which laptop for editing GH1/GH2 footage?

[Blit]

Hi

My understanding is that Sandy Bridge will effect all single processor CPUs eventually (I am not dealing with Xeons here at all, by the way) except the fastest I7s.
Best way perhaps to explain is that these new CPUs run in a new socket spec, 1155. This will start to replace the current 1156 (yes, strange lower # is newer).
The top of the line stuff runs in a 1366 socket and I think these are not effected. Having said that I have seen video tests where SandyBridge is so fast it is running pretty much a dead heat with the more expensive socket 1366 stuff.

Sandy Bridge will be made in both desk and lap versions.

Anandtech: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3871/the-sandy-bridge-preview-three-wins-in-a-rowhttp://www.anandtech.com/ has really good info going as deep as it gets into these.

Yes, computers are like cameras - buy it when you need it, and use it. Old cameras and computers still do what you bought them for.
Having said this Sandy Bridge is not business as usual - it's a huge jump.
Each of us will add up the need, $$, and timing columns and arrive at the right answer for our needs.

"Sorry I can't cut your feature because Sandy Bridge isn't out" LOL. It's just a CPU, not a life! It's always the hand holding the tool, not the tool.

 

[Blit]

Hi

Specifically to the comment about Intel naming CPUs.
I am sure it makes sense to Intel...
I think their idea is that I3 -> I5 -> I7 higher = faster better.
You get more cores (real and virtual. Virtual is worth about 1/2 a real core) as you move up with faster speeds and some other stuff.

So they divide all their consumer stuff into these three categories. I find I still must go much deeper to figure out anything intelligent about what I am getting.
Here is a decent link to current stuff up to but not including Sandy Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_i7

The AnandTech link in my previous post enlightens on the Sandy Bridge names.

Hope this helps. Sleep well knowing that somewhere, someone at Intel knows what this all means.

 

[cobaltfire]

LGA1155 will replace LGA1156, LGA2011 will replace LGA1366.

Early indicators are that LGA1155 will have parity with LGA1366 overall. LGA2011 will be a different beast entirely.

Of note: all laptop Core iX (i3, i5, i7) are based on a Socket G1 (998) spec, itself a variant of the LGA1156 socket. I am unaware of what socket Sandy Bridge will use for the mobile parts.

 

[zidane]

I honestly don't care much about blu-ray or any optical drive tech. In fact Apple is likely removing optical drives from the Macbook Pro in april...along with adding some goodies...

Is it worthy to wait till April?

 

[ATL Media Group]

4G Ram is going to be a problem. You should aim for 8.

Yes, you should get a 1920X1080 screen - it amakes a big difference for critical focus on playback. Most newer laptops offer this.

You should get a Nvidia card with 1GB or higher, preferably a GTX 285 or 470, which are supported by Adobe for the Mercury playback engine in Premiere CS5. You can get another one and hack it, but you run the risk of Adobe blocking the hack (like panasonic blocked the gh1 hack). I use a GTX 470.

More info on the hack is here:

http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htm

Prefered OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 64. Having a 64 bit OS will enable you to take full advantage of all your system memory, which a 32 bit OS can't give you.

Check out Adobe CS5 Production Premium. You get Premiere with the Mercury Playback Engine, After Effects, Photoshop and more, all with dynamic link. If you're a student (or know someone who is) you can get the student edition for a couple of hundred bucks. I personally use CS5 Master Collection.

As for Macs, I used them at work for 5 years running FCP (Mac only). However, CS5 Premiere Pro (Mac or PC), with the Mercury Playback Engine, is the first time in history when Premiere is kicking FCP's butt. The BBc have recently deserted FCP for Premiere, and we've done the same. And don't forget that a PC is only about 2/3rds the price of a Mac.

My system specs are :

i7 870 2.93 Ghz (can be overclocked to 3.6)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64
8 Gb Ram
CS5 Master Collection
GTX 470
Blu Ray Burner

Full HD AVCHD footage runs as smooth as butter, complete with color correction.

GOOD LUCK

+1,000... THIS.

