Digital Video Camera and new computer system
May 11, 2005 | 1:49 pm
#16
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An open letter to those saying to go with a PC for video:
The beauty of Apple is that they give you one software package with everything you need to do all those steps, iLife (consumer) or Final Cut Studio (professional). All of the applications in those packages are great, stable and user friendly IMO. I am a camera operator not an editor, so I mainly use it (FCP) for personal projects.
Mac has Avid too.
I personally find Macs much more stable (unix) and my mac has never frozen to where I have had to restart. I hear that Windows is getting a little better in this regard, but I will stick to mac, you don't have to convert, I'm just giving my two cents.
The beauty of Apple is that they give you one software package with everything you need to do all those steps, iLife (consumer) or Final Cut Studio (professional). All of the applications in those packages are great, stable and user friendly IMO. I am a camera operator not an editor, so I mainly use it (FCP) for personal projects.
Mac has Avid too.
I personally find Macs much more stable (unix) and my mac has never frozen to where I have had to restart. I hear that Windows is getting a little better in this regard, but I will stick to mac, you don't have to convert, I'm just giving my two cents.
May 11, 2005 | 2:29 pm
#17
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Originally Posted by PTravel
Video 101: 
"CCD" means "charge-coupled device." It's the kind of light sensor used in camcorders (many, if not most, high-quality digital still cameras use CMOS -- complimentary molybdenum-oxide substrate). A single-CCD camcorder has one such device, which consists of many small sensors on a single substrate. Overlaying the substrate is a matrix of tiny red, green and blue filters, which allows the camera to generate a full-color image. 3-CCD cameras have three sensors. Light reaches them, usually, by passing through a beam-splitting prism and dichoric filters -- one filter will receive red, one green and the other blue.
Low-light performance, i.e. how sensitive the camcorder is to poorly-lit subjects, is a function of sensor size and, to a lesser extent, sensor density. The bigger the sensor, the more light falls on it and the better the low-light performance. For awhile now, consumer camcorder manufacturers have been adding gizmos, gimmicks and doodads as marketing ploys. The most destructive of these, from the standpoint of video quality, is "high resolution" digital still imaging capability. First, it is "high resolution" only in the context of camcorders -- even the meanest p&s digital still camera will have as good or better resolution. However, packing extra sensors sites on the CCD diminishes low-light sensitivity. The combination of shrinking form-factors and high-resolution still imaging means that consumer camcorders perform absymally in low-light.
Bringing this discussion back to 3-CCD machines, a 3-CCD camcorder that uses 1/4" sensors (huge in comparison to many consumer models which are down to 1/6") will have 3/4" of sensor area to gather light. A single CCD camcorder will only 1/4", so the 3-CCD machine will have far more light sensitivity.
Cross-talk between sensor sites in a 1-CCD machines causes chroma noise -- very tiny speckles of differing colors that look like grain. 3-CCD machines use physically separate sensors for each color, so there is no cross-talk. As a result, 3-CCD machines have vastly reduced chroma noise as well as better color saturation.
With all that said, Panasonic introduced a line of inexpensive consumer 3-CCD machines. The lower range of these machines have small CCDs, mediocre glass, and middling electronics. They have poor low-light performance and the quality of their video is actually below that produced by some of the top-of-the-line Canon and Sony single-CCD camcorders.
So, there you have it: probably far more than you wanted to know about 3-CCD machines.
"CCD" means "charge-coupled device." It's the kind of light sensor used in camcorders (many, if not most, high-quality digital still cameras use CMOS -- complimentary molybdenum-oxide substrate). A single-CCD camcorder has one such device, which consists of many small sensors on a single substrate. Overlaying the substrate is a matrix of tiny red, green and blue filters, which allows the camera to generate a full-color image. 3-CCD cameras have three sensors. Light reaches them, usually, by passing through a beam-splitting prism and dichoric filters -- one filter will receive red, one green and the other blue.
