macbook pro necessary?

Finnegan

Finnegan

Well-known member
I'm looking to upgrade from the canon xh-a1 to a panasonic hpx170 in the next couple months. one of the main deterrents that's preventing me from doing it sooner rather than later is the need for a good, fast laptop with a large hdd to dump footage to while on set. I've got a brand new 2.0ghz 2gb ram 160gb macbook (not macbook pro) that I got on black friday but its primarily for script writing and on the go work, not editing.

is a mac book pro or equivalent lap top absolutely necessarily for a streamlined workflow or can mid-range laptops deal with the hd footage decently on set?
 
from what Ive heard well I know. The DVCPRO HD codec is one of the easiest codecs to work with. Everyone says its a ton easier then HDV codecs.

I edited all of my HDV videos on a macbook with same stats and never had a problem. Now any type of effects or motion it would lag pretty bad. So if your just planning on doing little cut editing you should be fine. I cant imagine editing on my 13.3 inch macbook ever again. After I bought a new IMAC 24" the size and speed alone makes everything such a breeze. And I can work with Motion 3 and do pretty intense 3d stuff in there.
 
Is this the NEWER MacBook? Because the new ones lack firewire ports, so there is no way to connect a firewire drive to the system, and you need AT LEAST a firewire drive to edit. USB won't cut it...especially with DVCPRO HD.
 
NO...I said that drive speed WOULD be a problem. USB is NOT good for video editing. DV maybe, people have done it. But DVCPRO HD...no way. You need a MacBook Pro...the new MacBOoks won't cut it.
 
Shane Ross said:
NO...I said that drive speed WOULD be a problem. USB is NOT good for video editing. DV maybe, people have done it. But DVCPRO HD...no way. You need a MacBook Pro...the new MacBOoks won't cut it.
Click to expand...

im talking about the internal drive ... ???
 
Internal drive should never ever ever be used for media storage. It is too busy running the OS. You will get constant dropped frame warnings.
 
I'm not trying to start an argument; I'm just saying what I do.

It takes a few streams to start getting into trouble. Usually 3-4. Works fine for most purposes. I switch footage between machines a lot, so it makes sense to do a lot with externals.
 
David Jimerson said:
I'm not trying to start an argument; I'm just saying what I do.

It takes a few streams to start getting into trouble. Usually 3-4. Works fine for most purposes. I switch footage between machines a lot, so it makes sense to do a lot with externals.
Click to expand...

so, firewire connections are preferable but not 100% necessary?
 
Well, I dunno. It's been a while since I've used a firewire drive, so I can't really speak to a comparison of the two, because I don't rightly recall what any difference would be. I can't say authoritatively that there is or isn't a difference, or which way that difference would go. I just know I've been doing fine using USB drives.
 
David- you are talking about on a PC though right? Macs are not nearly as usable with USB drives as PCs, eSATA or Firewire is much more reliable.

Noah
 
Both. But I do much heavier work in Windows, yes. Like I said, I'm not speaking to a comparison, only that I use the USB drives and do OK with them.
 
david, do you do this on a windows machine? im with shane, over in the mac/FCP camp usb 2.0 is a big no-no. but i preached this at a buddy a couple years back who was using premiere on a windows laptop and he was working just fine off an external usb drive.

i was shocked.
 
Like I said, this is both with a Mac and with Windows apps. The Mac is an iMac 2.0 (Core Duo), and the drives are connected through a USB hub.

Now, I will say I don't know how it would hold up on the Mac if I did the heavy work I do in Windows -- but I wouldn't recommend trying that work on a typical laptop of any flavor, either.

So, mileage may vary. I'm just saying what I've done. Maybe I've just been exceedingly lucky.
 
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