Just because a billion people eat McDonalds hamburgers doesn't make them the best. CS5 with the MPE beats the pants off of the competition for editing native footage of any type. Those are the facts.

 

[shooter_]

+1,000... THIS.

Just because a billion people eat McDonalds hamburgers doesn't make them the best. CS5 with the MPE beats the pants off of the competition for editing native footage of any type. Those are the facts.

+ 1000 where? Can you post a link please?

 

[Jester2138]

My use of the "Get a Mac" slogan was not meant to stoke any Mac vs. PC debate flames, it's just my succinct way of recommending a product whose value and performance I hold in high regard. I could go on about specs and how Macs fit the bill of the OP, but why bother? The slogan is to the point and sums up my recommendation in a nutshell. Yes, I am a Machead, and I recommend Macs wholeheartedly. And one of his questions was "Preferred OS?", so I answered it. That is all.

So in other words you expect him to take your recommendation seriously when you showed neither evidence to back up your suggestion nor respect for his question? Nice.

There's over a million registered FCP users and God knows how many bootleg users.. so there's something to be said for being a part of the largest editing platform. When you look around for job offererings and posts, people are usually looking for people with FCP and after effects knowlege. If it's not FCP they are asking for then you'll see the other platform requests...

Avid has always been king and the "lite" version of Avid, otherwise known as FCP, is fast being replaced by the MUCH more capable Premiere. Those are the facts.

Personally, I think for 950 refurbished it's hard to be a MBP, especially since right out of the box you'll be able to edit without buying a NLE, and you'll get the added bonus of being able to go online without ever getting a virus or maleware or having to ever even bother installing antivirus software. You'll also not have to buy more than 2 gigs of RAM for most applications,

Why would you be able to edit out of the box without buying an NLE? Are you planning on cutting your short/feature film on iMovie? You've got to be kidding. The virus thing is sooo 2003. Get with it, Apple is having more and more security problems while Microsoft is having fewer and fewer. Most security experts consider Windows 7 to be the most secure OS on the market. Again, those are just the facts.

Not sure what applications you're using that don't need "more than 2 gigs of RAM." Large NLE's like Premiere, Avid, and FCP all need lots of RAM whether the OS you're using is made by Apple, Microsoft, Sun, or the open source community.

And then when and if you do decide to sell it, it will retain it's value way way way more than a PC. Thats a true fact there as they are almost like American cars in loosing 30 percent of their value right off the lot, and then progressively devaluing over time... Flame over.

Very true. No one could argue with this. Why might this be however? Could it possibly be because PC's innovate and upgrade and become faster much quicker than Mac's? No way! You could keep your Macbook for 4 years and resell it for a reasonable price, maybe, and then buy a so-so upgraded Mac that's reasonably faster, but if you'd gone the PC way you'd have already bought a new, MUCH faster PC for less than the resell price of the Mac anyway. So that argument doesn't really mean anything, despite being true.

Personally I edit in Premiere on a 17" Alienware M17x, i7 Quad, 8GB RAM, ATI 5870 Crossfire. There is nothing that comes even close to this with the Apple logo on it. Not even for the overpriced price I paid for this.

Flame over.

To the OP: The others before me have made great suggestions. The Lenovo lines, especially the W series, are perfect for you (they were pretty much designed for your needs). So You can get a W series and feel very confident you're getting the best on the market. Definitely go for the 1080 screen and if they have an option to uprade to an RGB scree, take it. I have an RGB on my Alienware and it's literally the best screen I've ever laid eye's on, excepting those crazy color-monitoring screens you'll find in film and photography studios.

 

[shaveblog]

Normally I don't get into Mac vs. PC debates but there's so much misinformation here it must be addressed so the 22 year-old reading this forum who's going to make the movies that rock my world ten years from now isn't hampered in his development by crummy data.

Most Mac users I know are highly gifted creative pros who simply want the best and most reliable tools to work with. They're not brainwashed "borgs", which ironically is a term usually used to describe Microsoft, not Apple.