Low-light performance, i.e. how sensitive the camcorder is to poorly-lit subjects, is a function of sensor size and, to a lesser extent, sensor density. The bigger the sensor, the more light falls on it and the better the low-light performance. For awhile now, consumer camcorder manufacturers have been adding gizmos, gimmicks and doodads as marketing ploys. The most destructive of these, from the standpoint of video quality, is "high resolution" digital still imaging capability. First, it is "high resolution" only in the context of camcorders -- even the meanest p&s digital still camera will have as good or better resolution. However, packing extra sensors sites on the CCD diminishes low-light sensitivity. The combination of shrinking form-factors and high-resolution still imaging means that consumer camcorders perform absymally in low-light.
Bringing this discussion back to 3-CCD machines, a 3-CCD camcorder that uses 1/4" sensors (huge in comparison to many consumer models which are down to 1/6") will have 3/4" of sensor area to gather light. A single CCD camcorder will only 1/4", so the 3-CCD machine will have far more light sensitivity.
Cross-talk between sensor sites in a 1-CCD machines causes chroma noise -- very tiny speckles of differing colors that look like grain. 3-CCD machines use physically separate sensors for each color, so there is no cross-talk. As a result, 3-CCD machines have vastly reduced chroma noise as well as better color saturation.
With all that said, Panasonic introduced a line of inexpensive consumer 3-CCD machines. The lower range of these machines have small CCDs, mediocre glass, and middling electronics. They have poor low-light performance and the quality of their video is actually below that produced by some of the top-of-the-line Canon and Sony single-CCD camcorders.
So, there you have it: probably far more than you wanted to know about 3-CCD machines.
At the prosumer level, PCs are cheaper, software is cheaper, and there are far more titles available than for Macs. At that level, Macs offer no advantage over PCs, unless you're already heavily invested in Mac hardware and software.
May 11, 2005 | 2:31 pm
#18
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PTravel Thank you so much for the explanation!!! It really opened my eyes and cleared a lot of things up.
Well this system would basically be dedicated to film editing and I haven't investied in anything at all yet, which explains all my questions. I'm spending so much buying all the equipment at once and figured since it's such a large purchase I better get it right 
One things I was concerned about -- I am also really interesting in being able to film in TRUE widescreen so that it fits perfectly on my Widescreen HDTV -- do any of these camera's offer that option?
PTravel That camera looks really good, i'll definately look into that. It looks as though it will be perfect.
Thanks for all your help too murphy
Depends on what you mean by "better." At the prosumer level, PCs are cheaper, software is cheaper, and there are far more titles available than for Macs. At that level, Macs offer no advantage over PCs, unless you're already heavily invested in Mac hardware and software.
One things I was concerned about -- I am also really interesting in being able to film in TRUE widescreen so that it fits perfectly on my Widescreen HDTV -- do any of these camera's offer that option?
PTravel That camera looks really good, i'll definately look into that. It looks as though it will be perfect.
Thanks for all your help too murphy
May 11, 2005 | 3:32 pm
#19
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Originally Posted by murphy
This just isn't true. I wouldn't recommend junking perfectly good PC hardware and replacing with Mac, but if you're starting from scratch, the PC hardware/software combo will in no way be cheaper than the Mac hardware/software combo. With the Mac, you get the workflow Pinniped was requesting, without using software from five different companies. And it's included with the hardware.
As for relative cost, I again must respectfully disagree. My current editing machine, a 3 GHz P4 with 512 meg of RAM, cost me about $400 to assemble. I don't know whether Macs now accept PC-standard hard drives. If they do, then that's an advantage the PC no longer can boast. If not, however, PC-standard drives are virtually commodity items -- you can get a 200 meg drive for well under $100. Video consumes huge amounts of hard-drive real estate; my editing sysem has 1.25 terabytes of storage and is practically full.
The only "pricey" software that I use is Premiere Pro and Encore. There are very low-cost, entry level alternatives to both. Studio lists for around $99, and is frequently discounted to about half of that. The Windows XP operating system comes with Microsoft Movie. Studio can author and burn from the timeline (I'm not sure about Movie). Better authoring programs run in the $50 range. Tmpgenc is, hands down, the best software transcoder for the money on any platform and only costs a whopping $35 -- it's a far better transcoder than anything built-in to off-the-shelf software (including FCP and Premiere).
