Question:
We got a digital camcorder last Christmas and now we want to replace our laptop. What kind of spec should we be looking at for basic video editing - parties and sports etc ?? We'll be using the laptop for that, iPod (external hard drive has all the mp3's on) and the odd letter / spreadsheet. I'd like an Apple but they are much more expensive. Any suggestions
Answers:
Hi ptben,
You should get more help with this on the Techie boards, so I'll move your thread over there.
Pink
Answers:
If you are still thinking about an Apple then have you seen the new MacBooks. With all the bundled software for video editing & DVD production they are extremely easy to use. Do you definetly need a laptop? If not then why not consider the iMac 17"
Prices for the MacBook are from £749 or cheaper if you can purchase with Educational discount, iMacs are from £929. Hope this helps.
Answers:
If you are still thinking about an Apple then have you seen the new MacBooks. With all the bundled software for video editing & DVD production they are extremely easy to use. Do you definetly need a laptop? If not then why not consider the iMac 17"
Prices for the MacBook are from £749 or cheaper if you can purchase with Educational discount, iMacs are from £929. Hope this helps.
skippy64 is right. For what you want you want a Mac and now is a very good time to get a MacBook as they're brand new. People tie themselves up in knots as to "value" versus say Dell, but if nothing else bear in mind that the MacBook (or iMac) comes with iMovie, the editing software. It is in a different class to what comes with Windows. It is designed to be very easy to use. It also comes with software to help you make a DVD of your film that goes well beyond simply burning it. Second, you need to make sure the laptop has FireWire / IEE1394 / iLink (they're the same thing) to talk to your video camera, and a lot of the cheap ones don't. The other built-in software for managing photos os also very good - much better again than the Windows equivalenet, but no better than Google's free Picassa, so I wash I think. Third, it always gets people hot under the collar, but you save on needing anti-virus software and all that nonsense because there are no security threats on the Mac. There may be in the future, but there are none right now. In fairness the money you save there will need to be spent on a copy of Microsoft Office - the "student and teacher" edition is actually aimed at any consumers, and costs about £100. Again, a wash I think. The Apple version is called iWork and is only £55 and can read and create basic Word and Excel documents - if it really is just the odd letter to the bank manager with the knowledge you will be able to open it in ten years' time, it would do. If you ever bring work home from the office etc. I would get MS Office. Lastly, you will probably be able to back up your phone to the built-in address book and keep them synchronised in one central address book, so if you lose your phone or when you get a new one, there's none of the kerfuffle with getting people's numbers onto the new phone, or panicking becasue you've lost your address book. You can do this on a PC too of course but it's nothing like as easy.
You can often get a refurbuished Mac - say the older iBook range - from the "refurb store." I would post a link but new stock gets added at I think 10am and it's not quite that now. You can get to it by clicking on the "refurb" tag at the bottom ledt hand corner of the Apple Store website:
The iBook would also do what you want for less money very competently, but it is the last generation of chip. That makes no difference today - the software is identical though it is a bit slower (not that you'd notice with nothing to compare it against) - but it will become obsolete more quickly. If you just wanted something easy to surf the web with I don't think it would be a problem but video editing is not a basic application, however easy the software makes it.
Worth adding that's also true of budget PCs - yes you can spend less but it will be underpowered from day one and will need to be upgraded or replaced much sooner.
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Make sure that the notebook has a Nvidia 7 series or ATI X1000 series graphics chip.
Traditionally video transcoding/editing used only the power of the CPU and nopt the graphics card.
This is because these chips not only have features that significantly speed up video transcoding but it also means that BOTH the CPU and graphics card are used at the same time!
I would go with ATI as their technology(which is called AVIVO) is free to use as with Nvidia you have to pay for software which can use this feature.However Nvidia implementation provides better image quality at the moment!
The software in both cases is still not fully bug free but it will definitely improve with further releases.
However I would first check if the Mobility X1600 series supports this but I think it does as the whole X1000 line supposedly supports this technology!
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PCs are fins for this kinda thing, the myth that Macs are 'better' than PCs for media manipulation is still perpetuated but hasnt been true for years, Ive used both.
A mac will prob get you up and running quickly but its limited scope will frustrate you. The wide range of options, power and versatility may put you off a PC. BUt then they tend to be cheaper, especially once you factor in software costs - there are many great free open source vid editing progs. Your starting point should be:
Unfortunately modern PCs still have a little way to go before they can handle video, encoding can still take an age, video formats are confused, and simply moving large gb files around can frustrate.
Key points, get lots of RAM, lots of storage, and a chunky CPU. tbh you'll prob struggle with a 'budget' computer. Even the top line home stuff cant do these things perfectly yet.
It reminds me of when I used to play with Audio in the old days, encoding an MP3 would take a day, chopping up a 600mb audio sample on a 8mb computer took all day. Thank God that can all be done in seconds now, sadly video manipulation still has a way to go before your creativity is unlimited...
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PCs are fins for this kinda thing, the myth that Macs are 'better' than PCs for media manipulation is still perpetuated but hasnt been true for years, Ive used both.
A mac will prob get you up and running quickly but its limited scope will frustrate you. The wide range of options, power and versatility may put you off a PC. BUt then they tend to be cheaper, especially once you factor in software costs - there are many great free open source vid editing progs. Your starting point should be:
Unfortunately modern PCs still have a little way to go before they can handle video, encoding can still take an age, video formats are confused, and simply moving large gb files around can frustrate.
Key points, get lots of RAM, lots of storage, and a chunky CPU. tbh you'll prob struggle with a 'budget' computer. Even the top line home stuff cant do these things perfectly yet.
It reminds me of when I used to play with Audio in the old days, encoding an MP3 would take a day, chopping up a 600mb audio sample on a 8mb computer took all day. Thank God that can all be done in seconds now, sadly video manipulation still has a way to go before your creativity is unlimited...
In terms of raw ability to do the job, of course not, especially now the chips are the same. But you make the point by making it all look very complicated, referring the OP to open source software, etc. OP could use a Mac out of the box with certainty that it would work and have a significantly superior user experience. He is not trying to make an indie film after all (though one of last year's Sundance films was made with iMovie), but edit together some home movies. Why make life harder than it needs to be?
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Try to avoid Advent.Medion,Microstar,Gericom,Aldi,Cybermaxx and other similiar Dixons/PC World/Currys sub-brands.
These brands are built for cheapness and if anything goes wrong you may not be able to get any of the generic bits and bogs they use.
I would go for something recognised such as Dell as these tend to be more reliable and yous till be able to get parts and support for much longer!
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Can I just advise caution if you are looking at Dell laptops if you want to transfer from a camcorder to the laptop using a firewire.
I recently bought an Inspiron 1300 on the special deal. I wanted to put a firewire card in but found that the new laptops have an "ExpressCard" slot instead of a PCMCIA. This is a new thing, and it is almost impossible to get one, in this country anyway. Looking at around £80 from USA. I contacted Dell and their advisor wasn't much help either.