Buying laptop for editing?

Evan S

Evan S

Veteran
VGN-AR670 Configure-to-Order
VGN-AR670 CTO Series Notebook
Customization Details

* Extended Battery (BPL9)
* WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n w/Integrated Bluetooth®
* No TV Tuner
* LCD 17" WXGA+ (XBRITE-ECO™)
* SuperMulti DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive
* 200GB (@ 7200RPM) SATA Hard Disk Drive
* 4 GB DDR-SDRAM (DDR2-667, 2 GBx2)
* Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
* Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.0GHz)
* Video Premium comes with Adobe Preimeire Pro 2.0

was customizing on Sony. $2688.98.

The reason I'm looking into a laptop from the computer that I have at the moment is ... if I ever move out of my parents house anytime soon. I wont have alot of room for my desktop computer and I'd be looking for something a little more portable. I also like the idea of using it on sets. I don't want to get rid of my trusty desktop. I just wont know where to put it. So the question comes down to... is it a viable option to edit a say... 45 minute film on a laptop? I'm guessing not... Eitherway, I think the Alienware laptops are better deals seeing as how they have the SLI option.

Help me out guys.
 
I cut a 2 hour DVCPRO HD feature on my MacBook Pro with no problems. Seriously, if you're going to spend that amount of money I'd get a MacBook Pro and Final Cut. I have yet to meet an employer that wanted me to cut on Adobe Premiere. Avid or Final Cut are where all the jobs are.
 
Hmm. I'm a PC guy, I like to cut on Sony Vegas. (which I don't understand why they don't bundle that with there laptop). I love the way mac's look. Just afraid of the jump, and would love to learn FCP. However, I've always been a desktop guy. So even going from a desktop to a laptop is scary. I'm just looking for something that can ease me into that change in itself. I should mention I'm looking for something with software included. Like FCP or avid.
 
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I'd factor in an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse if you were going to do any long edit sessions. What kind of card slots does it have? Unless you need specific I/O hardware you can pretty much do anything edit wise on a laptop that you can on a desktop, but the question is do you want to? An analogy I'm fond of is: Yes, you can run a marathon in flip-flops, but wouldn't you prefer a pair of sneakers?:happy:


-A
 
Evan S said:
Hmm. I'm a PC guy, I like to cut on Sony Vegas. (which I don't understand why they don't bundle that with there laptop). I love the way mac's look. Just afraid of the jump, and would love to learn FCP. However, I've always been a desktop guy. So even going from a desktop to a laptop is scary. I'm just looking for something that can ease me into that change in itself. I should mention I'm looking for something with software included. Like FCP or avid.
Click to expand...

You can always run Windows on your MacBook if you so desire. If you're willing to spend 2600 it seems a no-brainer. Get a great laptop that can run both Final Cut on OS X, or Vegas in Windows.
 
I was going there but Batutta beat me to it.

Since you are not a Mac guy I'll give a little more detail. OSX Leopard just released and has an feature called "Bootcamp" which will let you boot another OS natively on the Mac. It is notable that is different from some previous software such as Parallels which installed XP inside of OSX. This will actually create a separate partition on the hard drive and when you turn it on you choose the OS you want to load. So XP is using the Mac hardware w/out using OSX to load windows.

For your situation this is great. You can load XP and Vegas on the Mac, and you still have OSX so you can install FCP and learn it in your spare time. There are apps available as well that will let you read the file systems on the different partitions in case you need to access files you save in the other OS.

Along with the suggestion to get the refurb, I will also suggest you get the apple care plan so you know that the next two years will be worry free. Mac's are awesome but they are hardware, and like any other machine they can break. The difference is Mac's cost a lot to fix. So get some assurance and buy the Apple Care Plan.

It's nice when you can get the best of both worlds.
 
Is it okay to use external hard drives for capture on a laptop (hdv)?

does it matter if you use usb or firewire external drives?
 
You should be able to use either, although the mac's have firewire 800 built in. That would be faster than firewire 400 or USB 2.0, so ok to use for editing and capturing.
 
agreeing w/ the macbook folks. if you're willing to drop a macbookpro's cost, then you should get one, because you can still run vegas on it in windows but get the opportunity for final cut as well, and younever know when you'll run in to someone who wants that fcp side.
 
Batutta said:
Absolutely. HDV and DV use the same data rates and capture fine over FW 400 and 800. USB 2.0 supposedly has trouble keeping sync on long files but I've never tried it. For the utmost in drive speed, you can get an expresscard/34 Esata card like this one for cheap--

http://www.fadfusion.com/selection.php?product_item_number=10063400130

Plug in an external esata drive and get 1.5 gbps, twice as fast as FW 800.
Click to expand...

the problem with USB is that is CPU-dependant for its transfers... if you're capturing via USB (like I do at work) you can drop frames and lose your sync if your computer is doing something else that takes up CPU.

firewire, on the other hand, doesn't require the CPU to run the transfers, so you don't run the same risks. They take care of all that overhead via a chip built in (this is why firewire buses are much bigger and why it was dropped from the iPod to become thinner)
 
Whatever computer monitor works for you - doesn't really matter, as long as it's big enough. I'd say 21" is the minimum. I've had good luck with Dell monitors.

Now as you know, regardless of what computer monitor you use to cut on, what you see is NOT what you get once you have a DVD that plays on a TV, so you always need to check your final work on a NTSC compliant reference monitor and here I'd recommend the Sony ones (in other words, I don't think it's necessary to cut on an NTSC monitor). Trouble is, that these monitors can be quite pricey. So, at the very least, you should check your work on a regular TV. This is necessary, as the vast majority of time, your product will be seen on some kind of TV.
 
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I'm pretty sure your computer monitor won't show you HD without something like a Matrox.

I edited a 45 minute film on 866mhz G4 with a gig of RAM. Granted it was a desktop, but most laptops have more horsepower thn it did...or still does, since that's what I'm typing this on. You should be fine with a laptop. There are some downsides, like a lower limit on RAM and internal HD space. But you can do it.
 
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