Using Premiere on a portable computer.

[kodjo]

I use Premiere CS3 to edit a 2 hour movie. The movie was shot with XD CAM EX footage. I use a RAID external LACIE hard drive.

I need a second computer to edit at a summer holliday location. I am thinking of getting a second computer. Should I get a portable computer? The reason I am hesitating is because I'm not sure it is enough to have a portable computer to do any editing. I need at least two monitors. Portable computers will only allow one extra external monitor. Plus all portable computers come with Windows 7 (64) and I use XP and CS3.

(a) Does anybody know is CS3 works with Windows 7 (64).

(b) Is it a good idea to get a portable computer for editing? My feeling is that even with an external RAID hooked up with eSATA, the screen is too small for editing and the entire operation seems clumsy.

Yet I hear poeple edit on portable computers all the time. Perhaps they do it only for small projets.

What should I get? A portable or the real thing?

 

[Stephen Mick]

I can't speak for Premiere, and as I'm on the Mac my opinion may not be of much value, but to be perfectly honest, a large-screen laptop is perfectly fine for editing. I've got a 17" MacBook Pro, and I find myself using it much more than my MacPro system. Yes, the extra screen real estate on the desktop is nice, but you can always connect an external monitor to most laptops.

If you're traveling, and have to edit, laptops can get the job done, no question.

 

[Neil Rowe]

depends on how powerfult he laptop is. it can be just fine for editing if its fast enough with enough ram. not sure about CS3 and 7 64 bit though. i know cs4 works fine on it though. you can add more than one external screen if you like on a laptop ..some usb external adaptors will let you add up to 6 or so extra screens via USB. but it will cost you RAM to do so . anyway if your going to be at the vaction place long enough it would be worth just taking your desktop with you , but if thats a real hassle then just get a fast laptop and i think youll be suprised at how far theyve come as far as handling a reasonable edit. cpus are just all so powerful now that even a laptop does fine for most things. although if you need 2 screens your tied to an external monitor and not actually "portable" at that point anyway so imho you should just be bringing your desktop setup with a backup external HDD.