My current 5-year-old iBook G4 is about to die. Any reason that anyone here knows of that I shouldn't buy one of the new 15-inch MacBook Pros? I would like to be able to do HD editing on it.
I looked into a refurbished previous generation (which I think still would have been capable of HD editing), but it wasn't cheaper than using my student discount on a new one, so...
you might want to get the previous generation anyway if you'd like the firewire 400 ports instead of just the 800.
my june 2004 g5 tower just crashed on monday completely while trying to encode an HD project that i just finished for DVD-- until the new Mac Pros come out in (hopefully january but probably) march i'm stuck using my roommate's old acer laptop. i'm also an editor, and my recent problem has motivated me to do some research that may be able to help you make a decision:
when you say HD, do you mean 720p, 1080i60, HDV, or uncompressed? also, will you want to be running after effects or any other especially RAM hungry applications? the reason that i ask is that with newer operating systems, apps will be able to utilize a lot more than the current 4gb limit... so we'll start to see MBP's with 6gb RAM expansion, etc. also, final cut pro is getting a ground-up redesign right now and who knows what they'll be trying to make realtime for the next version.
if you're used to using an old laptop then any of the new models will be a huge upgrade, but if you can hold out for another few months until things are shipping with
Snow Leopard in Q1 2009, you might see a promotion or even a chip upgrade although those are unlikely. if nothing else, though, you'd save $129 on the new OS.
check the buyer's guides at
www.macrumors.comedit: if you're doing straight cuts and not too much effects work, you should be fine for editing HD in any of the CODECs above on all recent generations of the MBP. if you're going to be doing much effects work or working with uncompressed HD for your final product, then i'd suggest making an offline copy of your project to get the timing worked out and then exporting an EDL to apply to your HD footage. even working online from the beginning, your new computer will be completely fine if you do as little compositing, etc as possible in high def. there are limits, though. for example, if you plan to be doing online cuts of HD projects much over 15 minutes, you will be running your computer pretty much at its max... count on longer-than-real time rendering and frustratingly long encodes down to SD. still, everything related to final cut on a new machine has got to be a LOT faster than on your current laptop
alt/option + P is your best friend if you don't want to work offline and don't necessarily need to see a render in real time.
