[O97Bassist]

Hey Everyone!
I started a new class today (highschool), "Video Production" and its really sparked my interest to make my iBook more than my email and music machine, I recently switched to Mac and that is all my school has and we are going to be using FInal Cut Express 2 and i was wondering if my iBook (G4 800/640/60) can handel it? or would it be a waste of money? I never thought i was want to start this but ever since my switch from PC it seems like my computer is becoming part of my life instead of an accessory...

[nickm]

Your iBook certainly meets the minimum requirements. I've edited video on 300 MHz G3, and also on an 800 MHz G4 and you should be fine for most things. No doubt you will be somewhat limited in the number of real-time effects you can do, but that shouldn't matter.

The one area where you might want to seek more horsepower is in compressing your movie, say for distribution on the web. Even a 5 minute video may take half and hour or more to compress down from DV (depending on the settings and codec).

[ryju]

I was also considering this since I'm starting Video Production next semester and my school all uses Dell's and *ugg Adobe Premier. Once I get my iBook it'll have the same specs.

How is FCE on a 1024 resolution though? Especially with the 12inch screen I would think it rather small..

[dwishbone]

my TiBook 1Ghz 1GB RAM handles FCE2 just fine. i cant imagine an 800G4 being much worse really.

[Dale Sorel]

FCE works fine on my 700 MHz FS iMac with a gig of RAM, so your machine shouldn't be a problem. Now you just have to deal with the 980 page manual