Final Cut Express (super Mac newb)

[specialist]

I read the technical specs of Final Cut Express HD and an iBook, but I need a couple of things cleared up:

1) The program will run on an 14" iBook G4, right (I'm putting 1.5 gigs of RAM into it)? What's this whole AGP graphics card stuff? Does an iBook come like that out of the box?

2) Is FCE plug and play with mini DV cameras? I have a Canon mini DV cam and that's where I plan to import my video from. The specs say FCE works "with most mini DV cameras," but I'm just a tad worried. I tried importing mini DV footage through a deck at school into FCE and I had to convert it to DV cam format. Is this a matter of FCE settings?

 

[robbieduncan]

You don't say exactly which model iBook you have so I'll assume it's the current one.

You have a ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 attached via an AGP bus so that's covered (all iBook G4s have AGP graphics cards). Whilst it will run it will not be great. I find that my PowerBook (15") screen a bit small for working with FCE so normally span to an external 1280x1024 screen and use all of both screens! You'll probably also find the CPU a bit slow on that iBook (although it's faster than my PowerBook).

With regards to camera it should work. If you have an Apple Store near you take it down there and see. They normally have a couple of machines with FCE on them.

 

[TheMonarch]

I used FCE in a 14" iBook, and with only 256MB of ram, and it ran like a champ, sure there was A LOT of rendering, but be assured it will run. And with that handsome amount of RAM you'll be sticking into it, you'll have a pretty good experience with FCE.


As for the DV cameras, they can't guarantee every_single_camera will work, but I never ran into a situation where my camera wasn't recognized. I've used cannon DV cams, Sony, and JVC [I think]. All worked awesomely.

Just be aware, there's going to be A LOT of rendering involved once you add effects onto the film, especially with an iBook.

 

[specialist]

Thanks for the advice. I'm asking because I'm going to be buying an iBook and FCE at the same time in a couple of weeks. Just wanted to make sure that everything would work out of the box.