I have both 64-bit Macs and Windows 7 workstations in my office. I like Windows 7 a lot, it's a big improvement over Vista and XP -- very fast on a serious rig but it also runs quite well even on pedestrian laptops.

99% of the time I prefer working on a Mac. All of the software I like best is Mac, and I do feel that Snow Leopard is more robust, powerful, and elegant than Windows 7. But definitely, Win7 has narrowed the gap.

I can respect anyone's choice to go with PC instead of a Mac. What I can't respect is misinformed nonsense about why this platform sucks or that platform can't do what the other one can, especially in the Snow Leopard/Windows 7 era where it's mighty difficult to find an app or tool that doesn't have at least two or three excellent equivalents on the other side.

The fact is, you can play AVCHD files natively on a Mac, right off an SDHC card. I do it every day. The Toast Video Player which comes with the popular Roxio Toast optical disc burning software plays MTS files on a Mac as quickly and easily as any media player on a PC, and they don't even have to be in a certain folder structure, either. I click on an orphaned MTS file and Toast Video Player is playing it at full res in an instant, even letting me know its bitrate so I can keep LPowell honest. If you don't want to spring for Toast, the free VLC media player also plays AVCHD files natively on a Mac. Between VLC and the free Perian codec pack, there's almost nothing I can't play on a Mac. Even WMV plays fine on Macs with the free Flip4Mac Quicktime plugin.

I can play AVCHD files instantly on any of my Macs, even my slowest MacBook, a 2.2GHz white Intel C2D from 3 years ago. I can also edit AVCHD natively as well, in CS5. There are certain apps like Sony Vegas which are PC-only, but UI preference aside I don't know of anything Vegas can do which FCP and/or CS5 for Mac can't. That comment about Mac users having to sit there and transcode to play AVCHD only holds true for someone who hasn't researched and optimized their workflow appropriately as any professional would be expected to. Shooting a codec on location that you can't immediately monitor natively on your laptop says you may be getting paid but you're not a pro.

As for Blu-Ray, Apple (wisely, IMO) decided early on to sit Blu-Ray out, but if you do feel the need to burn a Blu-Ray disc on location, Toast authors and burns Blu-Ray just fine, and a slim, lightweight USB burner costs a hundred bucks or so. Personally I find clients would rather you just send them a link to a private passworded Flash/HTML5 video on the client login area of your site, but that's just me.

As I said, I try to avoid wading into these Mac vs. PC threads, because I don't see this issue quite as heaven vs. hell as some here seem to. Ten years ago there were valid and compelling reasons to commit to one platform or the other, but not today. The simple truth is Macs don't cost more than PCs for equivalent performance and build quality. Even the old "well I can build a PC from parts that's cheaper than a Mac" argument has fallen by the wayside, as the Hackintosh community has evolved to the point where it's almost turnkey now to build a $1,000 Hackintosh that can go toe to toe with the top of the line Mac Pro.

I totally get that guys are gearheads and get passionate about their hotrods. I'm right there with you. But you can crow about your choice of PC or platform without spouting falsehoods. I could tell tales all day long of "pros" I know who sweated some Windows-related FUBAR on a job while us Mac guys just calmly got the job done. It doesn't prove anything except Murphy's Law, which in my experience is pretty much platform-agnostic.

I completely disagree on getting a MacBookPro if you are going to be using Panasonic GH1, 2, af-100, or any other avchd format camera. While Mac was once the video editing king, and some people are so brainwashed by the 'mac' or nothing borg philosophy, I really feel they have now dropped the ball and are trailing behind windows 7 64 bit systems.

I have had both. I have been on many sets. With my current Win 7 laptop, I can pop the memory card right out of my GH13 hack 52mbit and pop it into the laptop and INSTANTLY see my footage to check it for critical focus, dump it, have a 2nd person actually START editing ONLINE mode, and LEAVE the client with all the footage on a blu-ray.

While I am performing this magic, the MAC person is sitting there trying to get avchd to even play, or watching a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOng 'transcoding' status bar as he is FORCED to convert to prores. Not everyone in the world wants to use prores, and the fact that Macs are not avchd friendly NOR blu-ray friendly makes them completely useless and outdated on set to me. In the studio... if you're really that attached to final cut, then maybe, but on set, no way in hell.