I assume you're referring to iMovie in your post. Everything I've read indicates that it is comparable to Microsoft's included product. Both are, essentially, toys. Yes, they'll capture video, allow nominal editing, and burn DVDs. However, doing more than the most casual transfer of video to DVD requires more powerful software. There's a huge selection in the entry-level range for PC; far less for the Mac.
To a great extent, Mac vs. PC is a matter of personal preference and, having used both, I admit to a bias in favor of PC. However, there are two factors which clearly favor the PC: overall cost (for equivalent functionality) and number of available titles.
May 11, 2005 | 3:36 pm
#20
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Originally Posted by tokyotraveler
One things I was concerned about -- I am also really interesting in being able to film in TRUE widescreen so that it fits perfectly on my Widescreen HDTV -- do any of these camera's offer that option?
May 11, 2005 | 3:41 pm
#21
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Originally Posted by zrudeboyz
An open letter to those saying to go with a PC for video:
The beauty of Apple is that they give you one software package with everything you need to do all those steps, iLife (consumer) or Final Cut Studio (professional). All of the applications in those packages are great, stable and user friendly IMO. I am a camera operator not an editor, so I mainly use it (FCP) for personal projects.
Mac has Avid too.
I personally find Macs much more stable (unix) and my mac has never frozen to where I have had to restart. I hear that Windows is getting a little better in this regard, but I will stick to mac, you don't have to convert, I'm just giving my two cents.
The beauty of Apple is that they give you one software package with everything you need to do all those steps, iLife (consumer) or Final Cut Studio (professional). All of the applications in those packages are great, stable and user friendly IMO. I am a camera operator not an editor, so I mainly use it (FCP) for personal projects.
Mac has Avid too.
I personally find Macs much more stable (unix) and my mac has never frozen to where I have had to restart. I hear that Windows is getting a little better in this regard, but I will stick to mac, you don't have to convert, I'm just giving my two cents.
As for all-in-one packages, PCs have them too. Adobe has a very nice suite and, from what I've read, just as nice as FCP. The low-end all-in-one packages, whether Mac or PC, tend to be toys or, at least, incorporate aspects of toys in that they do not provide full control over the edit/transcode/author process. When things are done "transparently," it always involves the software making choices which may not be optimum from the standpoint of a particular process.
It's great that Avid runs on Mac but, unless someone plans to make their living from video, I wouldn't recommend Avid on either Mac or PC platforms -- it's really overkill.
May 11, 2005 | 5:26 pm
#22
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Well after some research I think i'm going to wait on the Sony prosumer camera model for a couple months. In the mean time I was thinking of going with a relatively inexpensive camera to do some basic/pre-work before I get completely serious. I've been checking out reviews of the Panasonic models and the things i've been noticing in a lot of the reviews is the the lower priced models are just....for a lack of a better word, crappy preformance wise. While I don't want to break the bank here, I also don't want to have a sorry excuse of a camera and waste money on it. I plan to give it to my mother after I'm done with it. I was also considering picking up one of those small digital camera's that are relatively flat and can fit in your pocket, but I haven't really heard anything about them and if i'm not mistaken their a bit on the pricey side.
As far as computers go -- i've been searching around and I can't find a decent PC so i'm leaning more and more towords the iMac. I don't dare to go to a brick and morter store like CompUSA or of course the ever popular best buy and the local Mac Store is a bit of a...well...it's just not the kind of shopping experience I'd expect or want. I'll probably order online or call it in (which one would be better)?
Once again, thanks for all this help.
As far as computers go -- i've been searching around and I can't find a decent PC so i'm leaning more and more towords the iMac. I don't dare to go to a brick and morter store like CompUSA or of course the ever popular best buy and the local Mac Store is a bit of a...well...it's just not the kind of shopping experience I'd expect or want. I'll probably order online or call it in (which one would be better)?
Once again, thanks for all this help.
Last edited by tokyotraveler; May 11, 2005 at 5:38 pm Reason: Edited to fix the horrible excuse for a post that once way, :p
May 12, 2005 | 5:07 pm
#23
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As far a system goes, it looks like it's between:
The PC:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....prd35700050013
A little pricey but since it's a PC I know that I'll have no compadabity issues with a video camera or what-not
OR
The Mac:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-http...pple.com/imac/
Specs: http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html
I was looking at the middle one -- the 17" 2.0 I'm honestly leaning towords this one but my #1 concern is that if I get this one compatablity issues ESPECIALLY with the camera I purchase or is it safe to say that most/all digital camera's will work with this since iMovie will take care of the compatabiltie/drivers (or whatever you want to call them -- my mind is kind of out there right now, sorry).
