion graphics processor for simultaneous video encoding and playback on two screens: http://www.slashgear.com/lenovo-s12-nvidia-ion-netbook-1080p-video-demo-2648034/
 
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Thanks for all the info guys!

I think I'll go for the big money and build myself an i7 rig. I thinks I'm actually getting the most bang for the buck that way.
 
How about a dual screen Lenovo?
Sweet.. Quad core dual 17" screens. THIS is an editing laptop!
big_lenovo-w700ds-16.jpg
 
You will get the educational discount to-they do not actually check to see if you work at or attend a school.
 
Jeffyr said:
You will get the educational discount to-they do not actually check to see if you work at or attend a school.
Click to expand...

I have bought my daughter 2 apple Canada computers for school over the years and they did not ask to confirm school ID.
Which we had.
 
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