Used Powerbook vs. cheap PC for offloading

H

hennbot

Active member
I'm gearing up for shooting P2 in the field and looking at three ways to manage media:
- buying a refurb Powerbook with PCMCIA slot (1600 from apple) and having the ability to run FCP in the field.
- buying a cheap PC
- Buying a new MacBook and trying the Duel Systems PCMCIA adapter. Has anyone tried this?

I am a shooter for hire and am not needing to edit in the field, but it may come in handy. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Won't work with the MacBook, MacBooks don't have ExpressCard slots. So you're back to options 1 and 2. My vote is strongly for the cheap PC, it'd be 1/3 the cost of the used Powerbook, and it'll also run P2 Viewer etc.
 
Any problems later on tranfering the files from the PC to the Mac?
If I offload to an external drive with the PC laptop, how can I use the same drive on a mac?
 
1. Nope, done it millions of times.

2. No problem -- just unplug the drive from the PC and plug it into the Mac and it'll work. Use FAT32 as your file format.
 
In fact, if you use Raylight with your Mac, you could edit those files directly right off the external drive. No need to transfer or import or unwrap or rewrap or anything. Just plug in the drive and edit immediately.
 
you can get an older 17" g4 mac powerbook anywhere for about a grand or less. injest right to the pcmcia slot and edit with fcp in the field
 
Barry, so I understand correctly, does raylight allow you to edit natively in final cut pro? (Like has been said with Edius)
 
hennbot said:
OK Barry, So does the adapter work with the MacBook Pro?
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Yes. The MacBook Pro is the only Apple laptop that has the ExpressCard slot.

Older G4 PowerBooks don't need an adapter, they have the PC Card slot already built in.

MacBooks don't have either kind of slot.
 
Hi Barry, what the latest laptop (PC) that would cover all bases on home and on the field work. I understand all the PCMCIA slots are gonners, the machines I like are these :) http://www.clevo.com./ models M5750 & the D900C. The later being a real desktop replacemnt that weighs a ton, but hey a jib arm aint light neither. Sorry for hijacking . . . but I think it is still nto too far from the spirit of the thread. I think that personaly any of these models could replace my desktop PC too so the extra buck would be justified, considering the 1920x1080 screen and the full size keyboard (edius / after effects / photoshop)
 
If you don't mind refurbished from CompUSA, you can save quite a bit of money. Look at this one, it's a refurb'd Lenovo but at least it's only $379:
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=BROWSE&N=200334&cm_re=A%2D%5F%2DHPF%2D%5F%2DNotebooks&Ns=display%5Fprice%7C0&product_code=344544&Pn=REFURB<sup>1<_sup>:_ThinkPad_R40_Notebook

Here's a refurbed HP with the PCMCIA slots, for $480:
http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...=REFURB<sup>1<_sup>:_Compaq_Evo_N115_Notebook

This one's $480 and it supports TWO P2 cards at once:
http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...155&Pn=REFURB<sup>1<_sup>:_Evo_n620c_Notebook

And this one's an IBM, at $529, and it also supports two P2 cards simultaneously:
http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...&Pn=REFURB<sup>1<_sup>:_ThinkPad_T30_Notebook

Here's a refurbed Averatec, under $600:
http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...4049&Pn=REFURB<sup>1<_sup>:_7155_EA1_Notebook
 
If you want it new, here's some more:

An Acer Aspire for $579:
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=BROWSE&N=200334&cm_re=A%2D%5F%2DHPF%2D%5F%2DNotebooks&Ns=display%5Fprice%7C0&product_code=345668&Pn=Aspire_3690_2970_Notebook

An Averatec for $678:
http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...|0&product_code=52163758&Pn=2260_EY1_Notebook

An Acer TravelMate for $699:
http://www.compusa.com/products/pro..._code=344533&Pn=TravelMate_4220_4124_Notebook


I understand all the PCMCIA slots are gonners
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I think we've shown that there are still many to choose from, and they're comparatively very inexpensive.
 
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