Hello all,
first time poster here in the mac forum so please bear with me if this is a silly question.
I am about to convert from pc to mac and i have a few questions before i make that dive....

i am looking at a G4/867 256/40/combo 12" powerbook right now because it is the only thing in my immediate price range and time is a factor.

What i would like to know is, will this handle FCP and after effects rendering the way my P4 1.8 sony desktop did? would an upgrade to a gig of ram improve its performance past the pc?

thanks for the help guys. i couldnt find this in the archives but if someone does i would appreciate that too!

jr

It would be similar with the gig of ram, but the PC would probably be faster because of the faster internal HD.

I edit on site with a 550 ti g4... get a 7200rpm external drive and go... (256mb ram- yikes!- works though...)

remember to place all files (audio especially) on the 7200 drive or you'll get chirp city...

only problem with the 12" is the size of the screen...

ive got a 7200rpm 80gig external drive now, so thats good. the ram is ugly huh? my buddys got a gig that he would sell for 120, is that a good price?
do you have the 12" josh? is it a huge inconvenience? im probably gonna run another monitor or tv through the laptop when its at my place so i would only need to deal with the small screen for the summer

I use an iBook 800 14" with external 120 gig 7200 RPM drive and 640 megs and have no problems. Some renders can be slow but using OS X over windows is a great time saver in the long run. Josh is correct about putting the media files on the external drive. I've modified my firmware so that I can run a spanned external monitor rather than mirrored.

http://www.dpgrafix.com/ibook

The PB will be a step up from the sony without a doubt.

1gig for $120 should be a very good deal. Check RAM prices over at www.crucial.com to figure out what kind of RAM you need for your laptop. Crucial is not the cheapest though, newegg.com and pricewatch.com/resellerratings.com will give you the lowest prices.

thanks dave, that makes me feel really good about buying it! i cant wait.
glenn, thanks for the links i will check those out - this ram is coming from his old g4 (he just upgraded to a 2g PB) so its used, is that a problem?

The PowerBook G4 867 MHz requires PC2100 DDR266 200-pin SO-DIMM memory. Older G4's (depending on the age and model) mostly used PC133 SDRAM. Check the model and I can give you the specs.

one other question...

I am selling my desktop right now (within the week) so that means im gonna be without a computer for at least 2 weeks. right now i am burning all my footage and music to dvd but i am wondering about how smoothly the transfer from PC to Mac process will be as far as my videos (.avi format) go. will the mac recognize this format or do i need to change it into something else?

Jeff, i dont know abotu the model number, the link is here http://www.smalldog.com/product/12651772 though if it helps (sorry im such a mac newbie: ) )

Jerry,

Go to http://www.info.apple.com/support/applespec.html to find the specs on ram. Ram is cheap so if you are worried, or the module your friend has is not compatible, it won't be that big of a deal.

Jerry,

Some AVIs will work on Mac OS and some won't. I would try on on a Mac first. It seems that AVIs are less compatible on Macs than QT files are on PCs.

I would suggest going to the Apple site and post in the QuickTime or Final Cut forums. Tell them you are a switcher and believe me, you'll get lots of help.

haha awesome dave! im a switcher! ill go post right now. thanks again.

I was using a 15"... I also was using an old jvc camcorder as a deck and out to monitor... (I trust that more than the video mirroring output on the back of the book).

as far as archiving footage... I'd suggest minidv... origin footage - any posted/effects stuff archive direct to drive. (If you have another mac around a good trick is to plug your laptop into the other pc firewire to firewire and reboot your laptop holding down the 't' button and it will appear on the other machine as a 'target' drive. Drag and drop your larger files... in the interim buy the firewire drive and back EVERYTHING up. NOTE you should always back up your iphoto.itunes.etc files as they will be replaces with any system upgrade and as they are nested in their goofy osx substructure they are also often forgotten.

good luck that 12" is snappy.

!!!!DAVE YOU ROCK. That's basically the main reason I avoid ibooks... hmmmmmmmm.
anyone want a 15" powerbook?
((kiddingish))
awesome.

well, I'm on a low budget. I actually wish I had a G4 now.

You ought to tak a look at the refurbished Macs on the Apple site. Click the store tab then scroll to the bottom left and look for a red specials tag. The refurbs carry the same warranty as new products and you can purchase extended warranties just like a new one. I'm waiting to get an iBook G4 and use the same extended desktop hack I use on the G3 iBook.

Agreed - look at the referbished Macs on the Apple Store web site. They have great deals! In fact I'm typing on one right now. It's is pristine and even if there was something wrong with it when it was returned, it is put into new condition. The one thing you can count one is that someone looked it over and checked it out. Even if you get one some problem (which is doubtful) Apple will take care of any problems.

It's a great deal if you think about it plus it comes with the same warranty as a new model so you have nothing to lose. You can even get an extended warranty with it or purchase it later.

So check it out - go to the Apple Store web site and click on the RED TAG SALE link see what's available. It changes daily, but it just might fit your budget or maybe you can get a larger PB for the same money you were going to spend on a new one.

No matter what, you will not be sorry and it is the best deal out there for a Mac.

Good luck.

please note that new macs are any day now... look for ebay machines to pop up or better search local papers, craigslist.... any time to buy locally is better... I have only bought 1 new machine and that was to get a free copy of Final Cut (1.0!) --got a t-shirt too...

DON'T GET THE APPLECARE - if anything goes wrong over the span of the applecare (3yrs from purchase) you can then purchase it and it will cover your current problem.

With Dave's screen workaround I'd suggest even getting an 800 ibook... 12" doesn't seem to faze you... they're cheap!

clubmac.com was the e-tailer where I got my G4 500 new with the OMD FCP. They are good compared to macwarehouse (now CDW), macmall, maczones (watch out got crappy refurb isub there).

<<<-- Originally posted by Josh Brusin :
DON'T GET THE APPLECARE - if anything goes wrong over the span of the applecare (3yrs from purchase) you can then purchase it and it will cover your current problem.
-->>>

Just to clarify, you have just one year from the original date of purchase to buy Apple Care (not 3 years).

A new/ factory refurbished Mac includes 90 days of phone support and 1 year of hardware warranty. The Apple Care plan extends the phone support and hardware warranty to three years.

Back on topic, get the 12" PowerBook only if you really need the portability. For the money you can get a lot more power in a desktop.

As for editing on the 1024x768 screen, it's not bad at all. I edited two feature-length movies on my old 12" 700MHz G3 iBook. Connecting an external hard drive and TV are very good ideas. Since you have just one FireWire port, you may need a FW hub/repeater. The mini-hub on external hard drives isn't fast enough for all the input/output happening. Your experience might be better though.

I have the 12" 867MHz PowerBook you're considering. It's great, and a big improvement over the iBook I used to have. The fan lets you know when it's working hard. It's loud. The current 1GHz processors are supposed to be cooler-running, and the fans are supposed to not come on as quickly or as often.

good point on the warranty info... sit corrected.

Murad... where in Chicago are you? Have I seen any of your stuff locally?
Josh
(devon/clark)

Hi Josh, I'm in the SW suburbs. I'll be at the next Chifcpug meeting. I don't know if they'll show the clips I submitted during "member reels," but if they do then you could see some of my stuff locally.