marc_p Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Ok, with me starting starting my college course and wanting to go into video production I need a decent laptop that I can do video editing on, the best software for this seems to be FinalCut but it is listed as being for Apple computers only and having seen the prices of Apple laptops I think they seem incredibly overpriced compared to the rest, now is there any way I can run Apple software through Windows or do I have to bite the bullett and purchase an Apple laptop? Also do any of you know where to find the best prices for laptops? Any advice would be greatly appreciated Cheers Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADL Mark Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 The industry is split between FinalCut and Avid which will run on a PC. Colleges and Unis will use one or the other, usually depending on whether they are Mac or PC biased. The Uni I worked at went the Avid route on PC's, and they hire out the edit suites out-of-hours to production companies so I think that vouches for it's industry recognition. As for a laptop, just keep searching the net, you need a very good spec for this stuff though as it's very heavy on resources. Get as much RAM as possible with a fast processor and a quick hard disk as it's heavy on that too. PC wise, I'm not sure if Avid will run on Vista, it's very picky, but I haven't looked in to it for a while. Apple wise, I have no idea as I think they're PC's for idiots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz6002 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Apple wise, I have no idea as I think they're PC's for idiots Couldn't have said it better myself! A lot of people in my line of work swear by Macs, I just swear at them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aido Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 You could always get a normal Windows laptop for about 500 quid and then look at putting OSX86 on it if you really wanted to go down the Apple route. For something that's going to push it as hard as Final Cut would though it would be much easier to have a bonafide Mac as otherwise everytime it comes to an OS update you're going to have your work cut out as they all have to be hacked to work on generic PC kit. Plus if you don't get a laptop that's compatible with OSX86 then you're stuffed anyway as you wouldn't get any of the hardware acceleration you'd need to video editing. If you're happy to tinker though it's always an option but it's not a legal option! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_p Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 Cheers for the comments guys, has definetly opened my choices up a bit, I will definetly look into Avid, I'm not sure I actually need a laptop to be honest now I think about it, I'm just so used to having one for work, but that will be going on friday and my PC at home has finally died, so I guess I could just get an external hard drive to carry my work to and from college, plus I'll get more bang for my buck with a PC. Have you seen the new HP all-in-one PC , can't see it being much more than a 'look how cool this is' PC though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADL Mark Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 It'll need to be a very large external drive though, proper TV-quality video clips take up a lot of space! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Marc - I have no idea about final cut but have supplied a couple of meaty machines for use with Avid. My recommendations, for reasonable money, would be; Intel Core2Duo 2.8GHZ + 3GB + RAM 1TB + Hard disk space That should get you started. If you can, go for a PC rather than a laptop. Muchos cheaper. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Here you go, Vista compatable too; http://www.avid.co.uk/uk/products/Media-Composer-Software/system-requirements.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky-Ricky Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I found out just how processor hungry video is when i bought a HD camcorder before Christmas, i can't even play back an AVCHD clip without jumps and stutters on a dual core, i think quad core, a top spec graphics card, and lots of Ram is the only answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 As far as I am aware Avid will not utilise Quad core processing power. You will be better off with a meaty Dual core Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_p Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 Cheers guys, thats brilliant, I know exactly what I'm looking for now. Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonshaw_uk Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 i work in a college and we run mac pro's with final cut pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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