If I purchase the PC im' thinking of getting a "cheap" iBook just because I miss the Mac world (this pc is driving me bananas). If I purchase the mac, i'll be happy execpt for the compatabilty issue in the back of my head but as long as the camera's will communicate with the computer, then there's no reason for me to fret...I guess.
As far as the mac is concerned, 512MB should be plenty of memory, right? I'd hate to have to bite the bullet and buy over priced memory (if i'm not mistaken Apple makes it difficult to upgrade their computers).
I'm thinking of making the purchase tonight, just need to think about it and make sure i'm making the right choice since this is a pretty big investment. Thanks again for all your help!
The PC:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....prd35700050013
A little pricey but since it's a PC I know that I'll have no compadabity issues with a video camera or what-not
OR
The Mac:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-http...pple.com/imac/
Specs: http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html
I was looking at the middle one -- the 17" 2.0 I'm honestly leaning towords this one but my #1 concern is that if I get this one compatablity issues ESPECIALLY with the camera I purchase or is it safe to say that most/all digital camera's will work with this since iMovie will take care of the compatabiltie/drivers (or whatever you want to call them -- my mind is kind of out there right now, sorry).
If I purchase the PC im' thinking of getting a "cheap" iBook just because I miss the Mac world (this pc is driving me bananas). If I purchase the mac, i'll be happy execpt for the compatabilty issue in the back of my head but as long as the camera's will communicate with the computer, then there's no reason for me to fret...I guess.
As far as the mac is concerned, 512MB should be plenty of memory, right? I'd hate to have to bite the bullet and buy over priced memory (if i'm not mistaken Apple makes it difficult to upgrade their computers).
I'm thinking of making the purchase tonight, just need to think about it and make sure i'm making the right choice since this is a pretty big investment. Thanks again for all your help!
Last edited by tokyotraveler; May 12, 2005 at 5:13 pm Reason: Some of the major spelling errors...
May 12, 2005 | 5:54 pm
#24
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Originally Posted by pinniped
My "holy grail" application would be one that would provide for photo, music, and video organization, editing, and media creation.
Your ambrosia is iWork, which links with iLife, to incorporate iLife's media into documents and presentations.
I'm not going to tell you to buy a Mac, but perhaps you could borrow one, or lease one, or steal one. Whatever. You are the ideal user, the "the rest of us" that Steve has been dreaming about all these years. He's calling you.
Roxio has most of these features, but they just seem kind of duct-taped together. There isn't a seamless, intuitive GUI to get a complete noob like me through the process of editing and creating a home movie, with some stills and music dropped in, with attractive DVD menus, transitions, etc. without hosing it up a dozen times.
<this is what happens when you deal with EDI and XML issues for too long in one day>
May 12, 2005 | 6:15 pm
#25
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Originally Posted by PTravel
You're running unix on your Mac? Unix/Linux systems tend to be more stable than Microsoft OS systems. However, XP Pro is pretty good, and I've never had to do a cold boot to fix a freeze. In fact, I've never had a true freeze; though a program may crash, I've never had it take down the OS.
The low-end all-in-one packages, whether Mac or PC, tend to be toys or, at least, incorporate aspects of toys in that they do not provide full control over the edit/transcode/author process. When things are done "transparently," it always involves the software making choices which may not be optimum from the standpoint of a particular process.
Another point you made earlier is that there isn't as much software available for the mac when it comes to media editing. There is nearly as much, actually. However, third party applications have a very hard time competing with Apple's products, so some products for the PC have not been migrated to the Mac, because it's not worth trying to compete.
Even CNN's field reporters have switched to using 15" or 17" Powerbooks for editing. It has cut down on the amount of gear they schlep significantly.