Oh.. and they are outrageously priced for the same or less performance / power.

 

[Jester2138]

Normally I don't get into Mac vs. PC debates but there's so much misinformation here it must be addressed

Thanks for your very respectful post. I'll try to be as reasonable as you have been in my reply.

The fact is, you can play AVCHD files natively on a Mac, right off an SDHC card. I do it every day. The Toast Video Player which comes with the popular Roxio Toast optical disc burning software plays MTS files on a Mac as quickly and easily as any media player on a PC

I think someone needs to define what "native" means. When this AVCHD thing was first brought up here I understood it to mean "without third-party utilities," which is what "natively" usually means. In that case, no, you simply cannot play AVCHD files natively on a Mac, as you need third-pary (i.e. not made by Apple) software to play it. Not that this matters, because it's super-easy to add AVCHD capability to a Mac so why are we arguing about it?

The simple truth is Macs don't cost more than PCs for equivalent performance and build quality.

I'm sorry, but this is simply not true. I really don't understand why Mac users keep saying this. According to the Apple website as of 1/4/2011, 17" Macbook Pro's start at $2,300 USD, which is within $100 of what I paid for my Alienware.

Macbook Pro $2,300:
2.53GHz Intel Core i5 Dual
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X2GB
MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Glossy Widescreen Display
(It won't even tell me what the graphics are)

Alienware M17x $2,300:
Intel Core i7 740QM (1.73GHz) Quad
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
1200p RGB LED Display
1024 (MB) ATI 5870m xFire (meaning two GPU's)
(those graphics knock the socks off anything in Macbook Pro line and most other PC's)

In what world are those systems even remotely comparable for editing (or gaming, for that matter)? This is WITH the customary Alienware-overpricing.

I could tell tales all day long of "pros" I know who sweated some Windows-related FUBAR on a job while us Mac guys just calmly got the job done.

I could tell tales all day long of pros I know who sweated some OS X - related FUBAR on a job while us PC guys just calmly got the job done.

 

[skulpt]

Macs are great. But you for sure can get more bang for your buck with a PC. I did the same kind of comparison in another thread as the one above. You just get more for your money spec wise with a PC. And yes. I own a MBP and a Windows 7 PC. I've switched to PC as my main platform mainly because of the MPE in Premiere and the focus Adobe has put towards Nvidia products along side the distancing Apple seems to be doing with Adobe and choosing ATI products. Apple thinks they can do their own thing, but it's catching up to them IMO. OSX IMO is clearly better, but I don't care when I'm in Premiere or After Effects with more ram and better graphics cards and still have more money left over for things like extra lenses or plugins from Red Giant.

My current desktop specs:
i7 930 OC'd to 4ghz
12gb ram
SSD raid 0 boot drive
Adobe Production Premium CS5

Again, Macs are great. I prefer the OS. But I buy based on performance for the money. I don't live in an OS. I live in the app. I also care about saving money to buy other things like extra lenses. I can't fault anyone getting a Mac. They will get the job done. But so will the PC with perhaps a bit more care but a lot more money left over. And if you're getting viruses? Stop using your PC for a non work PC. There is very little reason for you to get a virus if you're not downloading crap, checking out porn sites, and downloading BT files.

 

[Blackout]

I don't like premiere and am not an invidia fan either. I am rocking the real time like butter editing now in Edius 6... my demo is almost up but it's so good.. so smooth... even though I still feel clunky into it cause I was just starting to master Sony Vegas Pro.. I think I might spring for Edius 6.

Multiple streams of color corrected native 24p avchd playing at FULL resolution with all effects with NO issues on an quad i7 laptop. Amazing... BUT, the mpeg4 encoder is not as good as the one in vegas.

 

[rambooc1]

BUT, the mpeg4 encoder is not as good as the one in vegas.

Blackout as you have Edius 6 AND Vegas, if you render out of Edius as HQX AVI, Vegas can import HQX and then you can render your preferred Mpeg encoder out of Vegas. This is what i do. Vegas can also SMART RENDER HQX files.

