Laptop for basic video editing

ptben

We got a digital camcorder last Christmas and now we want to replace our laptop. What kind of spec should we be looking at for basic video editing - parties and sports etc ?? We'll be using the laptop for that, iPod (external hard drive has all the mp3's on) and the odd letter / spreadsheet. I'd like an Apple but they are much more expensive. Any suggestions

Pink.

Hi ptben,

You should get more help with this on the Techie boards, so I'll move your thread over there.

Pink

skippy64

If you are still thinking about an Apple then have you seen the new MacBooks. With all the bundled software for video editing & DVD production they are extremely easy to use. Do you definetly need a laptop? If not then why not consider the iMac 17"
Prices for the MacBook are from £749 or cheaper if you can purchase with Educational discount, iMacs are from £929. Hope this helps.:)

CAT-THE-FIFTH

Make sure that the notebook has a Nvidia 7 series or ATI X1000 series graphics chip.

Traditionally video transcoding/editing used only the power of the CPU and nopt the graphics card.

This is because these chips not only have features that significantly speed up video transcoding but it also means that BOTH the CPU and graphics card are used at the same time!

I would go with ATI as their technology(which is called AVIVO) is free to use as with Nvidia you have to pay for software which can use this feature.However Nvidia implementation provides better image quality at the moment!
The software in both cases is still not fully bug free but it will definitely improve with further releases.


http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2551
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4143&page=5
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/video/avivo_1.html

However I would first check if the Mobility X1600 series supports this but I think it does as the whole X1000 line supposedly supports this technology!

Dead_Eye_Jones

PCs are fins for this kinda thing, the myth that Macs are 'better' than PCs for media manipulation is still perpetuated but hasnt been true for years, Ive used both.

A mac will prob get you up and running quickly but its limited scope will frustrate you. The wide range of options, power and versatility may put you off a PC. BUt then they tend to be cheaper, especially once you factor in software costs - there are many great free open source vid editing progs. Your starting point should be: https://www.doom9.org

Unfortunately modern PCs still have a little way to go before they can handle video, encoding can still take an age, video formats are confused, and simply moving large gb files around can frustrate.

Key points, get lots of RAM, lots of storage, and a chunky CPU. tbh you'll prob struggle with a 'budget' computer. Even the top line home stuff cant do these things perfectly yet.

It reminds me of when I used to play with Audio in the old days, encoding an MP3 would take a day, chopping up a 600mb audio sample on a 8mb computer took all day. Thank God that can all be done in seconds now, sadly video manipulation still has a way to go before your creativity is unlimited...

ichiban1962

i have used my sons dell inspiron 1300 (the basic model)
for authoring dvds with DVDLAB PRO and have found it quite capable of
doing the job

just dont expect miracles

movieman

Unfortunately modern PCs still have a little way to go before they can handle video

I'm not sure what you mean: I edited a feature-length DV movie on my old PIII-350, and I edit HDTV movies on my Pentium-4 3.06.

Certainly transcoding to different formats is slow, but I believe it's just as slow on Macs: some things just need a lot of CPU power. And Apple, of course, are now switching to Intel CPUs, so they can't be much slower .

ptben

Thanks for all the opinions. Has anyone got any suggestions of a particular make / model I can go and buy (either high street or internet) ???? I could do with having one for the weekend. Thanks !

CAT-THE-FIFTH

Try to avoid Advent.Medion,Microstar,Gericom,Aldi,Cybermaxx and other similiar Dixons/PC World/Currys sub-brands.

These brands are built for cheapness and if anything goes wrong you may not be able to get any of the generic bits and bogs they use.

I would go for something recognised such as Dell as these tend to be more reliable and yous till be able to get parts and support for much longer!

WestieFan

Can I just advise caution if you are looking at Dell laptops if you want to transfer from a camcorder to the laptop using a firewire.

I recently bought an Inspiron 1300 on the special deal. I wanted to put a firewire card in but found that the new laptops have an "ExpressCard" slot instead of a PCMCIA. This is a new thing, and it is almost impossible to get one, in this country anyway. Looking at around £80 from USA. I contacted Dell and their advisor wasn't much help either.