May 12, 2005 | 8:23 pm
#26
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Originally Posted by tokyotraveler
As far a system goes, it looks like it's between:
The PC:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....prd35700050013
A little pricey but since it's a PC I know that I'll have no compadabity issues with a video camera or what-not
OR
The Mac:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-http...pple.com/imac/
Specs: http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html
I was looking at the middle one -- the 17" 2.0 I'm honestly leaning towords this one but my #1 concern is that if I get this one compatablity issues ESPECIALLY with the camera I purchase or is it safe to say that most/all digital camera's will work with this since iMovie will take care of the compatabiltie/drivers (or whatever you want to call them -- my mind is kind of out there right now, sorry).
If I purchase the PC im' thinking of getting a "cheap" iBook just because I miss the Mac world (this pc is driving me bananas). If I purchase the mac, i'll be happy execpt for the compatabilty issue in the back of my head but as long as the camera's will communicate with the computer, then there's no reason for me to fret...I guess.
As far as the mac is concerned, 512MB should be plenty of memory, right? I'd hate to have to bite the bullet and buy over priced memory (if i'm not mistaken Apple makes it difficult to upgrade their computers).
I'm thinking of making the purchase tonight, just need to think about it and make sure i'm making the right choice since this is a pretty big investment. Thanks again for all your help!
The PC:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....prd35700050013
A little pricey but since it's a PC I know that I'll have no compadabity issues with a video camera or what-not
OR
The Mac:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-http...pple.com/imac/
Specs: http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html
I was looking at the middle one -- the 17" 2.0 I'm honestly leaning towords this one but my #1 concern is that if I get this one compatablity issues ESPECIALLY with the camera I purchase or is it safe to say that most/all digital camera's will work with this since iMovie will take care of the compatabiltie/drivers (or whatever you want to call them -- my mind is kind of out there right now, sorry).
If I purchase the PC im' thinking of getting a "cheap" iBook just because I miss the Mac world (this pc is driving me bananas). If I purchase the mac, i'll be happy execpt for the compatabilty issue in the back of my head but as long as the camera's will communicate with the computer, then there's no reason for me to fret...I guess.
As far as the mac is concerned, 512MB should be plenty of memory, right? I'd hate to have to bite the bullet and buy over priced memory (if i'm not mistaken Apple makes it difficult to upgrade their computers).
I'm thinking of making the purchase tonight, just need to think about it and make sure i'm making the right choice since this is a pretty big investment. Thanks again for all your help!
512 MB may or may not be enough for you. More RAM is always better. Do NOT buy any additional RAM from Apple, though. It is way overpriced. Buy the machine with the base 512MB. If you find the machine swapping alot, you can always buy a stick from a retailer. Adding RAM to the machine is dead easy. The instructions are in the manual. Macs can be picky about RAM, but a stick from a good manufacturer (Corsair, Crucial, Viking, etc.) will work fine, and be lots cheaper than Apple.
I think you'll really enjoy the iMac. The 2 Ghz 17" is a terrific machine.
May 12, 2005 | 8:58 pm
#27
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Originally Posted by murphy
512 MB may or may not be enough for you. More RAM is always better. Do NOT buy any additional RAM from Apple, though. It is way overpriced. Buy the machine with the base 512MB. If you find the machine swapping alot, you can always buy a stick from a retailer. Adding RAM to the machine is dead easy. The instructions are in the manual. Macs can be picky about RAM, but a stick from a good manufacturer (Corsair, Crucial, Viking, etc.) will work fine, and be lots cheaper than Apple.
2 DIMMs and 1DIMMs. I imagine that the more expensive of the two (2DIMMs) is better just because it costs more but besides that I'm totally miffed on what it means.
If you find the machine swapping alot, you can always buy a stick from a retailer.
Is the .mac membership worth the $69? (i believe it's on sale for that price from $99 untill the 21st of may or so...)
On a side note since I seem to be leaning towords the Mac (unless Ptravel can come in and push me to the PC side before I purchase the system whcih will probably be tomorrow sometime), my whole music library is on my PC and I'm thinking of a buying a iPod mini -- obviously if I want to sync it up with my mac i'll have to transfer my songs from the PC to the Mac. Is there a faster way to do that besides burning them onto a plethora of cd's? Will it be safe to do so? I wish I could just put them onto the iPod straight from the pc and manage it from the Mac but I know that's impossible.