I like HQX better than Cineform, no difference visually, slightly smaller files to.

Love your Vodka cocktail....but it gave me a headache

R

 

[shaveblog]

Native playback means you can click on a video file straight off your camera's media card and it will just play, with no transcoding needed. Another poster in the thread stated that AVCHD files can't be played on a Mac until they're rendered to another format. They can, for free, with the VLC media player most Mac pros have on their machines by default from day one.

Again, I'm not going to criticize another person's choice of platform or hardware. If your needs are better met by an Alienware laptop running Win7, that's what you should buy. I'm not a gamer at all and I judge laptops by how well they run the apps I like to use, and how sturdy they're built for field work. It's my experience that the unibody MacBooks hold up better than plastic bodied laptops, even the expensive ones. But again, I'm a Mac user and not interested in gaming, so for me a MacBook is a no-brainer. If you want your laptop to do double duty as a gaming rig, you're better off with a Win7 laptop optimized for gaming as the Alienware machines very much are. I use my laptops solely for work, so we have different priorities. Also, I want to be able to sell my laptop on eBay a year from now when I upgrade to a newer one, and I find Macs hold their value on the used market much moreso than PCs, whether desktop or laptop.

As for your last comment, perhaps you didn't read my last sentence. Of course you've seen Mac guys dealing with laptop-related issues on a job site while PC guys didn't. So have I. That's my point. Murphy's Law doesn't care what platform you're on. See, I was trying to be diplomatic, and hopefully steer the discussion away from a silly topic like Macs suk PCs roolz because normal, well-adjusted people tend to get bummed out when their forums are infested with this garbage. But maybe I need to remind myself of Shaveblog's Law, which I keep forgetting and then re-remembering every two years or so: It's a waste of time trying to correct misinformation on internet forums.

Thanks for your very respectful post. I'll try to be as reasonable as you have been in my reply.



I think someone needs to define what "native" means. When this AVCHD thing was first brought up here I understood it to mean "without third-party utilities," which is what "natively" usually means. In that case, no, you simply cannot play AVCHD files natively on a Mac, as you need third-pary (i.e. not made by Apple) software to play it. Not that this matters, because it's super-easy to add AVCHD capability to a Mac so why are we arguing about it?



I'm sorry, but this is simply not true. I really don't understand why Mac users keep saying this. According to the Apple website as of 1/4/2011, 17" Macbook Pro's start at $2,300 USD, which is within $100 of what I paid for my Alienware.

Macbook Pro $2,300:
2.53GHz Intel Core i5 Dual
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X2GB
MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Glossy Widescreen Display
(It won't even tell me what the graphics are)

Alienware M17x $2,300:
Intel Core i7 740QM (1.73GHz) Quad
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
1200p RGB LED Display
1024 (MB) ATI 5870m xFire (meaning two GPU's)
(those graphics knock the socks off anything in Macbook Pro line and most other PC's)

In what world are those systems even remotely comparable for editing (or gaming, for that matter)? This is WITH the customary Alienware-overpricing.



I could tell tales all day long of pros I know who sweated some OS X - related FUBAR on a job while us PC guys just calmly got the job done.

 

[stoneinapond]

But maybe I need to remind myself of Shaveblog's Law, which I keep forgetting and then re-remembering every two years or so: It's a waste of time trying to correct misinformation on internet forums.

And there seems to be more and more of it every day.

 

[skulpt]

Native playback means you can click on a video file straight off your camera's media card and it will just play, with no transcoding needed. Another poster in the thread stated that AVCHD files can't be played on a Mac until they're rendered to another format. They can, for free, with the VLC media player most Mac pros have on their machines by default from day one.

