[conmon]

i am currently on a tight budget and need a replacement for my powermac g4

it is very old and i need a computer for running final cut studio and i cant afford to fork out over £1000.

if i was going to get a g4 powerbook is the hi rez 17inch 1.67ghz model a good choice for fcs?????

if i cant run fcs well i will settle for final cut express.

is it a good chioce for budjet minded people????????

[solofx7]

i never ran that on my powerbook, but i never ran into anything that my powerbook could not run.
what price range are you looking to be in?

[eminton]

i have a 15 inch powerbook G4 1.67 with a 1gig of ram, and 100gb 7200rpm hard drive and i run final cut studio pro just fine

[conmon]

well probably the most i could afford (im only 13 so my salary is allowance) is about £600

ive asked for just money for xmas from my whole family and my family is big so hopefully i will have plenty of money then but i doubt ill have £600 afte xmas but ill find out

[conmon]

Originally Posted by eminton 

i have a 15 inch powerbook G4 1.67 with a 1gig of ram, and 100gb 7200rpm hard drive and i run final cut studio pro just fine

is the powerbook fast in terms of being on the internet and in final cut studio?

[mduell]

If you're short on cash, you should be looking at towers or a mini rather than a laptop.

[zign]

You can try and find a core duo macbook pro from less than £1000. PC World had the 2.16Ghz with 256mb video ones for £999 about 2 weeks ago. Just checked their website and they are no longer listed. But I am sure someone will still have them in stock.

[conmon]

Originally Posted by zign 

You can try and find a core duo macbook pro from less than £1000. PC World had the 2.16Ghz with 256mb video ones for £999 about 2 weeks ago. Just checked their website and they are no longer listed. But I am sure someone will still have them in stock.

thats a good idea ill chek that along at pcworld tomorrow when i get home from school

[conmon]

Originally Posted by eminton 

i have a 15 inch powerbook G4 1.67 with a 1gig of ram, and 100gb 7200rpm hard drive and i run final cut studio pro just fine

ive found 1 of them on ebay wich is at £100 and has 2 days to go so im watchin it

It has no reserve and also had 2gigs of ram so maybe get it for xmas

[bloodline]

Originally Posted by conmon 

ive found 1 of them on ebay wich is at £100 and has 2 days to go so im watchin it

It has no reserve and also had 2gigs of ram so maybe get it for xmas

It might be prudent to hold on to your cash and save up for a MBP (refurb or S/H), the performance increase over the Powerbook, will bring tears to your eyes... and will make a better long term investment as you use fcs more...

[conmon]

Originally Posted by bloodline 

It might be prudent to hold on to your cash and save up for a MBP (refurb or S/H), the performance increase over the Powerbook, will bring tears to your eyes... and will make a better long term investment as you use fcs more...

ok

its just im skint and i need a machine soon to use fcs even if it only lasts me a year thats fine. but i really need a machine.

[MRTrauffer]

I had a powerbook g4 1.5GHz, which ran Final Cut 4.5 and then upgraded to Final Cut Studio. I had no problems running either version, as well as multi-tasking. So to answer your original question, yes, a last generation PowerBook G4 will run Final Cut Studio rather smoothly, and you can surf the internet while rendering/exporting.

I'm also assuming that you don't have Final Cut Studio yet, in that case, I'd advise getting FCE if you're on a tight budget. While I don't know exactly what features are missing from FCE when compared to FCP, FCE can really hold its own and is still a robust piece of editing software. But that depends on the type of editing you need to do.

[Xyrrus]

I am a little curious what king of editing you're going to be doing. My girlfriend editied a 30 minute DVD off MiniDV footage on a 800Mhz 12" iBook G4 with an attached 250gig firewire drive and I heard no complains out of her, although she was going very light on effects and transitions. If you're going to be going effects heavy, or editing HD footage, etc you're requirments will go up fast - so what exactly are you going to be doing?

Also, FCS is more than just FCP - you're going to have issues running Motion on anything that isn't a G5 with a good graphics card.

I'm assuming at 13 you're looking to do some sort of school project, or you're looking to learn a new system.

Lastly, unless you need a laptop for some reason, I'd look at getting a desktop - you'll get more power for your dollar. Even a new core duo mini w/ a gig of ram can be had for under £600.

-Xy

[conmon]

Originally Posted by Xyrrus 

I am a little curious what king of editing you're going to be doing. My girlfriend editied a 30 minute DVD off MiniDV footage on a 800Mhz 12" iBook G4 with an attached 250gig firewire drive and I heard no complains out of her, although she was going very light on effects and transitions. If you're going to be going effects heavy, or editing HD footage, etc you're requirments will go up fast - so what exactly are you going to be doing?