May 12, 2005 | 10:45 pm
#28
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Originally Posted by tokyotraveler
Thanks for the reply murphy -- one question on memory though: I was looking at the upgraded 1GB of memory but there are two choices:
2 DIMMs and 1DIMMs. I imagine that the more expensive of the two (2DIMMs) is better just because it costs more but besides that I'm totally miffed on what it means.
2 DIMMs and 1DIMMs. I imagine that the more expensive of the two (2DIMMs) is better just because it costs more but besides that I'm totally miffed on what it means.
1) Purchase 1GB from apple as 2 512MB sticks. This means you are out of slots, and cannot add additional RAM. Apple will charge you $125 for this.
2) Purchase 1 GB from Apple as 1 1GB stick. This leaves you with an empty slot for future upgrades. Apple will charge you $175 for this.
3) Purchase 2GB from apple as 2 1GB sticks. Apple will charge you a whopping $475 for this. They should be ashamed of themselves for this ripoff option.
4) Purchase your additional RAM from a thirrd party. Crucial charges $136.98 for a 1GB stick, and $54.58 for a 512MB stick. If you buy one of these without buying additional RAM from Apple, you'll wind up with 1 or 1.5 GB total, which will be plenty. This would be my choice.
Note that if you want 2GB total, you save $175 buying 2 1GB sticks from Crucial and THROWING AWAY the 512MB from Apple. Shame on you Apple!
Originally Posted by tokyotraveler
What do you mean by swapping?
Originally Posted by tokyotraveler
Is the .mac membership worth the $69? (i believe it's on sale for that price from $99 untill the 21st of may or so...)
Originally Posted by tokyotraveler
On a side note since I seem to be leaning towords the Mac (unless Ptravel can come in and push me to the PC side before I purchase the system whcih will probably be tomorrow sometime), my whole music library is on my PC and I'm thinking of a buying a iPod mini -- obviously if I want to sync it up with my mac i'll have to transfer my songs from the PC to the Mac. Is there a faster way to do that besides burning them onto a plethora of cd's? Will it be safe to do so? I wish I could just put them onto the iPod straight from the pc and manage it from the Mac but I know that's impossible.
By the way. Are you a college student or a teacher? Apple has an educational store on their website. The iMac you're looking at is $1399 with the edu discount. I don't know how or whether they verify that you qualify for the discount.
May 13, 2005 | 12:10 pm
#29
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You'll be just fine with going with the Crucial RAM.
Have you considered getting a Powerbook instead of the iMac/iBook combo? The PBook will not be quite up to the level of the iMac in performance, but it will mean that you'll only buy one machine instead of two, which will be more economical. I have a 1 GHz PBook and have found it to be perfectly adequate for photo management and movie editing.
I can see a benefit to having two machines if you travel a lot and want one machine for home and one for you on the road, so that you can videoconference with loved ones back home. My boyfriend and I both have iSights for just this purpose. I set my Powerbook on his pillow and am able to let his snoring lull me to sleep, just as if he was there with me.
When I wake up in the morning, I see him working at his hotel desk, and we say good morning to each other as we start our days 1500 miles apart. It's brilliant.
I get a free .Mac account. It truly makes posting pictures and movies easy and quick. My mom uses .Mac also, and it's been a blessing for her. She would never be able to figure out how to publish anything on the web if it were any less seamless. While I would hands-down tell you that it's worth the annual price for her, I'd be a bit more hesitant in making the same claim in my case. I could host a homegrown web site from one of the machines my boyfriend has in the home office. I wouldn't like it though. To give you an idea how easy .Mac is, This past New Year's I imported, edited and published the photos I had taken that night while so drunk that I didn't remember doing it the morning after.
If you're interested in taking a look at some .Mac web sites, feel free to PM me. I know of several good examples.
For music, iTunes should do the trick, and importing your library should be rather straightforward. For backing up, I recommend either dragging your iTunes folder to an external hard drive or, if wanting a non-moving part backup medium, back up onto DVD.
Agree on the educational discount comment. If you have a student, faculty or staff member of a school or university in your family of friend circle, you can get a decent discount. I have some other possible options I could offer you if you PM me.
