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computer for video editing + DVD burning

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amazeer Bishop of Volkswagenism

3,029 posts · joined Nov 2005 ·

#533741
A friend of mine wants to buy a computer for her daughter to use for burning DVD's of home videos.

I cant believe what I did but I told her a mac would probably be the best option. This is based on having the mac having iMovie and firewire ports where you would have to buy some pretty expensive editing software for a PC and possibly a firewire card.

Only trouble is, the budget is approx $1000 AND for whatever reason they want a laptop. I've pretty much told her that she is dreaming.

At the moment there is a shitload of G4 macs on ebay for around $120. On top of that you would need to add some ram, a bigger hard drive and a monitor. Still probably only $400 to $500 though the processor would be only around 400MHz.

THe ads on ebay state that these machines take PC100 RAM. I'm assuming that this is the same as older PC's take? And do macs use the same IDE hard drives as PC's?

This seems to be the cheapest way out for her. I cant see where $1000 could get a video editing laptop in any way. Can you?

crewcabconnection Being Sid James

1,922 posts · joined Apr 2003 ·

#533753
dreaming. If you run Final Cut Pro, you need at least 512RAM upgrade. You also need a BIG hard drive to do it effectively. You'd need 300GB to capture and render anything serious at least. So regardless of using IDE or SATA drives, you are going to need more than one, especially on a PC.

Movie Maker is crap. iMovie is much better. Some of the Nero type stuff is okay, but still not going to get much more of a result. Like all low-end stuff it does the job but not great. Go with Premiere Pro2 on a PC. It is pretty stable compaired to earlier versions (Final Cut made Adobe update a very old application finally).

Final Cut Pro runs like a dream on a Mac Laptop. You can get away with iBook G4, but you're gonna need a DVD burner, not a CD Combo. iMovie will also do the job very well on that set up.

PC Laptops, older ones and firewire ... not as common...

I'd suggest that you go with an external hard drive as a scratch disc, and just run the application on a PC. You also need S-Video out so that you can actually see what you are getting on a monitor, not just LCD if you can.

If she's gonna do it seriously, then $1000 wont do it. If she just wants to mess about and have a play (and theres nothing wrong with that), then an older G4 will be fine as long as its 512k+ Ram, I'd recommend just using a USB 2.0 External Drive. iMovie is not a resource hog like Movie Maker, and of course you wont get the same firewire 'i cant see it' errors like you do on a PC.

I'd definately go with iMovie for kids, its fast and they get a fast result which is what they want. If they wanna get flash, then they need After Effects/Premiere etc, but iMovie is good - I have a lot of year 7/8 at school that use it, as they can edit down and get a result in a few hours.

You dont need a massive processor, the G4 is good and wont hang up, 400Mhz on Mac is better than P4s in the right set up. Its better for capturing to be able to have a longer clock cycle. It's just rendering.

I have a Core Duo, 1 terrabyte and some big end video cards for editing at work, supposed to be a flying machine and cost a packet. Still faster to do it in Final Cut Pro on a G4!

Tell em to stop being tight and get her a MacBook and be done with the debate...they are not expensive, given the functionality, speed and performance.
Loves a lolcat

rupewrecht Officially Full-On Dubber

258 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#533756
I'd suggest looking at an eMac. There's a couple on ebay, and they've got bigger HDs and you get a screen with it (heh), so all it'd need is a DVD burner and some more ram. But they're not as expandable (extra HDs/drives etc) as a G4 tower though.


But if laptop is the go, then maybe this is if the price stays under $1k
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/APPLE-MAC-POWER-BOOK-G4-1-5GHz-12-inch-pro-Awesome_W0QQitemZ230026341246QQihZ013QQcategoryZ4606QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Only thing it is it's only a 12" screen

or
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Apple-Mac-15-Titanium-G4-Powerbook-Airport-OS-X-DVD-CD_W0QQitemZ250027185004QQihZ015QQcategoryZ4606QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
64 Beetle. Like a beaten up 70's speedboat.

crewcabconnection Being Sid James

1,922 posts · joined Apr 2003 ·

#533758
anything you get at DSE/Harveys/Domain is 'run out' technology, never a bargain.

How about this....http://www.apple.com/au/macmini/

Then go get a $100 LCD off eGay and you're all done. Plug yer old PC crap into it.

and you can run Windoze if you really must.
Loves a lolcat

HotRodMatt If it\'s old or rare - cut it!

3,616 posts · joined Sep 2002 ·

#533760
Need a Mac if it's gonna be anything more than half arsed.