Also, FCS is more than just FCP - you're going to have issues running Motion on anything that isn't a G5 with a good graphics card.

I'm assuming at 13 you're looking to do some sort of school project, or you're looking to learn a new system.

Lastly, unless you need a laptop for some reason, I'd look at getting a desktop - you'll get more power for your dollar. Even a new core duo mini w/ a gig of ram can be had for under £600.

-Xy

my uncle is an editor for someone (cant remember who) and gave me a copy of fcs and his old sony hd camcorder. (if your surprised by this, your probably half as surprised as i was).

me and a few freinds are making a spoof news program and we have a news studio all made up and a few episodes filmed that need to be edited. My g4 is six years old so that cant run fcs.

ive used fcs many times so i know how to use it and i find it a very good programe for video editing

[Xyrrus]

Originally Posted by conmon 

my uncle is an editor for someone (cant remember who) and gave me a copy of fcs and his old sony hd camcorder. (if your surprised by this, your probably half as surprised as i was).

me and a few freinds are making a spoof news program and we have a news studio all made up and a few episodes filmed that need to be edited. My g4 is six years old so that cant run fcs.

ive used fcs many times so i know how to use it and i find it a very good programe for video editing

Sounds like a good project. Keep in mind that if you're editing HD (you said the sony cam is HD) then you're going to want as much power as your can possibly afford - and that means a tower over a laptop.

-Xy

[conmon]

Originally Posted by Xyrrus 

Sounds like a good project. Keep in mind that if you're editing HD (you said the sony cam is HD) then you're going to want as much power as your can possibly afford - and that means a tower over a laptop.

-Xy

mm would a dual g5 be an option??????

[MRTrauffer]

Originally Posted by conmon 

mm would a dual g5 be an option??????

Definitely.

We use FCS on dual 2.7's here at our production house, and they work just fine.

[conmon]

Originally Posted by Xyrrus 

Sounds like a good project. Keep in mind that if you're editing HD (you said the sony cam is HD) then you're going to want as much power as your can possibly afford - and that means a tower over a laptop.

-Xy

im filming it all in 480p sso will it be a much bigger strain than standard definition (if thats what you call it) on a notebook.

a notebook would be preferable as we are filming in a warehouse that is not being used and we got permission to use it and its a hudge distance from my house.

A laptop would be good so we can try some things out on set and see how it looks and if its bad film it again and so on.......

but thank you all for your help so far

[macintologist]

When the Pismo came out (Powerbook G3 400Mhz), Apple advertised it often by showing it with a camera running Final Cut Pro.

Here's an example Apple promo pic with the G3 PBook running FCP



So yes, any G4 Powerbook will run FCP like a charm.

[conmon]

Originally Posted by MRTrauffer 

Definitely.

We use FCS on dual 2.7's here at our production house, and they work just fine.

sp'ose i should get lookin!

[conmon]

Originally Posted by macintologist 

When the Pismo came out (Powerbook G3 400Mhz), Apple advertised it often by showing it with a camera running Final Cut Pro.

Here's an example Apple promo pic with the G3 PBook running FCP



So yes, any G4 Powerbook will run FCP like a charm.

ive always liked the pismo

me mums got 1

[conmon]

Originally Posted by MRTrauffer 

Definitely.

We use FCS on dual 2.7's here at our production house, and they work just fine.

there is a possibility i will be able to get a 1.67ghz g4 powerbook wit 2gb ram and all the usual gubbins for around £300

d ya rekon that is a good deal?

[rjt1000]

Originally Posted by conmon 

there is a possibility i will be able to get a 1.67ghz g4 powerbook wit 2gb ram and all the usual gubbins for around £300

d ya rekon that is a good deal?

£300 = $600. That sounds like its too good to be true. Be careful, there's a lot of scams with PowerBooks, especially on eBay. I would expect a last generation 15 inch PowerBook in good condition to go for $900 to $1200 here in the states. (To get an idea, search completed auctions on eBay). If its a lot cheaper, I'd be suspicious.

[MRTrauffer]

Originally Posted by rjt1000 

£300 = $600. That sounds like its too good to be true. Be careful, there's a lot of scams with PowerBooks, especially on eBay. I would expect a last generation 15 inch PowerBook in good condition to go for $900 to $1200 here in the states. (To get an idea, search completed auctions on eBay). If its a lot cheaper, I'd be suspicious.

Agreed.

[conmon]

Originally Posted by MRTrauffer 

Agreed.

erm yes someone a few minutes ago put in a bid of £600 so thats that really lol

[conmon]

Originally Posted by conmon 

erm yes someone a few minutes ago put in a bid of £600 so thats that really lol

and now the auctions ended