upgrade from macbook

rafikiwilliams

rafikiwilliams

Well-known member
i currently have a macbook 2.0ghz core duo. In you alls opinion what would be the most logical upgrade? I've decided im going to keep the macbook regardless to use as a field computer, taking it everywhere i shoot. So for my main system should i go the macpro route? or macbook pro?


another question. I have access to a 2.7ghz dual g5 w/5gb of ram. This is my schools system. would i be better off sticking with this and putting my money towards another aspect of production instead of buying another computer for myself?

just some questions i would like input on.

As for what i would use the machine for. Mostly hd editing/rendering/compressing. so its been putting a beating on my little macbook, although the macbook handles it suprisingly well!

edit

i guess to answer my own question i should mess around on the g5, and if things go faster than my macbook go ahead and use that... i think i just wasted a post. that means i should probably get back to writing this paper i keep putting off...
 
I would say keep the computer and spend the money on something else. As for rendering/compressing I would setup a cluster with qmaster with your macbook as the client (which is the host) and the schools system as the cluster.
 
J.R. Hudson said:
You're getting a PC ?
Click to expand...

HA! Nice try.

Stick with what you have. That is a mighty powerful laptop you have there. I'm on a G4 Powerbook...I'M the one that needs to upgrade.

And if you did upgrade...a tower is the way to go. then you have portability and power.
 
Yeah, this is the time to wait on buying if you can, esp a Macbook Pro... Centrino 2 (Montevina) comes in June. They say it will make a much faster, cooler laptop and also make Blu-ray possible (not that we'll see b-r in June...).

Even the experts who usually say don't wait, there's always a faster computer coming, even they say to wait now if you're considering MBP.
 
desktops are always faster than laptops so since you have a macbook already, maybe you should go with a mac pro. you would see a difference between your macbook and a macbook pro but not nearly as dramatic as the difference between macbook and mac pro.

my main rig is an 8 core 2.8ghz mac pro and i also have a 2ghz core2duo macbook (not pro). great combo. on the macbook i can do basic edits in hd or full edits with effects in sd. and on the mac pro, i can do just about anything. it's crazy fast.
 
Good to hear MAC users talking... And since i'm still undecided, may i ask on what NLE system you are ? I'm guessing PPC3 or FCP HD, but which one would you recommend to work with P2 cards ? Appreciate any insight. Thanks !
 
i hear that premiere supports mxf files now. fcp still needs to convert unless you buy raylight. however, unless you want to edit right off of the cards, you will have to copy the footage to your hard drive anyway and the ingestion/fcp conversion is one step. if you want the better nle, go fcp.
 
I haven't upgraded to an editing system for HD yet. I used to use FCP for editing and liked it a lot. And I prefer Macs in general, so I'll probably end up with FCS.
 
Probably going to end up with FCS myself. Thanks for the one-step convertion tip ! Now, some BIG fans of Avid and other PC NLE system are saying it's really hard to integrate photoshop files in FCP. Is that true ? I just started on a feature doc project that will eventually include a ton of stills... Hope they're just talking about having hard time to integrate titles and other FX. Please tell : )
 
photoshop integrates perfectly. you can bring in layered or flattened files no problem. if the file is layered, it goes onto the timeline as a single layer for convenience. but if you need to make changes to the individual layers you just double click it and it comes up in it's own sequence with a track for each layer. there you can edit them individually, delete layers, etc.
 
thanks for that input everyone. as for the clustering mentioned early on, ive never worked with that.

can a fcp6 machine(my laptop) be clustered with the schools fcp5 machine?
 
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