Which of these systems would you use to edit?

T

taras4444

Well-known member
Hi all, I have posted on here before that I am looking at getting a new editing system for editing my af100 footage (which i bought yesterday woo!). After listening to you all and a lot of research I have narrowed it down to the following three systems: Note I will be probably using adobe premiere cs5 for my nle.

* The first system:

a custom built laptop with the following specs:

Chassis & Display
Vortex II-17: 17.3" Full HD LED Backlit 16:9 Widescreen (1920x1080) Super Clear GlossyProcessor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2720QM (2.20GHz) 6MB CacheMemory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)Graphics Card
1.5GB nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460M - DirectX® 11 (17.3" Vortex II)Memory - Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)2nd Hard Disk
160GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 165MB/sW)DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
SONY BC-5500H 4x BLURAY ROM/DVD WRITER & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£84)Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD (STANDARD)USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARDBattery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (3,800 mAh)Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC AdaptorOperating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIALNotebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSEWebcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAMInsurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & TheftWarranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)


It is a laptop so solves the portability issue for me- as I want to be able to take my editing system with me around the world say if i shoot a film in mexico for example. Also it has true hd display (though i know i will have to get a monitor eventually to) and it also has both raid hd drives and a sata drive which people mention is very important. (I assume i can save adobe to the ssd so it can start up very quickly and efficiently right?) Also it has a nvidia graphics card, so I guess it can do that cuda thing people have mentioned about and praised right? All of this, the laptop would be £1595.




The next system is a dell made alienware computer and monitor system. More expensive and but I assume faster and perhaps more efficient? They gave me quite a discount to but it is still very expensive. I would have to get a pelican case to carry it around with me and is not as practicle however if you guys think it is a lot better then it would tempt me to go for it. The specs are the following:

Alienware Aurora (R3) DT Alienware Aurora Matte Black 875W Chassis Item Description Quantity Total Price Alienware Aurora Matte Black 875W Chassis 1 3.4GHz Intel® Core™ i7-2600 (8MB Cache) Quad Core Processor with overclocked Turbo Boost to 3.9GHz 1 Genuine Windows® 7 SP1 Home Premium, 64bit, English 1 Single 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460 1 8192MB (4x2GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory 1 256GB SSD - Solid State Drive 1 500GB RAID 1 "Mirror" (2x500GB - 7200 rpm) 1 Blu-Ray RW (Blu-Ray, DVD, CD read & write) & 24X DVD+/- RW 1 Killer™ 2100 Network Card 1 Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital Audio 1 Alienware 19-in-1 Media card reader 1 Dell™ U2311H 23in UltraSharp™ Widescreen (1920x1080) Monitor - UK/Irish 1 Alienware Multimedia Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY) 1 Alienware Optical Mouse 1 No Security/Anti-Virus Protection 1 1Yr Next Day Hardware Support included with your PC 1 NO - Dell may NOT telephone me in relation to my order and related products and services 1 No Accidental Damage Support 1 Alienware Aurora Resource DVD 1 English - Documentation with UK/Irish Power Cord 1 D05ASW04 1 Alienware Aurora (R3) DT Order - UK 1 1 year Next Business Day Hardware Support included with your PC 1 AutoMatic Updates : AutoMatic updates - On 1 Alienware 3D 1 Astral Aqua 1 Steam® Client and Portal™ Game - Factory Installed 1



This would all cost £1960 so a fair bit more. It has a smaller graphics card however which I don't know if that is a problem?


Then finally a standard i mac, however these do not come with nvidia graphics cards which may be a problem as you all seem to give it major thumbs up. Here are the specs:

21 inch i mac
<LI id=coherent_id_154 class="first upgrade " selected="false">2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7<LI id=coherent_id_155 class=upgrade selected="false">8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB<LI id=coherent_id_156 class=upgrade selected="false">1TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive<LI id=coherent_id_157 selected="false">AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB GDDR5<LI id=coherent_id_158 selected="false">Apple Magic Mouse<LI id=coherent_id_159 class="column-start-9-5 column-2" selected="false">Apple Wireless Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)
I know nothing about graphics card but this one seems very small in comparison which i do not know if it will be a major problem video editing. The above would cost around £1800 including a student discount.




SOOOOOO all in all, if you have taken the time and managed to read this entire post I first of all thank you. Simply put, which of the above three would you choose to edit feature films that you had shot on the af100 and perhaps why? Portability is an issue and as its the cheapest I am leaning towards the laptop. That being said if you guys think the other two are a lot better investment I'm sure i could bite the bullet and go for one of them.

Thanks in anticipation,

Taras
 
Depends if you want FCP or Premiere or whatever else is on the PC. Personally I'd choose the software first and then the OS it runs on. that is if you can get beyond the pointless Mac vs. PC debate.

Noah
 
Those are 3 very different machines. The Alienware would be 'best' of course, but depending on what kind of projects you do, they all are in some scale or another, more than enough power. Basically meaning that none of them are going to hugely limit your capabilities to edit.

The processors, all quad i7, which in practice means you have 64-bit and the capability to use each core to process info. Difference being 3.4ghz. Which basically means it will handle each task with ease. Where you might make the slower processors work at full power consistently through rendering, playback, etc. The AlienWare won't break a sweat. 4x i7 will kick butt though regardless.

