Help me upgrade my MB Black for video editing. (HD, RAM, capture equipment, ect.)

[fiveightandten]

I have a C2D 2.0GHz Macbook Black with the stock 120GB HD and 1GB RAM. I'd like to use the machine for some video capturing and editing. I give guitar lessons and would like to make some lesson-on-DVD type things for my students.

I'll be using Final Cut Pro Studio 5, which I have already. I do not have any video equipment yet.

I need recommendations for the following:

-Larger internal HD: 160GB or larger, and i'd like to partition the drive so video capture runs smoothly. Something fast, and reliable. Power drain isn't a huge issue, unless it's going to be a battery hog.

-Video & Audio capture equipment: I'm assuming real time capturing straight to my computer is the best way, as opposed to buying a Video camera. Any recommendations for equipment that will work with the Audio/Video inputs on the MB?

-RAM upgrades: Seems obvious that i'll have to max the RAM out. Any opinions on the 2GB vs 3GB ordeal? Can I use 3GB? Will I see any difference in performance? Head over to Crucial and pick up an upgrade pack?


Any other opinions or recommendations are greatly appreciated, as I don't know much about this. Thanks in advance.

-Nick

 

[knightlie]

One thing I would say is that partitioning a drive won't necessarily make video editing smoother - the drive still needs to access the same information from the same physical device. A 7200 rpm drive will improve acces time slightly, but then will also suck up the battery faster.

 

[fiveightandten]

One thing I would say is that partitioning a drive won't necessarily make video editing smoother - the drive still needs to access the same information from the same physical device. A 7200 rpm drive will improve acces time slightly, but then will also suck up the battery faster.

Thanks for the reply. How do most 7200RPM drives stack up as far as noise floor goes, vs the 5400RPM in the computer now?

Also, i'm aware that editing won't be any faster with the drive partitioned, but i've read that it's better for capturing. There were a few threads on here were people mentioned partitioning to protect against frame dropping. True story?

-Nick

 

[geofftl1000r]

I just added the 200G 7200rpm Hitachi drive to my MacBook and haven't noticed any noise increase.....yet to see how long the battery lasts....

 

[fiveightandten]

I just added the 200G 7200rpm Hitachi drive to my MacBook and haven't noticed any noise increase.....yet to see how long the battery lasts....

Thanks for the reply. Do you have a link, or model number? Any speed difference?

-Nick

 

[Geeky1]

There will be no difference in battery life by going to a 7.2k drive. At all. Unless you're doing video capture/encoding while running on the battery, it will make no difference. And if you're doing that, there are other things that will have a much, much, MUCH larger effect than the ~1w increase in power draw from a 7.2k disc will. The speed increase will be fairly dramatic; I'd guess about a 15MB/s (or more) increase in the STR, though that is just a guess based on drives that are now a few years old.

I don't notice a difference as far as noise goes between 5.4k and 7.2k notebook drives either. Get a 160 or 200GB 7.2K drive from Seagate, WD or Hitachi.
As far as RAM goes... I don't know if the MB will take 3GB or not. I know it won't officially, but it may still work. If it does, you will see a difference, yes. And with RAM as cheap as it is now, it'd be worth the money you'd spend on it. If it works.

 

[RiDE]

I upgraded my C2D 2.0 MacBook FROM 1gb RAM and 80gb HD

TO: 2gb RAM and 250gb HD.

It runs fantastic. I have the 250gb Western Digital Scorpio 5400rpm Drive. It is sweeeeeet.

 

[vicariousgeorge]

I have the 250gb Western Digital Scorpio 5400rpm Drive. It is sweeeeeet.

I was about to buy that HDD at CompUSA (it's on sale for $159.99).

However, after reading the reviews at Newegg.com, it seems as though it has a very high failure rate. I'm now having reservations about making this purchase.

Have you had any of the SMART failure warnings?

 

[RiDE]

I was about to buy that HDD at CompUSA (it's on sale for $159.99).

However, after reading the reviews at Newegg.com, it seems as though it has a very high failure rate. I'm now having reservations about making this purchase.

Have you had any of the SMART failure warnings?

