[PBAddict]

I am planning to upgrade my Pismo to a new Powerbook and at the same time move to Final Cut Expess. I would be grateful if someone can advise on the following:

1. Is the 4200 rpm drives that Apple using faster enough to capture video.
2. Should I partion Drive and keep a 30GB portion exclusively for Video, or will this not make a difference.
3. Is Firewire 400 fast enough to capture video from camcorder and write to external Firewire drive at the same time.
4. What external FW drive would you recommend that is still small enough in size to be portable, but fast enough for video
5. How much memory should I put in Powerbook.
6. Would current 12 inch PB run FCE acceptably ( speed and screen size) or would you go for 15"

Thanks for the help

[k_munic]

?

1. Is the 4200 rpm drives that Apple using faster enough to capture video.
yes

2. Should I partion Drive and keep a 30GB portion exclusively for Video, or will this not make a difference.
no

3. Is Firewire 400 fast enough to capture video from camcorder and write to external Firewire drive at the same time.
yes

4. What external FW drive would you recommend that is still small enough in size to be portable, but fast enough for video
sorry, no idea

5. How much memory should I put in Powerbook.
as much as you can pay :-)

6. Would current 12 inch PB run FCE acceptably ( speed and screen size) or would you go for 15"
you ask for the "ideal" solution - then it's 17" :-))
no kiddin': FCE has lots of palettes, windows etc. - the bigger the better :-(



[/B]

[PBAddict]

Thanks for the info, I thought about 17", but I need the portability, so I am hoping an updated 15", could offer the best solution.

[GK]

Originally posted by PBAddict:
I am planning to upgrade my Pismo to a new Powerbook and at the same time move to Final Cut Expess. I would be grateful if someone can advise on the following:

1. Is the 4200 rpm drives that Apple using faster enough to capture video.

external MUCH better, esp. for PB users

2. Should I partion Drive and keep a 30GB portion exclusively for Video, or will this not make a difference.

no

3. Is Firewire 400 fast enough to capture video from camcorder and write to external Firewire drive at the same time.

absolutely (more than enough)

4. What external FW drive would you recommend that is still small enough in size to be portable, but fast enough for video

external fw is highly recommended. DV capture etc should not be done on the same drive where the system software is located. FW vendors: www.lacie.com, www.macsales.com, www.smalldog.com, www.transintl.com.


Used them all, good prices and service.

5. How much memory should I put in Powerbook.

at least 512

6. Would current 12 inch PB run FCE acceptably ( speed and screen size) or would you go for 15"

ok speed, but monitor size may be suboptimal

Thanks for the help

for more info on DV and Mac:

www.2-pop.com


good luck

[k2director]

kmunik's answers were good. To add:

I would get a 15" screen. It's comfortable. 17" is gravy, but not necessary at all. A 12" screen at 1024x768 is workable, but cramped.

You can get portable Firewire drives from a lot of sources. I would go for 60 gigs at minimum. 2.5" drive that fits a bus-powered case (fits in the palm of your hand). Check Barefeats.com for a list of different drives and cases (they do comparisons). But I always go to Trans International. Look em up on Google.