Hi, I currently run DV Rack 2.0 HD on a SINGLE core 2.4ghz AMD Turion 64 processor, 160gb 5400rpm hard drive, and ATI Radeon Xpress 200M integrated graphics setup.

Obviously, this isn't ideal, especially seeing as how I use the XH-A1.

I'm currently in the market to buy a new laptop, and don't really want to invest a lot into a laptop; only as much as is needed to ensure smooth, hiccup free, monitoring of HDV at full res and full frames.

I'm basically torn right now between buying a new Dell Inpiron series laptop with all the fixings, Core 2 Duo 2.2ghz, 4mb cache, 3gb ram, 256mb dedicated video card, etc.

I figure this would give me what I want...and yet it's more than I want to spend right now since I also need to replace my desktop now whose motherboard and components more or less discombobulated at the end of the summer when the power supply blew.

Basically, do you think a 1.8ghz core 2 duo processor, 2gb ram, setup WITHOUT a dedicated graphics card (i.e. Intel GMA 950 integrated) can handle XH-A1 HDV monitoring with aplomb?

Or, would I need to simply gulp and pony up for the Core 2 Duo laptop with a dedicated graphics card?

Thanks for any insights into this.

The lag-time involved with monitoring HDV over firewire to a laptop makes it unusable for what I do. And laptop speed has nothing to do with that.
If your current laptop has the grunt to capture video and display your waveform and vector, then I would skip the computer upgrade at this time,
and invest in an HD field monitor, or an HD studio monitor if you are only doing in-studio shots.

Agreeing with David that HDV lag will occur no matter what laptop or desktop is used. DVRack 2.0HD has latency, that's a fact. As I understand it, this is because DVRack gives priority of system resources to laying down the file on the disk, then decodes the HDV for display.

With HDV we have the long-GOP data structure, meaning that display is already 1/2 a second behind live before we get to firewire and system resource delays. And 1/2 a second or more is forever as far as using the DVRack monitor to track, frame, and focus action.

OTOH, I use it all the time on more static shots and to check lighting setups.

But I can't use it on a jib/crane. For that, I use a conventional monitor.

I have an Intel Core2 Duo T7200 2GHz with 2GB ram laptop running Windows XP MCE, DVRack 2.0 HD runs just fine with sony Z1, V1, and JVC HD100. I've not tested other HDV cameras.