Nope..... None what so ever... I'll check it again right now.

I got mine on eBay for $149.99 shipped and no tax (Brand New, Sealed with full warranty).

EDIT: Still no issues:

 

[vicariousgeorge]

Nope..... None what so ever... I'll check it again right now.

I got mine on eBay for $149.99 shipped and no tax (Brand New, Sealed with full warranty).

EDIT: Still no issues:

Out of curiosity, how long have you had it?

 

[RiDE]

Not long.... about 1 month... I backup everything pretty regularly, so even if it were to die (which I highly doubt it will) I'd get a new drive under warranty.

 

[RiDE]

I looked on Newegg... and couldn't find my same drive... Do you have a link?

 

[vicariousgeorge]

Not long.... about 1 month... I backup everything pretty regularly, so even if it were to die (which I highly doubt it will) I'd get a new drive under warranty.

That's exactly the problem. In the event that it fails, I am reluctant to send my drive in for a warranty replacement. It is far too difficult to truly erase any data, and I don't want my information ending up in someone else's computer because they got a deal on a refurbished drive (namely my RMA'd one).

In fact, by the time most drives typically fail, I'd just as soon destroy my HDD before RMA-ing it and eat the cost of a new one. For example, my 80GB WD drive from 4 years ago recently failed and was still under warranty. I could have RMA'd it, but really, how useful is an 80GB IDE drive today? Not much, and certainly not worth more than the peace of mind of knowing my personal data has not been compromised.

I know this is a long post, but my point is that I don't want to spend $150+ on a drive that could fail in the next month or so when I know I will most likely not RMA it.

Here are the not-so-favorable reviews:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822136123

And I know that you have to take the good with the bad, but this drive seems to have an unusually high number of negative reviews when compared with similar drives.

 

[fiveightandten]

Thanks for the replies guy. It's good to hear some talk about HD's.

I was thinking about THIS one:
Hitachi 200GB, 7200RPM, 16MB cache- $205
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145160

They also make a 250GB, 5400RPM, 8MB cache- $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145159

And then there's a 160GB, 7200RPM, 16MB cache- $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145180

I looked at some others, but it seems like Hitachi is the way to go for large storage 5400 and 7200 RPM drives. My question now is...How much of a difference does the cache size make in comparison to the speed? Obviously the top one will probably perform best. But the 2nd one is an extra 50GB, for $25 less. I'm wondering how much of a decrease in performance i'd see.

-Nick

 

[Geeky1]

It would be a noticeable decrease. Honestly, I'd get the 160gb drive and an external firewire drive.

 

[amrk47]

apple doesnt use western digital drives in there macbooks
they use seagate and sometimes toshiba
doesnt that tell you something

 

[fiveightandten]

apple doesnt use western digital drives in there macbooks
they use seagate and sometimes toshiba
doesnt that tell you something

Not really. BMW doesn't use Bose stereos in their cars. They use Harmon Kardon. Just because one company doesn't work with a manufacturer doesn't necessarily mean that manufacturer is inferior to others.

That being said, I have a Western Digital 200GB drive that I bought for my PC, and the thing developed a terribly annoying whine whenever the drive is spinning.

-Nick

 

[Geeky1]

apple doesnt use western digital drives in there macbooks
they use seagate and sometimes toshiba
doesnt that tell you something

Yeah, it tells me that Apple never got the memo about Toshiba making terrible, TERRIBLE hard drives.

 

[amrk47]

Not really. BMW doesn't use Bose stereos in their cars. They use Harmon Kardon. Just because one company doesn't work with a manufacturer doesn't necessarily mean that manufacturer is inferior to others.

That being said, I have a Western Digital 200GB drive that I bought for my PC, and the thing developed a terribly annoying whine whenever the drive is spinning.

-Nick

umm you cant compare car sound systems to laptop hard drives
and I said macbooks not PCs
wester digital has the worst reviews for laptop HD and seagate has the best

 

[amrk47]

Yeah, it tells me that Apple never got the memo about Toshiba making terrible, TERRIBLE hard drives.

my toshiba has no problems and its been a year