p2 offload to laptop quesitons

T

tampawolf

Well-known member
What slot do I need to have in a laptop to offload my p2 footage so I can do it on the field, seems like the cheapest way, and about what computer specs will I need to have for it not to take forever, keeping in mind I'm getting this laptop for the sole purpose of offloading the p2 cards
 
It can be a pretty simple laptop, you don't need anything very new & fancy. In fact, very few current notebooks are coming with the PCMCIA slot you need for the P2 card, so you will have to pick up something a couple years old..

Like this: Dell Latitude D630 @ Overstock.com

Then download P2 driver software & P2CMS once it arrives & you'll have your offload station. I have a D630, it has a small hard drive but works like a charm.
 
you can get you an old mac powerbook G4 (or older even) for a tow or three hundred bucks these days. they have the pcmcia slot. and you wont have to deal with the maintenance kludge that is windows ; )
 
wgzn said:
you can get you an old mac powerbook G4 (or older even) for a tow or three hundred bucks these days. they have the pcmcia slot. and you wont have to deal with the maintenance kludge that is windows ; )
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So all G4's should have it?
 
yup!
(as far as i know anyway... id always check to be sure)
 
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Any laptop with the slot will be fine, especially if that's all you're going to use it for. You don't have to make everything into a Mac/Windows debate.
 
You don't have to make everything into a Mac/Windows debate.
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absolutely agreed. but there have been a couple of posts lately where a windows user simply could not get their machine to see cards. and it wound up likely being some 32 v 64 bit thing or some other os component conflict. i just dont choose to waste time dorking around with that.
 
The 32-bit/64-bit issue is the same for the Mac OS (it's simply a matter of choosing the correct drivers to install), and there was also the famous Mac glitch, which you actually have to worry about with an older version of the OS -- as what a G4 will have. If you really want to keep score, P2 on the Mac has been far more problematic than in Windows.

But the bottom line is, either will work, and bringing in the debate every time anyone asks which computer to get is non-productive. If it has the slot, it'll work. Adding the complication of worrying about the OS is just muddying up the issue.
 
I'm looking at laptops on craigslist, and half the people don't know what i'm talking about and the other half who just don't know if it does, I look up the model numbers on google and I can't even figure it out lol for example, trying to see if a HP DV9000 Laptop would do, and just can't tell :(

Also so are we talking about a express slot 54 or express slot 34, or am I just way off here.
 
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It's not an "express" slot at all. It's most often called a "PC Slot" in descriptions. It is NOT an ExpressCard slot. It is a PCMCIA Type II 32-bit CardBus slot.

The DV9000 does not have it.
 
yep. that machine should work. as david says, any machine with the type II pcmcia "cardbus" is what youre after...
 
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