Is This Apple G4 Notebook Capable Of Editing With FCP? After Effects? Photoshop?
com crumb
also am fairly well-versed in After Effects and Photoshop and use them
regularly in my work.
Right now, I am looking to buy my first notebook, and since I'm sick
of being denied freelance work because of client's requiring their
editor use FCP, I'm thinking of making the notebook an Apple G4. Since
it's my first venture in both laptops and Mac's, I was hoping to get
some input.
I'm considering the purchase of this low-end Apple G4 ($900 after
rebate):
I realize that the hard drive is tiny, but I would be using external
drives when I edit anyway. The one thing that leaps out at me is the
256MB RAM. Can I possibly use FCP, After Effects, and Photoshop with
that little RAM? I know that a WinXP machine would choke on 256MB. How
easy would it be to upgrade the memory? Is it a DIY project or
something I'd have to visit an Apple store to accomplish? How much $$$
would a decent amount of RAM be for this machine?
If there are any other defeciencies in the above machine, for the love
of God, tell me now! I need to beat the deadline of November 21 for
the rebate.
Thanks!
nappy-iou
"com crumb" <shakal...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8fba45ff.04111...@posting.google.com...
That's probably the ONLY reason to learn FCP if you are already cutting with
PPro. I understand what you mean there. Avid or FCP. Ya gotta know them.
But I'd check the requirements for FCP prior to buying that mac. I have
FCPHD running on a dual 1G Mac with 1.5G Ram and it is slow and clumsy. In
fact, like you I only have the system to comply with the market. Which is
smaller than I had originally thought. Our FCP setup is used about 10% of
the time and Premiere Pro on a DUAL Xeon PC is primary. Especially when we
are in a hurry.
I would very much like to hear what you think of it when you do get a
system.
While you can edit on a mac laptop, I think you should begin with nothing
slower than a 1GHz machine with no less than 1G or ram if you want any
performance at all. And then there's drives. .....
I am looking at the Medea Gdrives for smaller uncompressed setups. .Up to
800G, .. But you can use just about any IDE drive for DV ..
I am not really convinced that firewire drives on laptops work well while
capturing from firewire devices on the same port. In fact, I think it is
problematic.
leo
It's good enough for Photoshop only. Not only it's slow CPU and lack of
memory, the 12" screen is not big enough to use FCP comfortably. AE is too
CPU intensive for that little iBook.
Ed Anson
> But I'd check the requirements for FCP prior to buying that mac. I have
> FCPHD running on a dual 1G Mac with 1.5G Ram and it is slow and clumsy. In
> fact, like you I only have the system to comply with the market. Which is
> smaller than I had originally thought. Our FCP setup is used about 10% of
> the time and Premiere Pro on a DUAL Xeon PC is primary. Especially when we
> are in a hurry.
I agree about checking the requirements for FCP. They are posted on
Apple's web site. However, FCPHD isn't quite as resource intensive as
nappy would have us believe. I have it running happily on a dual 1.25
GHz G4 with a mere 512 KB RAM. And if it ran any faster, it'd get done
before I tell it what to do :-)
>
> I would very much like to hear what you think of it when you do get a
> system.
>
> While you can edit on a mac laptop, I think you should begin with nothing
> slower than a 1GHz machine with no less than 1G or ram if you want any
> performance at all. And then there's drives. .....
>
> I am looking at the Medea Gdrives for smaller uncompressed setups. .Up to
> 800G, .. But you can use just about any IDE drive for DV ..
>
> I am not really convinced that firewire drives on laptops work well while
> capturing from firewire devices on the same port. In fact, I think it is
> problematic.
I've never tried it myself, but (because) I've heard the horror stories.
>
>
shakalaka
> "com crumb" <shakal...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:8fba45ff.04111...@posting.google.com...
> >I am a lifelong, devout PC-er and I happily use Premiere Pro 1.5. I
> > also am fairly well-versed in After Effects and Photoshop and use them
> > regularly in my work.
> >
> > Right now, I am looking to buy my first notebook, and since I'm sick
> > of being denied freelance work because of client's requiring their
> > editor use FCP, I'm thinking of making the notebook an Apple G4. Since
> > it's my first venture in both laptops and Mac's, I was hoping to get
> > some input.
>
> PPro. I understand what you mean there. Avid or FCP. Ya gotta know them.
It's so frustrating, because these clients have no idea that I could
achieve 95% of my craft with *ANY* stable digital editing suite. Bells
and whistles are nice (and necessary, yes), but have nothing to do
with the when and where of cutting. But when they ask the question
("Do you use FCP?"), I cringe, because I know it doesn't matter at all
what I say to back up my personal choice in sticking with the PC vs.
Mac.
But I'm at a point now where I have had enough success to where it's
feasible to have both. Heck, I'm most likely to answer, "Of course I
have FCP," and then cut with whatever I choose (Premiere Pro 1.5).
