Help a newbie filmmaker make the switch & build a mac

ecking

Hey I'm a first time poster looking to make the switch from windows to mac. I'm a canadian university student that is getting into filmmaking and I would like to make the switch to final cut pro because I was trained on it in the summer. I travel a lot so I need something that is both powerful and portable. I see a lot ppl here wish for powerbook g5s but I doubt this will be cost effective for a student, let alone the fact that it won't be out for a while and I'd like something more immediate. I don't know how well recieved the new powerbooks are or good they are with final cut pro but on the apple store I built:



? 1GB DDR333 SDRAM - 2x512 SO-DIMMs

? 100GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm

? 8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)

? 1.67GHz PowerPC G4 w/128MB VRAM dual

? AirPort Extreme Card

? Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English

? ATI Mobility Radeon 9700

? 15.2-inch TFT Display



This costs 3,122.00 CAD, which is 2,521.68 USD. Is this worth it and good enough to run Final Cut Pro effectively without needing a desktop computer?



Thanks in advance

ebby

Things in bold I would change:

? 512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1x512 SO-DIMM - You only have 2 ram slots. This way you can upgrade with cheaper ram when you need it.

? 80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm - I wouldn't edit video on the internal drive. Save the extra money to get a big external drive.

? 8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)

? 1.67GHz PowerPC G4 w/128MB VRAM dual

? AirPort Extreme Card

? Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English

? ATI Mobility Radeon 9700

? 15.2-inch TFT Display

brussell

Sounds great. Two things to think about: First, get your RAM from somewhere else and save some bucks (or get more RAM). Second, you increased your hard drive from 80 to 100 for $100 or so. If you're going to be doing a lot of film stuff, consider instead getting a much larger external firewire hard drive instead. You can easily find a 200 GB external hard drive for $200. That's quite a bit more for your money, and might prove more useful despite being external. It's a fantastic system though.



[edit] Haha, at least we're consistent with our advice, Ebby.

ipodandimac

Quote:

Originally posted by Ebby

Things in bold I would change:

? 1GB DDR333 SDRAM - 1x512 SO-DIMM - You only have 2 ram slots. This way you can upgrade with cheaper ram when you need it.

? 80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm - I wouldn't edit video on the internal drive. Save the extra money to get a big external drive.

? 8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)

? 1.67GHz PowerPC G4 w/128MB VRAM dual

? AirPort Extreme Card

? Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English

? ATI Mobility Radeon 9700

? 15.2-inch TFT Display

i back his suggestions 100%

skatman

Quote:

You can easily find a 200 GB external hard drive for $200.

If you're on budget you can do much better.

$200GB bare ATA100/133 drive ~$110

Firewire 3.5'' drive enclosure ~$35



Done! :-)

bergz

? 100GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm

? 8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)

? 1.67GHz PowerPC G4 w/128MB VRAM dual

? AirPort Extreme Card

? Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English

? ATI Mobility Radeon 9700

? 15.2-inch TFT Display



I just bought this exact config but with 512 RAM + a 1 GB DIMM from newegg. $200 for the 1GB (tax/S&H incl.), + the 512 included with the PB leaves me with 1.5 GB instead of the $350 Apple's gonna charge you leaving you with just 1 GB.



See this post however in case you're thinking about swapping batteries while the machine's asleep.



--B

filmmaker2002

Stick with the 100GB internal drive. The Production Suite alone takes up a good 30-40GB. Trust me, I know. Add in photos, music, and random other applications and movies and you're getting short on drive space. I just ordered a 15" 1.67Ghz, 100GB HD, 128MB 9700, 1x512 MB RAM (plus 1GB stick from Kingston). I already have 4x250GB Lacie FW800 drives for my footage as well as a portable Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM hard drive that powers off of FW800 I use for scratch disks occasionally. You have a goo dsetup, stick with that.

ipodandimac

Quote:

Originally posted by filmmaker2002

Stick with the 100GB internal drive. The Production Suite alone takes up a good 30-40GB. Trust me, I know. Add in photos, music, and random other applications and movies and you're getting short on drive space. I just ordered a 15" 1.67Ghz, 100GB HD, 128MB 9700, 1x512 MB RAM (plus 1GB stick from Kingston). I already have 4x250GB Lacie FW800 drives for my footage as well as a portable Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM hard drive that powers off of FW800 I use for scratch disks occasionally. You have a goo dsetup, stick with that.

production suite does NOT take up 30-40 GB. Trust me, I would know. anyways, yes it does take up lots of space and 100GB is nice if you can afford it, but my Pbook with 80GB does just fine with all the pro apps. You really need to watch out when buying external drives. People have posted some amazing prices for external drives in this thread, but if you're doing video and whatnot, you need to be concerned with performance. You should make sure the drive is AT LEAST 7200rpm and has an 8MB cache. those specs will just reduce your headaches later. Also, in terms of space, video is gonna take up about 13GB/hour, so don't overbuy storage space, but make sure you have enough. 200GB is pretty good if you know how to back up projects when you're through with them (unless you have multiple projects going at the same time).