Notebook Editing

[Ron German]

I`ve though to have a notebook for fullHD editing option with Vegas 9.0e,
I`m not a computer techy, so I wonder if a 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive + 4GB RAM + 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-450M are enouph to edit the most comon 1980X1080 codecs, like h.264 (Canon`s HDSLR), AVCHD, Sony MXF (EX1/3), Neoscene, etc and render to a HDCAM file.
Thanks
Ron

[Buba Kastorski]

Only if you NEED to edit on laptop, I would spend more on hard drive, because it is the slowest component in the system; 72000rpm wil perform noticable better, but SSD will give you the best performance;
not sure about DSLR footage converted with neoscene and AVCHD, I have major problems with 5/7D footage on i7 920, but sony MXF will be flying on that thing;
but I would still use desktop with tiny monitor even for SDEs

[Edward Troxel]

I've edited on a laptop for YEARS. I did get one with two separate hard drives and use the second drive for video storage. Just don't skimp on the system.

[Jeff Harper]

You should have at least 6GB Ram, and the most powerful processor, fastest hard drive you can get. If your doing professional editing don't skimp. All Solid State Hard Drives are not created equal, there are vast differences in quality, get the best you can afford for the smoothest editing experience possible. If there was a way to hook up an esata card to a laptop I would go that route, using a nice fast external drive with the appropriate connection.

[Ron German]

Thank you for your responses
But I wonder if specifically this configuration (5400rpm SATA Hard Drive + 4GB RAM + 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-450M + Windows 7 + 64bits) could be used (woud be enouph) as a ready-for-edit (HD stuff) system on a laptop?
(My desktop is 32 bits 3GHz dual core 2 + 3 GB RAM + 7200 SATA HD + Windows Professional + Vegas 9.0e 32bits and I edit with no issues except h.264 files from Canon T2i, that I have to transcode to Neoscene).
Regards
Ron

[Edward Troxel]

Short answer: yes it will work. I do agree that I'd go for 7200 rpm drives and I'd go for TWO or THREE drives. The laptop I'm using can have up to three internal drives (I only got two).

Don't expect to edit on battery for very long, though.

[Ron German]

Thank you Edward.
Is there any problem to have the system (internal) 5400 rpm hard drive and the media to be edited in a external 7200 rpm hard drive?

[Gerald Webb]

Hey Edward, what lappy have you got that can have 3 internal drives?
Im trying to find a replacement for Satellite which has 2 x 500gb.
All the new i7's Ive found with 6 gb of Ram or more only have 1 drive, ie Asus, Alienware even Mac pro.
id resigned myself to an SSD on board and a Sata out to a 600gb 10K Raptor in an enclosure.

[Rob Wood]

"...what lappy have you got that can have 3 internal drives?"

Sager makes laptops with 3 drives and (up to) i7 940 CPU... most of their laptops are customizable.

[Jeff Harper]

One look at the Sager website and I would look nowhere else for a video editing laptop...amazing configurability. Their machines appear to be of the highest quality. Good stuff, Rob.

[Edward Troxel]

Mine's a Sager! :-)

[Jeff Harper]

So THAT'S how you edit AVCHD on a laptop...you have a really good one!

[Edward Troxel]

Mine is nearly three years old now so it's definitely not top of the line today. But it's worked fine for my editing needs. This one is a Core 2 Quat Q6700 2.66 GHz with 2 Gig of RAM. I'm sure the ones available today will be MUCH faster.

[Rob Wood]

i use a NP9285 (i7-960) with 3 drives... used most for capturing audio via firewire; works great. haven't done much editing with it.

[David Wayne Groves]

I use a Dell Studio 17 for my AVCHD editing, It performes great even with multicam projects...

Specs:
Dell Studio 17.3 1600x900 HD
i7core QM720 Quadcore
6Gig DDR3
1Gig ATI 4650 Video card
2-500Gig Hds 7200
8x DVD Burner (Portable LG Bluray Burner)
HDMI, ESata, Firewire, Card reader
Camcorders- Sony HDR-AX2000, Canon HG21, Canon HG10
Software- Vegas 9pro, Pinnacle 14.......