Finally, the Apple Retail stores are a terriffic resource for looking, purchasing (you can use an educational discount there), learning (they have all kinds of seminars all the time), and obtaining service/support.
Have you considered getting a Powerbook instead of the iMac/iBook combo? The PBook will not be quite up to the level of the iMac in performance, but it will mean that you'll only buy one machine instead of two, which will be more economical. I have a 1 GHz PBook and have found it to be perfectly adequate for photo management and movie editing.
I can see a benefit to having two machines if you travel a lot and want one machine for home and one for you on the road, so that you can videoconference with loved ones back home. My boyfriend and I both have iSights for just this purpose. I set my Powerbook on his pillow and am able to let his snoring lull me to sleep, just as if he was there with me.
When I wake up in the morning, I see him working at his hotel desk, and we say good morning to each other as we start our days 1500 miles apart. It's brilliant.I get a free .Mac account. It truly makes posting pictures and movies easy and quick. My mom uses .Mac also, and it's been a blessing for her. She would never be able to figure out how to publish anything on the web if it were any less seamless. While I would hands-down tell you that it's worth the annual price for her, I'd be a bit more hesitant in making the same claim in my case. I could host a homegrown web site from one of the machines my boyfriend has in the home office. I wouldn't like it though. To give you an idea how easy .Mac is, This past New Year's I imported, edited and published the photos I had taken that night while so drunk that I didn't remember doing it the morning after.
If you're interested in taking a look at some .Mac web sites, feel free to PM me. I know of several good examples.
For music, iTunes should do the trick, and importing your library should be rather straightforward. For backing up, I recommend either dragging your iTunes folder to an external hard drive or, if wanting a non-moving part backup medium, back up onto DVD.
Agree on the educational discount comment. If you have a student, faculty or staff member of a school or university in your family of friend circle, you can get a decent discount. I have some other possible options I could offer you if you PM me.
Finally, the Apple Retail stores are a terriffic resource for looking, purchasing (you can use an educational discount there), learning (they have all kinds of seminars all the time), and obtaining service/support.
May 16, 2005 | 11:40 am
#30
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Upstate New York
Programs: UA MP, Marriot R
Posts: 480
Quick question:
It seems as though i'm not going to go with a PC but with a Mac but i'm torn between these two and would greatly appriciate a suggestion.
I'm either going to go with:
17" Imac with Super Drive $1499
OR
12" Powerbook with Super Drive $1699
You can check them out at Apple.com
I don't plan on a lot of traveling in the immediate future so the powerbook would mostly be sitting on a desk (after a year or so if that changes I can always purchase an iBook or something) but as I said for the next year I might go on one or two weekend trips that it could be NICE, but not neccesary to have. I plan to do movie and photo editing and a lot of music listening too. It could be nice to have the Powerbook to sit outside and listen to music/surf the web with or even lie in bed with and surf comfortably but I just don't know -- I hate dealing with decisions like this, lol. I just want to make sure I make the right chioce especially since we're dealing with a lot of money here.
Thanks everyone, plan to make the big purchase tomorrow (Tuesday) -- that way I can stop and pick up Seinfeld season 4 and Toby Keith's new cd at the same time.
It seems as though i'm not going to go with a PC but with a Mac but i'm torn between these two and would greatly appriciate a suggestion.
I'm either going to go with:
17" Imac with Super Drive $1499
OR
12" Powerbook with Super Drive $1699
You can check them out at Apple.com
I don't plan on a lot of traveling in the immediate future so the powerbook would mostly be sitting on a desk (after a year or so if that changes I can always purchase an iBook or something) but as I said for the next year I might go on one or two weekend trips that it could be NICE, but not neccesary to have. I plan to do movie and photo editing and a lot of music listening too. It could be nice to have the Powerbook to sit outside and listen to music/surf the web with or even lie in bed with and surf comfortably but I just don't know -- I hate dealing with decisions like this, lol. I just want to make sure I make the right chioce especially since we're dealing with a lot of money here.
Thanks everyone, plan to make the big purchase tomorrow (Tuesday) -- that way I can stop and pick up Seinfeld season 4 and Toby Keith's new cd at the same time.
Last edited by tokyotraveler; May 16, 2005 at 11:59 am