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bonniescotland · Jan 4, 2003, 06:04 AM

I already have a G4 desktop, but as planning to do a bit of travelling want to buy a powerbook or ibook for portability, plan to do some editing on this, but mostly will be doing graphics work. Everyone tells me that G4 is much better than G3 for editing, but can anyone tell me how essential is the difference? As it is so much cheaper to get a G3 powerbook or ibook than G4, is there really a big difference?

If I was going to be editing fulltime then I would definitely want the fastest machine so therefore would go with the G4 but as it will just be occassional editing how essential is it that I get a G4. Would a G3 just be a bit slower, or would it be frustratingly slow? Also are there any other problems that I might have by using a G3 compared to a G4?

Also apart from the new powerbooks being G4 is there any other advantage to using a G4 powerbook as opposed to an ibook?

hadocon · Jan 4, 2003, 11:06 AM

Originally posted by bonniescotland:
I already have a G4 desktop, but as planning to do a bit of travelling want to buy a powerbook or ibook for portability, plan to do some editing on this, but mostly will be doing graphics work. Everyone tells me that G4 is much better than G3 for editing, but can anyone tell me how essential is the difference? As it is so much cheaper to get a G3 powerbook or ibook than G4, is there really a big difference?

If I was going to be editing fulltime then I would definitely want the fastest machine so therefore would go with the G4 but as it will just be occassional editing how essential is it that I get a G4. Would a G3 just be a bit slower, or would it be frustratingly slow? Also are there any other problems that I might have by using a G3 compared to a G4?

Also apart from the new powerbooks being G4 is there any other advantage to using a G4 powerbook as opposed to an ibook?

I use both a dual 800 G4 and a iMac DV 400 for some pretty serious video editing (corporate videos). I prefer to work on the G4 of course, but the iMac is definatly adequate for what we do. Each video we produce is about 15 minutes long. We do colour correction, compositing, photoshop, FCP, redering, and editing on both machines. The G4 is way faster, but in the end both get the job done.

If money is really an issue I would definatly go with the iBook. You won't be dissapointed... if you max out the ram of course.

icruise · Jan 4, 2003, 01:28 PM

Unless you really want to do serious video editing, a G3 will be just fine.

bonniescotland · Jan 4, 2003, 06:21 PM

Thanks both of you for this information, very helpful.

Eug · Jan 4, 2003, 06:26 PM

If you plan on getting a DV camcorder for your travels and want to edit on the road, then it seems to me the only option would be a SuperDrive TiBook.

ie. It depends on what you're doing.

icruise · Jan 6, 2003, 04:12 AM

If you want to output to DVD while still on the road, yes, but there is nothing about the ibook that makes editing particularly difficult. I did a lot of editing years ago with a 233mhz Powermac 9600 (not even a G3). It wasn't a speed demon, but it was usable. Any G3 will blow that system away, and the ibook is the fastest G3 Apple has ever made.

bonniescotland · Jan 6, 2003, 06:22 AM

Originally posted by Icruise:
If you want to output to DVD while still on the road, yes, but there is nothing about the ibook that makes editing particularly difficult. I did a lot of editing years ago with a 233mhz Powermac 9600 (not even a G3). It wasn't a speed demon, but it was usable. Any G3 will blow that system away, and the ibook is the fastest G3 Apple has ever made.

Thanks again everyone for all this great advice, has really been helpful. So if I am on a bit of a budget and only plan to do the occassional bit of editing, it sounds as if a G3 Ibook isn't too bad, any ideas what would be a good ibook to go for (I see these old blueberry ones secondhand for pretty cheap, but would this be scraping the bottom of the barrel) alternatively I have seen a few G3 powerbooks (such as the pismo) secondhand sale cheap as well. Any advice you can give me. I keep tossing up the idea of whether to get a superdrive, as would like to output my edits to DVD which means would have to get a G4 powerbook, but then I think if I am only doing the occassional bit of editing (I plan to edit a one hour doco, which whilst is a lot of editing, probably won't do any more editing for about 6 months, as most of my projects take at least 6 months from pre production to post) so if I don't go for the superdrive option, perhaps an old ibook might do? What kind of specs should I look for. I know this is all pretty difficult to answer as depends on each project and how much hard drive space I will take up etc, but any rough ideas. What I was thinking of doing was getting an external firewire drive with about 120 gig, so I thought perhaps the amount of gig on the ibook/powerbook could be minimal as I would have the external firewire drive. I know processing speed and memory are important, but not sure what the minimum is that would be comfortable.
Thanks for all your advice

icruise · Jan 6, 2003, 04:41 PM

Well, the blueberry ibook wouldn't be an option, since it lacks firewire (and it's pretty slow in any case). I personally wouldn't consider anything less than one of the new ibooks (preferably the $1299 combo model, but the $999 model would work pretty well too). But if you have a tight budget you could go for a used Pismo or a used iBook (Dual USB, not one of the multipcolored clamshell models).

k2director · Jan 7, 2003, 03:59 AM

I would go for a new iBook, or a used one, but no earlier than the 600 Mhz model with the 100Mhz bus (not 66Mhz bus).

Ibooks can definitely handle editing. I did plenty of projects of a 500Mhz Pismo, and that's no better (actually worse) than the iBooks noted above, except for having a 2" bigger screen (though the same number of pixels).

G3s are especially fine if your editing work will mostly be cuts and logging. If you're doing LOTS of effects work (filters, compositing, and anything else that alters the video), then you'll occasionally wish you had the speed of the G4, but hey, you'll still have saved a lot of money over a Tibook.

If you were looking for a primary machine for doing lots of editing, I'd say go for the Ti, but for what you described, the Ibook/G3 combo will be fine.

Eug · 08:56 AM

If you were getting an iBook now, and you're a geek who doesn't like OS slowdowns, I'd get one with a Radeon. I'm thinking new 12" 800 for $1299, plus extra memory, or else a used 700.

I just sold an iBook 600 with Rage 128. It's definitely adequate for daily use, but not terribly speedy when compared to any Radeon iBook.

MickS · Jan 9, 2003, 07:41 AM

Don't forget the extra screen size you get with G4 laptops for anything other than the new 12" one.

It's probably worth finding a local dealer and having a look at the options. The only real advantage that G4 has over G3 are real-time effects in Final Cut and render time generally.