GH13 What's a good notebook computer to get?

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Daniel_Kemp

New member
Hi.

I broke one of my cameras in South America.

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My ladyfriend bought me a new camera, a Panasonic Lumix GH13 (the guy at the store "hacked" it).

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The netbook I got isn't able to handle the video from the GH13 very well.

What is a good notebook computer to get?

Thank you,

Daniel Kemp
 
What is your budget? do you plan on editing a lot of video? If yes, what kinds of videos? youtube clips? features? you will need to be a bit more specific.
 
What's your Budget? I highly recommend the new MacBook Pro 15". Not only are they great looking devices, they are speedy - and there's Final Cut Pro on it! Arguably the best Video Editing Suite available. As of now, Final Cut Pro does not directly support AVCHD, meaning it will require Conversion. Though it will happily import it and convert it for you. Come July, Final Cut X will be out with Native AVCHD Support!

But if budget allows, go for the 15" MacBook Pro!
 
Whoiscalvin said:
What's your Budget? I highly recommend the new MacBook Pro 15". Not only are they great looking devices, they are speedy - and there's Final Cut Pro on it! Arguably the best Video Editing Suite available. As of now, Final Cut Pro does not directly support AVCHD, meaning it will require Conversion. Though it will happily import it and convert it for you. Come July, Final Cut X will be out with Native AVCHD Support!

But if budget allows, go for the 15" MacBook Pro!
Click to expand...

Not to mention if you are a Windows user you can always install Windows on it (you'll make kittens cry, but it works).
 
Soldier said:
What is your budget? do you plan on editing a lot of video? If yes, what kinds of videos? youtube clips? features? you will need to be a bit more specific.
Click to expand...

I think around $1,500 should be good. I don't plan on editing a lot of videos. Just some for YouTube.



Grisnjam said:
Mac Book Pro all the way :)
Click to expand...

OK. Thanks Grisnjam.


Whoiscalvin said:
What's your Budget? I highly recommend the new MacBook Pro 15". Not only are they great looking devices, they are speedy - and there's Final Cut Pro on it! Arguably the best Video Editing Suite available. As of now, Final Cut Pro does not directly support AVCHD, meaning it will require Conversion. Though it will happily import it and convert it for you. Come July, Final Cut X will be out with Native AVCHD Support!

But if budget allows, go for the 15" MacBook Pro!
Click to expand...

$1,500 or less is what I think would be good.

Thanks for the recommendation Whoiscalvin.


lpowell said:
On the Windows 7 side, it's hard to beat the Dell XPS 15 with its nVidia graphics card and FHD 1920x1080 display:

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/dell-xps-15.aspx
Click to expand...

Thanks lpowell.
 
I also use a macbook pro and am very happy with it. It is a really durable machine. That said, it is important to note that right now, there isn't native support of playing AVCHD files on OSX through quicktime. Your options are using a 3rd party application like VLC, have Final Cut Pro transcode coming in with Log and Transfer, use something like Adobe Premiere which supports AVCHD internally, or transcode to another format with 3rd party software like ClipWrap.

Coming this summer, I believe Panasonic or Apple, or together, is releasing a codec so that we'll finally be able to view mts files with quicktime.
 
I had a Sony VAIO that was able to edit Red One footage that cost about $1500 from Best Buy. It should handle GH13 footage just fine.
 
Rick Burnett said:
I also use a macbook pro and am very happy with it. It is a really durable machine. That said, it is important to note that right now, there isn't native support of playing AVCHD files on OSX through quicktime. Your options are using a 3rd party application like VLC, have Final Cut Pro transcode coming in with Log and Transfer, use something like Adobe Premiere which supports AVCHD internally, or transcode to another format with 3rd party software like ClipWrap.

Coming this summer, I believe Panasonic or Apple, or together, is releasing a codec so that we'll finally be able to view mts files with quicktime.
Click to expand...

