is iBook capable for adequate video editing?

hello! i am new to this forum and to macs. i am planning on purchasing a mac just for a change. i am a film student and i hope to get a notebook for class. i don't expect to do all my video editing on it (since school has the equipments), but i do expect to do a little editing myself for practice/fun/projects. i am currently on a budget. i would love to get a powerbook but it seems like an iBook is more affordable. i was thinking of getting a cheaper G5 desktop but i think a portable laptop would work better for me because i am also a psych double major and i bring my computer to class from time to time. is ibook capable for adequate video editing? it looks really nice. also, is 1.2/1.33 gHz fast? how fast is it comparing to p3 and p4? i am computer illiterate. i wanna learn more.

i am sorry if this question has been asked before. thanks!

With enough RAM I would expect it to work just fine. Don't expect anything spectacular... But it will run FCP and get the basics done.

yep the ibook will be great i run final cut pro often
BUT BUY 1 GIG OF RAM or else its gonna suck.....

I've done 2-3 min vids on my 12" IBook with Final Cut Pro...it's nice...how fast is 1.2Ghz? Fast enough for me to run QuarkXPress, PhotoshopCS, about 5-6 web browsers, ITunes, BBEdit...and maybe something else with very little lag...thats with memory upgraded to 768mb though...I love it...much faster then I anticipated among purchasing it...

i am thinking of upgrading my ibook too if i am to buy one. is a RAM of 512mb enough for what i am looking for? also, is 30GB good enough? i don't know much about video editing on mac, i wish i know more. T_T please kindly give me some recommendations.

btw, thanks for replying so fast!

noooooooooooooooooooooo i can guaranty that if you buy 512 you will be extremely disappointed i say just max it out to 1.25....
and dont buy ram from apple...newegg only

or do you think a G5 20" is more worth?

lust4life said:

or do you think a G5 20" is more worth?

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That all depends on what you need it for.... Any motion graphics... or advanced editing... And of course the G5 is going to tear the iBook apart.

But if you need something portable and don't plan on anything too intense... The iBook is definitely a better choice.

But as it has already been said... 1GIG of RAM.... Bare Minimum. Even in the G5.

iLEFTOVERCRACK said:

noooooooooooooooooooooo i can guaranty that if you buy 512 you will be extremely disappointed i say just max it out to 1.25....
and dont buy ram from apple...newegg only

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where would you suggest to buy additional RAM? i never tried that before. :dummy:

newegg.com

how do you upgrade by yourself? i mean, how do you install it?

On the iBook the keyboard pops off, remove the airport card, and you unscrew the plate that covers the RAM... easy as pie. The iMac is a little more of a pain.... but basically just unscrew the 3 screws on the bottom and pop the back off.

edit: did I just invoke the phrase "easy as pie?"... crap... i did.

^^ i'm just worried that i might screw up the inside, haha. is it really.. as you said, "easy as pie"?

lust4life said:

where would you suggest to buy additional RAM? i never tried that before. :dummy:

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I disagree about newegg, they are dishonest and deceiving. Buy from Archmemory or Crucial. I bought from Arch and installed myself. It very easy to install yourself. It tells you how to install it in your manual that came with ibook.

Crucial charge extra if you use the memory locator though... check the type you need there and then find it yourself in their listing.

lust4life said:

^^ i'm just worried that i might screw up the inside, haha. is it really.. as you said, "easy as pie"?

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LOL.... Yeah.... The iBook is easy and there is really no way to mess it up. Just do everything slowly and if you have to force something chances are it isn't supposed to move in the first place.

sursuciofla said:

I disagree about newegg, they are dishonest and deceiving. Buy from Archmemory or Crucial. I bought from Arch and installed myself. It very easy to install yourself. It tells you how to install it in your manual that came with ibook.

Click to expand...

how are they dishonest and deceiving?

i think they're great...

Aptmunich said:

Crucial charge extra if you use the memory locator though... check the type you need there and then find it yourself in their listing.

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I don't agree with this. You're better off at Crucial buying RAM that they support for your machine. That way if there are compatibility problems they will work with you. If you buy just any RAM that appears to have the same specs they may not support it. For a couple of bucks more, the peace of mind is worth it to me. YMMV.

iLEFTOVERCRACK said:

how are they dishonest and deceiving?

i think they're great...

Click to expand...

From Archmemory.com, the 1GB stick is 158.99 and you ARE NOT charged shipping or taxes, 158.99 flat and the memory is guaranteed 100%, check the site. I bought mine there 6months ago for $50 more which at the time was the going rate for it (guaranteed memory) so prices have dramatically dropped.

As far as Newegg being dishonest and deceiving this is my humble opinion of them. I bought a monitor from them and it had a hot pixel. Now I am aware of dead pixels and I can live with them but when I have to stare at a red dot in the middle of my screen while trying to work it is very annoying and it makes me very angry. I consider a hot pixel hot and a dead pixel dead. They never even responded when I emailed and called customer service about it. They could have at least explained something, ANYTHING, but no they chose to ignore. I am even more pissed about that than the red dot. I'd rather have blue or green, btw, if I had to choose a color to stare at. Anyways, then I try to leave my feedback on the item and they rejected it 10 times. I wasn't malicious at all in any of them. I even copied and pasted someone elses post and just put a lower rating to test what I thought was going on. What they do is only accept the good comments and reject the bad ones. That's how I was deceived into buying the monitor. Basically I read a lot of the customer comments and thought it was a good deal from those comments. They do accept a few lower ratings just to keep it legit to suck you in since we all know nothing is perfect. I got sucked in and maybe a lot of people are satisfied with Newegg but there are a lot of unhappy ones like me out there who are treated like garbage by them. I guess that's what you get from a company that monitors their own product feedback though, you get bogus product ratings.

I don't go out there slamming the company all willy-nilly but when I see someone posts their site I do make my feelings known. Nothing against you at all, but I want this guy to have a fair assessment of the company since they don't do it themselves. Then what he does from there is his choice.

If U buy the I-book, GET IT WITH THE 60 GB hard drive. U will need a lot of space for your video editing.