Graphics cards, iMac is the slouch here, but bear in mind what your set-up will be when editing. Will you be working on 1 monitor or plugging in a 2nd for a dual screen set-up. If you are going to only use the displays listed in each description then I don't think any of the graphics cards will let you down. a 512mb is enough for most HD editing purposes outside of 3D modeling and other high-end work.

That being said my opinion would be the custom built laptop. I don't like iMacs (I love Apple but the iMac has never been a professional product) because it is not upgradeable, and the Alienware may be faster, but unless you are doing more motion 3D graphics and less video footage, you wont need or miss the power of the Alienware. I would also keep in my USB 3.0, while not a "make or break" yet, it is future proofing your system to some extent as USB isn't going anywhere.
 
Hi thank you very much for the in depth response i appreciate it and i see what you mean about each system. The alienware does sound dream like but like you suggest may be a bit over kill, (that extra £300 can be spent on an arri 650 light for filming). I don't suppose you know what this nividia CUDA thing is? As i will probably be editing with adobe so heard it works wonders, if so you reckon the laptop can do all that to? Cheers again, Taras
 
Sorry as for the other monitors, I will probably be editing on just the one monitor for the time being, (however eventually when money allows it get a second). So I assume that means the i mac with its inferior graphics card would struggle with two? Where as the laptop and alienware should be handle it well correct? Cheers
 
I wouldn't say the iMac will struggle with a 2nd, but it won't shine like the other 2 will. And I don't know much about CUDA, but as I understand it, if your OS can utilize CUDA, along with the software (which I believe you are correct that CS5 does) then it will make a fair amount of difference in certain threading processes. I'm sure someone else will give a better explanation...

MWDIY said:
iMacs have been upgradable for some time now. you can add RAM, swap the hard drive, etc.
Click to expand...

They are, that is true, but they are not comparable to towers where you can install multiple drives, swap graphics cards, PCI cards, etc. If you are to get a desktop, I would want all those things also, or else I'd get a laptop. I used to love PowerMac G5s when they were out but when Apple made the switch to intel, I switched to a macbook pro and I am probably going to get the new model MBP 15 or 17 soon...
 
I agree software decision first, and then hardware.

FWIW - I'm working a multi week project right now for an ad agency (TAXI) shooting a series of TV spots for a national client (Canadian Tire), and the post house has set-up an editor on location with us. He cuts / colour corrects / creates inserts graphics / and then outputs final edits that are sent to broadcast (yes a very tight schedule) all from footage that we generate on two AF100's and a selection of 'crash cams' -Panasonic Lumix TS3's.

His edit 'suite' is a new MacBook Pro 13" i7 with 4GB ram and an external broadcast monitor, with a tablet for input…

So here is a multi-million dollar project for national broadcast being cut on a stock off the shelf $1,500. mac laptop - Me-thinks we sometimes over think and over analyse our equipment needs.
 
I'd wait a couple months to see how things turn out with FCP X. The iMac can also have an eSATA port installed by OWC, and the new models that just came out have Thunderbolt (2 ports) and it appears there may be a way to upgrade the graphics card on them. Currently, I use a 17" MacBook Pro (new one with Thunderbolt) and it has been plenty powerful. I combine it with a 2nd monitor and use a Matrox MXO2 going to a 60" display as well. I just finished color correcting a feature shot on RED at 4K and it handled it with no issues. Took 3 days to render it out (at 4K, ProRes 4444, with 2 second handles on every shot) in Color, but still worked perfectly. A new iMac would be even faster, but I don't think you can get an iMac without the dreaded glossy display.

Still, I'd wait a couple months and see how FCP X is and then choose your software first. Personally, I don't know anyone using Premier CS5 for major projects yet, but if FCP X isn't a huge improvement don't be surprised if a bunch of people jump to that.
 
Hey all thanks for the input and everything. Just wondering for say the laptop, if i wanted to save my video footage to hard drives what would you recommend as many people have told me to save it seperately and not on the actual pc/laptop. For example one person recommended i get the following: http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-D...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1304973084&sr=1-1

Now to be honest im not sure how they work, would i connect it to my system then buy two hard drives and add them into that, then save my footage to it? What do you all reckon how do you save your video footage? Excuse my ignorance, this is all new to me im just use to mini dv tapes, those were the days!
 
I took replaced the Superdrive on my MacBook Pro with a 750GB hard drive (OWC Data Doubler http://eshop.macsales.com/search/data+doubler ), then put the Superdrive in a USB enclosure I found on eBay. Now I can use internal storage for storing media and editing if I want. For backup of the media (as we shoot and during post) I duplicate everything on 2 external USB drives so there's 2 backups at all times. Right now I like to use the Seagate GoFlex portable drives. They're inexpensive and take up little physical space, and the USB interface can be removed and switched to Firewire if you want. For big editing projects I also use an external RAID-5 drive that connected via eSATA, but I'm looking forward to replacing that with a RAID-5 drive that has Thunderbolt when they come out.

What you linked to is basically a USB enclosure for hard drives, but the drives aren't enclosed. You just drop them in the slots. They're quickly removable, but they're also exposed. It's good for quick copies and backups, but it's not something I would want to leave sitting out of a long time or transport. Also, the 3.5" drives are larger and will take up more physical space, which adds up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top