1 Ghz 17" PB Sufficient for Editing?

[corywoolf]

I am bouncing back and fourth between a few options right now. I figured I would start a thread dedicated to one topic rather then several like my other. I am a senior in HS and will be moving to NYC in June and want portability. I work primarily in FCP Studio, CS2, After Effects and would like someone who has had experience with this computer to give me a thumbs up or down. If I have 2 GB RAM a 5400 RPM 120 GB hard-drive will I get good performance out of a 1 Ghz 17" PowerBook? My dad had this model at his old work in San Francisco and I used it with 512 MB RAM and liked it. I didn't edit on it or anything, but liked the screen real-estate and thought it was a quality product. Rendering will be a pain, but thats bearable. I can use a friends G5 to render anything too big.

Suggestions?

 

[Caitlyn]

Well I think the 2GB of RAM will DEFINITELY help you a lot, but the 1GHz I'm still a little iffy about. You could probably pull it off.

 

[TheMonarch]

If the oldest iMac with firewire can do it, I don't see what would be so iffy at all about a 1GHz PB.

Especially with 2GB of RAM...

Anything over the minimum requirements just means less render time.

 

[Heb1228]

Mine's basically the same computer except its a 1.33. It does fine with SD video editing (render times aren't fast, but are bearable), but I can tell you it would choke on Motion. Soundtrack does fine. I've got FCP 4.5 so its not the latest version and it came with LiveType. LiveType is slow enough to be pretty annoying and Motion takes more resources from the little bit that I've used it on a G5.

You'd be better off with an iMac if you can sacrifice portability. Otherwise, I'd say wait a while until you can get a MacBook.

EDIT: But like you say, the screen real estate is great and its a perfect computer for doing everyday stuff.

 

[yoda13]

If you haven't used anything faster, and you have patience, then this machine will work great. I edit frequently on an older Quicksilver PowerMac that is slower, and have no problems. But I have patience and a newer Powerbook, so it won't tie up my only computer. I say go for it!!!

 

[MUCKYFINGERS]

mmm... 17" pbook

 

[Chundles]

Personally, if I were buying my primary machine and wanted to do editing and the like on it, I wouldn't be buying a 3 year old system that has just been made if not obselete, then pretty close to it. It will work, it will run just fine but I can think of better things to spend my money on.

A MacBook Pro will satisfy your editing needs - Universal Pro App binaries will be out in March and it will run rings around the 1GHz G4, seriously, the difference in speed will be ridiculous. The screen resolution is the same as the PowerBook you are looking at and much brighter making for a more enjoyable experience. I'd go for a 1.83GHz MacBook Pro and upgrade the HDD too the 7200rpm if you need more speed, the 120GB 5400rom drive if space is what you're after. If you're buying for the future a G4 will be a bad choice.

 

[corywoolf]

Personally, if I were buying my primary machine and wanted to do editing and the like on it, I wouldn't be buying a 3 year old system that has just been made if not obselete, then pretty close to it. It will work, it will run just fine but I can think of better things to spend my money on.

A MacBook Pro will satisfy your editing needs - Universal Pro App binaries will be out in March and it will run rings around the 1GHz G4, seriously, the difference in speed will be ridiculous. The screen resolution is the same as the PowerBook you are looking at and much brighter making for a more enjoyable experience. I'd go for a 1.83GHz MacBook Pro and upgrade the HDD too the 7200rpm if you need more speed, the 120GB 5400rom drive if space is what you're after. If you're buying for the future a G4 will be a bad choice.

Thank you. I was waiting to hear more about when FCP Studio will be universal, that is really what most of my purchase depends on at this point. After Effects will hopefully at least run on a MBP, but if not, I will be stuck with motion for a little while. I am 99% set on getting the 1.83 Ghz MBP now.

 

[Rod Rod]

Thank you. I was waiting to hear more about when FCP Studio will be universal, that is really what most of my purchase depends on at this point. After Effects will hopefully at least run on a MBP, but if not, I will be stuck with motion for a little while. I am 99% set on getting the 1.83 Ghz MBP now.

I'm pretty sure the 1GHz 17" PowerBook doesn't meet Motion's minimum graphics hardware requirements, as it had the nVidia Go440 or something. The 1.33GHz 17" PowerBook and all later ones meet the requirement.

 

[Mechcozmo]

Use an external 7200 rpm drive as a scratch disk. FW800, won't tie up your FW400 port.

It won't be speedy, but it won't be horrible either. Depends on how much you're gonna pay for it, as if it is worth it for editing or not.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

Your only problem will be with render time. If you get Final Cut Pro and have a few other Macs handy from time to time, distributed rendering helps that a lot.

Otherwise, just be patient w/ the render times.

Performance-wise you should be golden with either FCP or FCE. Other apps (especially Motion and DVD Studio Pro) will struggle on that machine, but basic editing should be pretty smooth.

