Laptop for Final Cut

B

brentwilliamson8

Member
I was thinking about buying a new laptop to do my editing on. I feel like at this point bitting the bullet and buying a computer I can actually practice on will pay off in the long run, seeing as I can't even work on my footage often enough by using my schools equipment. I really want to be able to use final cut pro seeing that it's what I have the most training on. What do most of you guys use for your films? I'm basically looking for the cheapest laptop I can find that will be able to process SD footage. I already have a 300 GB hard drive so memory shouldn't really be an issue. I'm not to familiar with what actually qualifies a computer to be able to process video well so any info would be appreciated! Thanks for the help!!
 
Never hit for the low-end.

This all said you can find a used core2duo mac laptop on E-bay that includes a DVD burner and all the discs to re-install the OS for about $650-700.

Then you have to get FCS 2...which I would also get off E-bay....that can be found for $500.

So overall for a system with some ability to grow into HD you're looking at $1200.

If you do go E-bay for the laptop, be completely sure that the discs come with the computer.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-MacBook-Core-2-Duo-2-1ghz-2gb-120gb-HD_W0QQitemZ200364787157QQcmdZViewItemQQptZApple_Laptops?hash=item2ea6ac05d5&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A15|66%3A4|39%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A200

http://cgi.ebay.com/FINAL-CUT-STUDIO-2-HD_W0QQitemZ110414553897QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Software?hash=item19b5386329&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A15|66%3A4|39%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A200
 
If this is going to be your primary machine, you might check into getting a desktop. You will get more power, save money, cut render time, upgrades/repairs are easier, and you have a safer platform for your data with the ability to have secondary drives in the machine for storage.

I would only recommend a laptop as a "secondary" machine to be used in the field, for one job at a time. Then backing up any data to an external drive right after capturing. Laptops are temp storage devices, have a low production value over all, cost more money in the long run, are subject to loss\theft\drop damage\etc., it would be almost like having another expensive camera to watch out for. You only have one hard drive and it is used every time you boot the machine up, surf the net, etc.

You are always one drop away from having a paper weight.

Only saying this from years of working on computers. If you go this way, get a warranty to cover it (2-3 years), and if you look you can find drop\accident coverage as well. Get external hard drives to store data and back up often. You just added enough on the extra coverage to pay for a nice little desktop.

Right now I use a $90.00 CPU I picked up used (1.8 P4) with 3.5 gig ram and 4 500GB Hard Drives (about $200.00 upgrade). This machine is only used for storage, rendering, and editing. I do not even have is connected to the internet, other than when I upload to websites.

Just an example here, based on what I know. Keep on filming!
 
I was contemplating the refurbished macs, but I wasn't to sure about the reliability of a refurbished computer. Thanks for the ebay links!!

So is all you need to process video a core2 duo processor?? I have a Dell Inspiron with a core 2 duo in it right now but i bought it in '06 and it runs slow enough as it is. Plus I heard running mac programs on a pc (such as FCP), even though it will work, isn't very efficient or effective.

I also thought about the desktop route and it does seem much cheaper. The only downside to that would be alot of the stuff I film, I film on the road and would love to work on it during my trips. If it would save me that much money though, it might be worth waiting to get home to my desktop though!

Thanks for all the help so far!
 
I edit on 2 computers. One of them is my new MacBook Pro but before I used a MacBook with a Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHZ 2 GB RAM. Very smooth in FCS 2. Look on apple.com in the refurbished computers section. Good deals on great computers.
 
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