Again, I'm not going to criticize another person's choice of platform or hardware. If your needs are better met by an Alienware laptop running Win7, that's what you should buy. I'm not a gamer at all and I judge laptops by how well they run the apps I like to use, and how sturdy they're built for field work. It's my experience that the unibody MacBooks hold up better than plastic bodied laptops, even the expensive ones. But again, I'm a Mac user and not interested in gaming, so for me a MacBook is a no-brainer. If you want your laptop to do double duty as a gaming rig, you're better off with a Win7 laptop optimized for gaming as the Alienware machines very much are. I use my laptops solely for work, so we have different priorities. Also, I want to be able to sell my laptop on eBay a year from now when I upgrade to a newer one, and I find Macs hold their value on the used market much moreso than PCs, whether desktop or laptop.

As for your last comment, perhaps you didn't read my last sentence. Of course you've seen Mac guys dealing with laptop-related issues on a job site while PC guys didn't. So have I. That's my point. Murphy's Law doesn't care what platform you're on. See, I was trying to be diplomatic, and hopefully steer the discussion away from a silly topic like Macs suk PCs roolz because normal, well-adjusted people tend to get bummed out when their forums are infested with this garbage. But maybe I need to remind myself of Shaveblog's Law, which I keep forgetting and then re-remembering every two years or so: It's a waste of time trying to correct misinformation on internet forums.

What on earth do those specs have to do with gaming? Double the ram isn't useful for video or a faster processor for the same price? What about quadruple it for less?

Oh, and here's a Dell XPS 17" for $2084

i7 840QM
16gb dual channel DDR3
GT 445M (vs GT 330M on the MBP)

So that kind of bump in ram and processor isn't really important?

Here's another rundown:

Dell XPS 17"
i7-740QM (faster)
4gb DDR3 (same as MBP)
435M (vs 330M)
+ ANOTHER GH2

= $2124

Again. Macs are great. I also like the unibody design, the OS is better IMO, and the thing works just great. But PCs aren't just options for those who want to also game. If you want and need higher specs, the PC is the way to go right now. If you want to put more money into gear, and not just into a unibody design and OS refinement, PCs are the way to go right now.

 

[joe1946]

Toshiba Introduces New Laptops Equipped With 2nd Generation Intel Core Family of Processors
The new processors feature improved adaptive performance that adds speed when needed and enhanced graphics capabilities, providing a more seamless PC experience. Optimized Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology on Core i5 and Core i7 processors1 improves responsiveness, making the laptops ideal for heavy multitaskers, gamers and consumers that go beyond average PC usage. Select laptops will also feature Intel Wireless Display2, which increases the resolution output from 720p to full HD 1080p3, enabling users to wirelessly savor multimedia, online entertainment or other laptop content on a big screen with amazing image clarity and sound.

Qosmio X505: Performance Powerhouse
The award-winning Qosmio X505 laptop delivers powerhouse desktop performance with blazing-fast 3D graphics, high-performance components and premium A/V features. With 2nd Generation Intel Core i7 quad core or Core i5 dual core processors plus the muscle of NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460M graphics5 and up to 8GB of DDR3 memory6 and 1.5GB of discrete DDR5 graphics memory as well as a 7200 RPM hard drive with Hybrid Drive Technology, the Qosmio X505 makes powering through today’s top 3D games, hi-def video creation and the toughest tasks a breeze. With its 18.4-inch diagonal HD TruBrite widescreen display7 and premium sound package with built-in harman/kardon® speakers and Dolby Home Theater® audio technology, users can enjoy Blu-ray™ movies8 and games like never before. The Qosmio X505 Series starts at $1,299.99 MSRP9.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...roduces-Laptops-Equipped-2nd-Generation-Intel

 

[Blackout]

Blackout as you have Edius 6 AND Vegas, if you render out of Edius as HQX AVI, Vegas can import HQX and then you can render your preferred Mpeg encoder out of Vegas. This is what i do. Vegas can also SMART RENDER HQX files.

I like HQX better than Cineform, no difference visually, slightly smaller files to.

Love your Vodka cocktail....but it gave me a headache

R

Your post is EXACTLY what I was thinking, Just didn't know which codec to choose out from Edius. Thx!

