Pumaedition Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Our media studies teacher wants to purchase some laptops (she wants macs, but i dont!!), and so I am after some recommendations from you guys as to what to get. Obviously, they will have to be fairly powerful machines to edit with ease. Budget is around £700 per laptop really....if less, then great! We will be using Serif MoviePlus to do the video editing as well. Fairly vague description, but what have you got?!
laserblazer Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 The problem I've found with laptops is getting sufficient disk space and drives that spin fast enough. That may have changed now with SATA drives, been a while since I checked. If you are going the laptop route, then I'd say teacher is right for once. Macs are the way to go.
Pumaedition Posted May 6, 2009 Author Posted May 6, 2009 The only problem we would have with macs, is the fact there is no-one on site that is familiar with using them. I have had no training/prior experience with Apple machines, and as such, I have concerns about compatability with our network etc
dhicks Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 I am after some recommendations from you guys as to what to get. Might be worth thinking about what cables and cards you want to be able to plug in to the laptops. A few years ago lots of laptops came with mini firewire ports, which made them great for doing editing with older DV video cameras. I don't know if many new laptops still have firewire ports, though. Most laptops these days will have a memory card reader, though - generally SD, so check what your cameras use. I've seen some laptops with eSATA ports, which would allow you to attach a proper, fast harddrive for storing and editing larger video projects. -- David Hicks
Brpilot99 Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Decent amount of RAM and a dedicated graphics board (not the shared memory type !!) You can use a USB 2.00 external drive for storage ..... I use Movieplus 4 on an oldish PC with a decent graphics board and it runs fine .....
mac_shinobi Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Whats wrong with Macs? have to agree - whats wrong with them ?
eean Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 Sorry, I hate macs and really don't know what all the fuss is about BUT Their iMovie 09 is a great movie editing pacakage. And a site licence for iLife is something stuipid - like 300 quid. Are you going to fix up those PCs with Adobe Premier?
mac_shinobi Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 Sorry, I hate macs and really don't know what all the fuss is about BUT Their iMovie 09 is a great movie editing pacakage. And a site licence for iLife is something stuipid - like 300 quid. Are you going to fix up those PCs with Adobe Premier? ok so how much is the site license for adobes premier ? £300 for iLife versus video editing software on pc's unless your using movie maker which isn't that great is not that expensive - when you say site license am guessing for the macs that means that if you get 20 to start with and ok £300 is a bit much but am guessing if you got more macs you could always install iLife onto them without any issues ?
Pumaedition Posted May 7, 2009 Author Posted May 7, 2009 We will be using Serif MoviePlus for video-editing, on the PCs. so large amounts of memory and dedicated graphics card. How about this from Novatech? Computer Supplies and PC Components from Novatech OR http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/extras.html?t=nb&c=all&r=X55&s=NNB-736&v=1
FN-GM Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 (edited) iLife comes free with the OS. Im not being funny or anything here so dont take offence.... But why stop them using them if you simply dont like them. Maybe the teacher has good reason and wants to use mac because its btter for the students to use. At the end of the day this is there education. Note: this is not a dig at windows or the creator of this post Edited May 7, 2009 by FN-GM
JJonas Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 Why laptops? You will probably be able to buy a better desktop for the same money, and in my experience laptops in schools don't work, keys get pulled off, laptop gets dropped, picked up by screen and screen broken and so on. If you need portability maybe you might be off just buying two laptops and putting the rest of the money into better desktops.
mac_shinobi Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 iLife comes free with the OS. Im not being funny or anything here so dont take offence.... But why stop them using them if you simply dont like them. Maybe the teacher has good reason and wants to use mac because its btter for the students to use. At the end of the day this is there education. Note: this is not a dig at windows or the creator of this post I agree with that - had apple imacs and pc desktops when working at the kingswood school and the students never damaged the macs yet they did the pc desktops. The only thing with the apple macs is you have to keep them under lock and key so students dont steal them same with any other IT equipment. Kingswood on here would be a good person to ask as they have apple macs at the kingswood school so am sure he will be able to help a lot on this topic. IMO PC's just are not as good as macs when it comes to video editing - thats what macs are used for, video, audio etc.
eean Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 Oh yes you're right. iLife comes with the OS. The upgrade for the site licence is what's about 300 - which I think is perfectly reasonable for even 10+ machines.
mossj Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 (edited) Im not being funny or anything here so dont take offence.... But why stop them using them if you simply dont like them. Maybe the teacher has good reason and wants to use mac because its btter for the students to use. At the end of the day this is there education. Note: this is not a dig at windows or the creator of this post He said hes not sure about how to use them properly with the network/domain (which is fine), but why not learn? Alternativly just install xp onto them but its a huge waste.... P.S The only problem we would have with macs, is the fact there is no-one on site that is familiar with using them. I have had no training/prior experience with Apple machines, and as such, I have concerns about compatability with our network etc Edited May 7, 2009 by mossj
Pumaedition Posted May 7, 2009 Author Posted May 7, 2009 the poster above has it spot on....no previous experience with Macs and no-one on site that knows how to use them is a bit of a pain in the ar$e when it comes to support and they are going wrong! I'd like to learn how to, but it simply isnt viable. Due to the resignation of the old Network Manager, I am running the ICT system basically on my own, so I have no free time to get on courses etc. As for the reasoning for laptops....I said I would much prefer Desktops, but for the rooms they will be used in (normal teaching rooms) there isnt the room for 4/6 desktop machines anywhere in there, so Laptops it is! The media studies class is a 6th form class really, so they should be fairly responsible!!
Potato-Peeler Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 Have you looked at the Dell Studios? You can get them with a 2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 GB RAM and 256 video card for a reasonable price. What i run at home xD 1
Pumaedition Posted May 7, 2009 Author Posted May 7, 2009 I hadn't actually. Just had a look, and spec'd one up nicely, and it comes to £679. When questioned again, I will mention it!!
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now