A while back (December) someone asked if it was practical to edit HDV on Apple laptops and back then people deemed it too difficult. Is that still the case? I move around A LOT and I'm thinking of getting an Apple laptop today. With enough memory and harddrive is it possible/practical to edit on Powerbooks now? Thanks

I haven't tried this on my powerbook, and doubt that I will since it's a 1ghz model. But I'm sure it's quite possible to edit HDV with FCP 5 on a laptop. Just realize that you will be at the bottom range of what Apple specs for this application (1ghz G4). I think I would be frustrated by this after getting used to my dual G5/2.5ghz. Any kind of video editing will really benefit from dual processors and a G5.

If you have to use a laptop then you really don't have a choice. But also realize you pay a real premium to buy a laptop when you can get a G5 iMac which is nearly twice the speed for about half the cost. Of course if you're really serious about HDV you'll want a dual G5 Power Mac, but that's not very portable. The main reason Apple is switching to Intel processors is that they haven't been able to build fast enough laptops with the available Power PC chips. Unfortunately it will be another year or two before that gap is going to start closing.

See also the following threads:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=48506
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=49208