I have been shooting with the firestore and I need advice on which mac I need to buy. I want to know if a dual processor 2.3 ghz with the stock video card (Nvidia 6600) would be acceptable to edit 720 24p files with minimal lag.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Craig - I can tell you that I can edit 720 stuff easy as dv on a G4 1.67 pb.
So on a dualie 2.3 you'll be fine. 1080 yes, but it's not a lot of fun. I configure the pb into a dual bus external fw 800 raid to work with hd stuff.

The only note of caution I'll throw into the mix for you - is the upcoming release of the Mac Pro, which you may want to wait for, but then again maybe you can't wait. If it was me I'd buy a refurb/used at the mom if I had to buy & hock it off when the new ones come out. Just a thought.

the duocore laptop have more power than the desktop G5 now... Actual G5 will be discontinued soon. Wait for the new generation of Intel G5 or buy a laptop... pretty handy on the field! (I own a single core laptop pc and its work great!)

good luck!
t

ps: Conroe intel processor should be out in august if you can wait until then... mac will be in the first line for get it.

Craig,

Keep this in mind when ordering your G5-based tower:

The stock 6600 card is fine for 90% of any work you'll throw at the G5. However, if you plan on doing a lot of work in either Live Type, Motion or After Effects then you should upgrade the video card to the 7800GT for an extra $350.

A little known but snarly fact about Apple and the 7800GT: You can only get that card as a custom configuration from Apple. You can't buy it later as an accessory, it's not offered. Well, actually you CAN get it as a stand-alone purchase however it will cost you $800 and there's only one place that sells it. The point being, order the card WHEN you order your new G5.

Lastly: Regardless what video card ships with the G5 you can only get single-frame previews out to an external monitor via Firewire in any HD codec. You will need either a KONA or BlackMagic card if you want EXTERNAL real-time playback of HD content to an NTSC monitor.

I have been shooting with the firestore and I need advice on which mac I need to buy.

I can edit on a PB 1.67 with 1.5 Gbs of RAM.

Video card is fine, except for using Motion on your target desktop

Thanks Guys

I think I am going with the MacBook Pro. I wanted that anyways I was scared of the power though.