Mac guy needs PC laptop advice

tacotim

tacotim

Well-known member
We've had an hvx for abour 1.5 years now and have had very good experience with our workflow of using an older powerbook g4 with cardbus slot and p2 genie to dump cards to 2 drives.

We just bought a 2nd hvx and want to get a PC laptop for this package. I've been editing on macs for 10 years, but I know little about the windows side. Would love suggestions from users on specific models. Criteria below.

1. Workflow would be p2 card in windows laptop, use p2 genie to dump to 2 fat32 formatted firewire drives. After shoot, drives plug in to Macpro and import to internal media drive via FCP. Firewire drives go on the shelf as if they were camera originals.

2. Laptop Would preferably be small/light weight
3. must have pcmcia slot (obviously)
4. Firewire port (seems many pcs don't have them)
5. What's the minimum sys reqs for the panny p2 viewer on pc?
6. From research it looks like XP is a better option than vista for P2 work. Can you still get computers with vista, or should i be looking at a used one?
7. Laptop should cost less than $5 (ok just kidding, but i assume sticker shock probably won't occur since i've been used to apple prices)


Many thanks, Tim
 
Sony VAIO SZ serie. Firewire, PCcard slot, Expresscard slot and thin 14" display. Lightweight, around 1,4 kg.
 
I have a Dell Inspiron w/XP. It comes with Firewire but an Expresscard slot, but the Duel Adaptor, and the P2 software both work fine on it. I also run DV Rack HD on it. This is my field machine, not my editor (which is a Mac Pro).
 
The thinking behind getting a pc was:

1. could get a computer smaller than a 15" power book that had a pc card slot
2. Could spend less $
3. Having a pc around the office to check web compatibility
4. Using the pc and fat 32 formatted drives for compatibility if client asks for pc compatible footage.

i realize some of that thinking may be flawed, but that's what got me thinking about it.

-t
 
If you shop from Dell or HP, use the small business or large business side of their company. They are the only ones that still offer "legacy" options like PCMCIA and XP.

I just dropped $1000 on a Dell, not a great value to the average guy, but I got two huge batteries for more than 10 hours of play time. Plus the accidental damage plan is nice for field work.
 
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