I have an editor friend who's editing suite looks just like every
other modern digital editing suite (i.e., just like any other
run-of-the-mill PC or Mac with the two-monitor exception). He realized
that his clients weren't wowwed with his setup which resembled their
home office more than their imagined ideals of a professional editing
suite. His answer? He now has two racks worth of polished up but
non-working audio (not even video) gear plus a couple of old square
Trinitron 13" tvs that he never even turns on. He doesn't even know
what the stuff is. He swears that the only reaction he gets now to a
new client entering his office is "Whoa" and not one has ever asked
what any of the gear is for. I'm surprised he hasn't wheeled in a
Moviola.
But I'm not opposed to having FCP and a Mac. It's just that up until
now, I haven't been able to afford it. I'm looking forward to it, as
I'm always curious and I like new things.
My iPod is just dandy, so Apple ain't all bad.
> But I'd check the requirements for FCP prior to buying that mac. I have
> FCPHD running on a dual 1G Mac with 1.5G Ram and it is slow and clumsy. In
> fact, like you I only have the system to comply with the market. Which is
> smaller than I had originally thought. Our FCP setup is used about 10% of
> the time and Premiere Pro on a DUAL Xeon PC is primary. Especially when we
> are in a hurry.
>
> I would very much like to hear what you think of it when you do get a
> system.
>
> While you can edit on a mac laptop, I think you should begin with nothing
> slower than a 1GHz machine with no less than 1G or ram if you want any
> performance at all. And then there's drives. .....
>
> I am looking at the Medea Gdrives for smaller uncompressed setups. .Up to
> 800G, .. But you can use just about any IDE drive for DV ..
>
> I am not really convinced that firewire drives on laptops work well while
> capturing from firewire devices on the same port. In fact, I think it is
> problematic.
Thanks for the recommendations. It's always fun to shop.
dylan_j
I've used FCP on a 500Mhz/382MBram ibook with no problems, but I'm not
trying to get pro work done. It handled full reolution DV or convert
to offlineRT fine but there were no RT effects and render times were
long.
If you're seriously doing this for professionally, get a powerbook,
15" with more res will do much better for pro work, and you can add a
second monitor for desktop spanning - the ibook will only do mirroring
and locked at the 786*1024 resolution.
Nappy's right - don't capture to a FW hard drive via FW on one socket,
so a powerbook gives you 2 FW sockets, or you can simply capture the
the internal drive and then shift the folder to the FW drive. (the new
pwrbks also have FW800 and USB2)
I adore my ibook, but it would be really limiting for serious work, I
have a powermac or PCs at work for heavy lifting. If you really intend
to do pro work on this system it's worth the extra $1000, it will earn
you back the difference very quickly - or else just stay with Prem Pro
if it works OK for you.
Dylan
nappy-iou
"Ed Anson" <EdA...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:mbqdnSYRrpY...@comcast.com...
> nappy-iou wrote:
>
>> But I'd check the requirements for FCP prior to buying that mac. I have
>> FCPHD running on a dual 1G Mac with 1.5G Ram and it is slow and clumsy.
>> In fact, like you I only have the system to comply with the market. Which
>> is smaller than I had originally thought. Our FCP setup is used about 10%
>> of the time and Premiere Pro on a DUAL Xeon PC is primary. Especially
>> when we are in a hurry.
>
> I agree about checking the requirements for FCP. They are posted on
> Apple's web site. However, FCPHD isn't quite as resource intensive as
> nappy would have us believe. I have it running happily on a dual 1.25 GHz
> G4 with a mere 512 KB RAM. And if it ran any faster, it'd get done before
> I tell it what to do :-)
>
512KB Ram? That's amazing! ;)
My comments were more towards the 233Mhz. That's gonna suck for FCP. IF he
can even get OSX on it.
nappy-iou
a.. Macintosh computer with 350MHz or faster PowerPC G4 or G5
processor and AGP graphics card
b.. Mac OS X v10.3.2 or later
c.. QuickTime 6.5 or later
d.. 384MB of RAM
e.. For Soundtrack, 500MHz or faster single processor or 450MHz or
faster dual processors;512MB of RAM recommended
f.. For RT Extreme, single 500MHz or faster PowerPC G4 (550MHz for
PowerBook G4) or any dual PowerPC G4 and 512MB of RAM
g.. For DVCPRO HD, 1GHz or faster single or dual processors and 1GB
of RAM
h.. 1GB of available disk space for application installation
i.. 5GB of disk space for Soundtrack content
j.. 9GB of disk space for LiveType content
k.. DVD drive for installation
"Ed Anson" <EdA...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:mbqdnSYRrpY...@comcast.com...
Mike
I would suggest a refurb 15 inch with FW 800. You can span monitors
without a hack and you can ( as I do on my 15", 1.5GHZ, 512 MB PB)
piggyback your DVcam with FW400 to a Lacie D2 FW drive and then connect
the Lacie to your FW800 port. Works great with OSX.3.5 and FCP 3
(Actually, I was surprised how well it worked). I use AE 5.5 to colorize
B&W video which also works well without any hiccups. I think if you are
trying to make money, another grand up front would be a smart move. You
can easily add a GB memory stick when you have some extra cash.
Mike