You can use HandBrake to convert the mts files to mv4. However, that can be a long process if you need to see a lot of files since there is no batch processing, but if you really need to see the file in QT, it's an option.
 
I think macbook pro is overpriced for it's specs but that's just me.

Dell xps is very impressive as is the new Asus i7s.

Make sure you get an intel i7(or at least the best i5) cpu. Cpu is far and away the most important
for video editiing. Ram matters some(as long as 8gb), harddisk very little(as long as 7200rpm), graphics card very little(anything new and discrete)

You might want to try and get a 1080p screen, so it will
match your footage. You won't be able to judge you footage very well if the screen blows.
Most screens are pretty awful.

A slow cpu will kill you.
Anandtech is a good place to read up.
 
It'd be hard to beat an Alienware in raw performance and build quality. Here's the M14x which comes in at $1,500 easy:

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m14x/pd.aspx

I have the M17x and it's fantastic. Some say Alienware's are overpriced but I don't think so, not when considering their performance and build quality. Alienware is marketed as a gaming brand but gaming and video editing have virtually the same hardware requirements.
 
Rick Burnett said:
Coming this summer, I believe Panasonic or Apple, or together, is releasing a codec so that we'll finally be able to view mts files with quicktime.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I believe Panasonic is working on that. However, given that FCPX will have AVCHD Native, I'm assuming Apple also has AVCHD for Quicktime up their sleeves. To be honest, this is one of the reasons most OEMs are hesitant to do anything on Apple. The rare or lackof Timelines or announced plans.

As of now, I deal with it using Handbreak. Works mighty fine, I might add.
 
chauncythedog said:
I think macbook pro is overpriced for it's specs but that's just me.

Dell xps is very impressive as is the new Asus i7s.

Make sure you get an intel i7(or at least the best i5) cpu. Cpu is far and away the most important
for video editiing. Ram matters some(as long as 8gb), harddisk very little(as long as 7200rpm), graphics card very little(anything new and discrete)

You might want to try and get a 1080p screen, so it will
match your footage. You won't be able to judge you footage very well if the screen blows.
Most screens are pretty awful.

A slow cpu will kill you.
Anandtech is a good place to read up.
Click to expand...

Hi chauncythedog.

I have read that the XPS computers aren't built very good. Have you found that to be true or false?


story2rewrite said:
If you're going to spend the money. This company is great and in California. Lifetime of support. They get right back to me and provide great systems. Worth looking at. Give them a call as well. They can work with you...

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/gaminglaptops.asp
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My ladyfriend said that Korea has expensive customs fees, so it would be better to buy a computer in Korea. Buying a computer in Korea would also be better, because getting repairs (if I have to) is easy.

Thank you for the suggestion story2rewrite.



Jester2138 said:
It'd be hard to beat an Alienware in raw performance and build quality. Here's the M14x which comes in at $1,500 easy:

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m14x/pd.aspx

I have the M17x and it's fantastic. Some say Alienware's are overpriced but I don't think so, not when considering their performance and build quality. Alienware is marketed as a gaming brand but gaming and video editing have virtually the same hardware requirements.
Click to expand...

I will take a look at them. Thank you Jester2138.
 
I got myself a clevo/sager P150HM with GTX485M card. handles mts fine and cuda can be enabled if your using premiere pro. might be abit out of your budget though.
 
I just got a 15" quadcore i7 Macbook Pro. 8GB ram. Solid state. Running premiere pro until new FCP drops. It eats the AVHCD footage! Really happy. Been a mac guy since 2005. I upgraded from dualcore 13" macbook because im doing so many videos lately the workflow is much better. my 2 cents. go apple... its spendy but always works.
 
I've had good experiences with i7 Clevo laptops. There are a couple with 1080p screens that support 48Hz, too (like this one), which is very useful for editing, I guess. That one's got an Nvidia Quadro card in it, so does that mean it's good for CS5's mercury playback engine?
 
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