Max. RAM recommended for Final Cut?

Hi there, what are your thoughts on the maximun RAM needed for Final Cut Pro? Keep in mind that this is NOT my major edit suite, only a laptop on the go, and the laptop I'm curious about is maxed out at 640mb...

P.S. I'm running FCP 4.1

Thanks in advance

Although FCP will run on 640mb, you will need 1GB or more to save yourself a lot of hassle with slow running and rendering, as well as the potential for crashing.

If you are using a lot of effects and transitions, or a range of video sources, or running other applications at the same time, in other words anything other than a straight capture, cut and export, then you probably want to go for 2GB.

There is no video editing set-up that is capable of full-power real-time editing and rendering under all circumstances, so spend the maximum you can afford to give yourself the least interrupted workflow!

That said, if you are a patient person, and allow the machine time to catch up with you, then you can get by with pretty much any set-up over 512mb.

FCP is not fun to use on a laptop. Given such you want as much ram as possible to help the experience. On a G5 or G4 I would say 1GB Minimum. You might get away with 512 on an intel but again, 1GB up to 2Gb is nice. Obviously the more RAM the better and you would probably see noticeable improvements up through 6GB on a G5 powermac.

Guys, I'm not looking for that much power in a machine! I'm a student, I don't have that much money! 6GB RAM? Are you joking? I'd have to re-mortgage a house I don't have! I edit on 768MB at the moment and it's PERFECT! I'm not looking for real time rendering! I like to walk away and have a break while it's rendering! And it's not THAT bloody slow! I used to edit on a 500MHz little blue G3 iMac, and it was perfect! Little slow, but I didn't care! IT GOT THE JOB DONE...

Thanks disciple, I am a patient person, and I will stick to your advice of over 512 MB. And thanks Bluesmudge, 1GB sounds decent. Will take both those advices(?) into consideration

I wasn't recomending you get 6GB, the powermac is the only mac that supports that anyways. 512-1GB is OK. I've been editing on 512 recently because im on a new system and dont have the funds to upgrade yet. It works pretty good.
What I'm worried about is what computer you will be using that only supports 640mb. Whatever it is, I suggest maxing it out, and I just hope it isnt a G3. Although if waiting is ok for you, you could hack FCP to run on any PPC computer.

Yeah, definitely getting a G4 iBook. I'm looking for one that's expandable to 1GB or 1.25 GB to allow for future upgrades, with at least 1GHz processor, coz that's worked well for me on a desktop.

I'm weighing up all my options, coz I'm buying one off eBay. I just want to be well informed...I won't even bid unless I'm dead keen on a machine. Needless to say, I've been searching solidly for 3 weeks, asked questions on about 80 machines, and haven't placed one bid. I'm extremely cautious when picking one, and quite fussy, but I'm sure eventually that will pay off