 

[Blackout]

Native playback means you can click on a video file straight off your camera's media card and it will just play, with no transcoding needed. Another poster in the thread stated that AVCHD files can't be played on a Mac until they're rendered to another format. They can, for free, with the VLC media player most Mac pros have on their machines by default from day one.

Again, I'm not going to criticize another person's choice of platform or hardware. If your needs are better met by an Alienware laptop running Win7, that's what you should buy. I'm not a gamer at all and I judge laptops by how well they run the apps I like to use, and how sturdy they're built for field work. It's my experience that the unibody MacBooks hold up better than plastic bodied laptops, even the expensive ones. But again, I'm a Mac user and not interested in gaming, so for me a MacBook is a no-brainer. If you want your laptop to do double duty as a gaming rig, you're better off with a Win7 laptop optimized for gaming as the Alienware machines very much are. I use my laptops solely for work, so we have different priorities. Also, I want to be able to sell my laptop on eBay a year from now when I upgrade to a newer one, and I find Macs hold their value on the used market much moreso than PCs, whether desktop or laptop.

As for your last comment, perhaps you didn't read my last sentence. Of course you've seen Mac guys dealing with laptop-related issues on a job site while PC guys didn't. So have I. That's my point. Murphy's Law doesn't care what platform you're on. See, I was trying to be diplomatic, and hopefully steer the discussion away from a silly topic like Macs suk PCs roolz because normal, well-adjusted people tend to get bummed out when their forums are infested with this garbage. But maybe I need to remind myself of Shaveblog's Law, which I keep forgetting and then re-remembering every two years or so: It's a waste of time trying to correct misinformation on internet forums.

It is a known fact in the PC Windows 7 64 bit world that if you get a fully loaded gaming PC - you will be fine for video editing. Gaming with all the 3D effects turned to ultra in 1920 x 1080p is one of the most demanding tasks on a computer and requires some insane specs and some people go all out crazy building gaming laptops. If your laptop can run Crysis at 60 frames per second with all effects at ultra, you can be damn sure it's going to edit video like slicing entermains butter pound cake.

I'm not a big gamer anymore as I'm just too busy and real life has become my game, but I did enjoy it for a while and now when I do need to let some steam off I hop on Xbox Live and blow some people up while cursing at them in random accents. It's fun!

I was not trying to say - PC roolz MAC sucks but personally, for me, I have used both and I can't stand the mac or apple anymore, they mac me ill. (pun intended) That's just me though. You use what you use how you like to use it. I also don't like the elitism attitude I get from MANY mac people. Just because it was the leader for a little while doesn't mean it is always and forever 'the best'. The iphone 4 does everything in the world except... make phone calls. Yet people bought it like nuts because they are apple crackheads. Putting a rubberband around it is a pretty stupid thing for a company to say is 'a feature' . I also can't stand AT&T and their RIPOFF scam long contract terms and their intrusive FBI like combing of your credit. The age of the contract is over and there is no reason anyone should be paying $120 to $200 a month for unlimited 4G everything. The companies still pricing that was are scaming you. I pay $55....

PS: Having to download a third party player is not 'native'. Macs out of the box can't handle avchd and don't come with VLC and they can't play a blu-ray. In my mind, that makes macs out of date. In your mind, it may not. We are allowed to have our opinions. Blue-ray is HOT HOT HOT right now and DVD will slowly be phased out over the next few years as everything will be HD and also the industry is SHOVING and craming 3D down everyone's throat like a forcefed elderly patient in a mental ward.

Apple MAKES you use ITUNES. ITUNES makes me want to slice babies heads off and feed them to lions. I have never hated a piece of software as much as itunes. How dare they try and control what and where and when and how I handle my content. Apple can bite me.

I don't need a titanium slick looking case, I need a machine that does want I want, how I want it, and on the format I want with the freedom to move it around as I want without going through bloat ware.

Fast and easy - and to me, the Win 7 box blows the mac out of the water in this regards AND in price in dealing with my GH13 footage and making blu-rays AND home theater and media in general, and web broadcasting.

 

[shaveblog]

God bless the Ignore This User option.

 

[Jester2138]

God bless the Ignore This User option.

Mature.

/s