As always, more RAM and bigger (faster) HDDs will help everything tremendously.

 

[geeman]

...If you get Final Cut Pro and have a few other Macs handy from time to time, distributed rendering helps that a lot.

I was under the impression that you cannot render over a network with FCP Studio. The QMaster utility works with Compressor and not FCP.

Intermediate renders in FCP can only be done locally.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

Intermediate renders in FCP can only be done locally.

This may be true. I've not had a chance to try a distributed render yet.

I may try it this weekend, just to see how it works.

 

[geeman]

There's precious little information on how to set up QMaster. If you find out how to do it, please let me know

 

[QCassidy352]

Glad to hear you're now thinking you'll go with the 1.83 MBP. Buying a 3 year old computer for a main system that you want to last many more years makes very little sense.

 

[Rod Rod]

There's precious little information on how to set up QMaster. If you find out how to do it, please let me know

I just read the PDFs that came with Compressor. It's not that hard really. You might have to read it a couple of times before you understand it. It's simpler than it initially seems, sort of like learning DVD Studio Pro 1.5.

 

[eXan]

1 ghz is pretty slow. Maybe you can find 1.33? It would be noticably faster

 

[Will_reed]

A 733 mhz g4 would be good enough for editing.

I am bouncing back and fourth between a few options right now. I figured I would start a thread dedicated to one topic rather then several like my other. I am a senior in HS and will be moving to NYC in June and want portability. I work primarily in FCP Studio, CS2, After Effects and would like someone who has had experience with this computer to give me a thumbs up or down. If I have 2 GB RAM a 5400 RPM 120 GB hard-drive will I get good performance out of a 1 Ghz 17" PowerBook? My dad had this model at his old work in San Francisco and I used it with 512 MB RAM and liked it. I didn't edit on it or anything, but liked the screen real-estate and thought it was a quality product. Rendering will be a pain, but thats bearable. I can use a friends G5 to render anything too big.

Suggestions?

 

[eXan]

A 733 mhz g4 would be good enough for editing.

I doubt that. 733 Mhz G4 is pretty slow in video render/encode. I know that because I compared my old 700 MHz G4 eMac with my relatively new 2 Ghz G5 iMac in various tests (including video render/encode in FCP and QuickTime). The results? iMac was 14.9 times faster in exporting video to iPod format and 5.3 times faster in rendering video in FCP's timeline.

 

[Mechcozmo]

A 733 mhz g4 would be good enough for editing.

Yes, but kiss Real Time stuff goodbye. On the other hand, a final movie render would give you enough time to go see a movie, like Titanic. That could be a plus depending on your taste in movies and social life. But your Mac wouldn't be too happy.

 

[jamesW135]

You'll be just fine! I edit my photos on my iBook 500 its a G3 and it's only got 640 ram. It's allitle slow but it gets the job done.

 

[xyian]

If the oldest iMac with firewire can do it, I don't see what would be so iffy at all about a 1GHz PB.

Especially with 2GB of RAM...

Anything over the minimum requirements just means less render time.

I agree wholeheartedly with the poster. People have been using Macs for ages for editing/post editing. It all depends on how patient an individual you are. It's not like they just started using Macs for editing.

 

[LethalWolfe]

I agree wholeheartedly with the poster. People have been using Macs for ages for editing/post editing. It all depends on how patient an individual you are. It's not like they just started using Macs for editing.

Technically speaking there's no reason why you can't edit film by hand w/a razor blade and film cement, but there is a reason everyone uses computers now. It's kinda like running a marathon in flip-flops, it can be done but I don't think it would be highly recommended.

Have you checked out the specs of the current crop of editing software (especially what the OP wants to run)? I don't see the DV iMac running any of it.


Lethal

 

[manglerbmx]

at home i use a 1.2 g4 ibook 512 mb ram for doing a lot of editing. i know its a bit faster of a processor but powerbook is gonna have bigger cache and more ram. so yes, a 1ghz 17" powerbook will do you very fine for doing dv editing. our intern at my office does their stuff on a 733 mhz g4 and they get by just fine. now the more graphics intensive you go into doing effects, thats the only time you are gonna notice anything, but up until about a year and half ago i was doing everything on a 466 mhz g4, running fcp 4, ae 6.5 and maya 6. so like someone said before, it just depends on how patient you are.

 

[electronboy]

Use an external 7200 rpm drive as a scratch disk. FW800, won't tie up your FW400 port.

Just to be clear, if you get the Mac Book Pro it does not have a Firewire 800 port. Only the current PowerBook G4 17". If you get a MBP I would not recommend that you specifically look for a drive with Firewire 800 support since it will not be supported (natively) on the MBP. If you get the PowerBook G4 17" a Firewire 800 drive will serve you well.