• Avid Media Composer

  Need Computer Purchasing Assistance

  Posted by Bigred on June 2, 2010 at 2:34 pm

  All,

  I am in the process of upgrading to Media Composer. In this process I have also decided that I want to purchase a high end laptop so that I can be mobile with my work. I have two laptop packages that have been put together by Washington Professional Systems and I want to make sure that I make the right decision.

  1 HP 8740w Avid Qualified Laptop $3,975.00
  HP EliteBook 8740w Mobile Workstation Quad core I7 Q820(1.73 Ghz)
  Nvidia FX 3800m (display 1920 x 1200)8 GB memory Requires MC v4.0.5 or NC v8.0.5 or higher.

  1 Apple 17″ Macbook Pro – Avid Qualified $2,650.00
  MacBook Pro 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 17” display, 4 GB 1066MHz DDR3, 250GB ATA 7200 rpm drive, NVidia GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT.

  Any help would be more than beneficial. I mean should I make the leap to Mac now that it has the capability to run the windows operating system as well? Which laptop will give me more bang for my buck? Is the extra $1,325 worth it?

  Thanks,
  S. Gilligan

  Joe Womble replied 15 years, 11 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Joe Womble

  June 2, 2010 at 3:07 pm

  You are going to be happy with either of these machines. The i7 and 8GB RAM will make the HP a speed demon, but the Mac is no slouch either.

  What it would come down to for me is if the other software I owned and needed to run on the Avid machine was exclusively Mac or PC. Adobe Creative Suites, for instance, while available for either platform, come to be installed on one or the other, not both (like Avid). 🙁 If I had Mac only software that was important for me to run on the Avid machine, I’d opt for the Mac.

  You could prolly downgrade the PC’s processor and RAM to save money, but the time saved IS money, IMHO.

  Regards,

  Joe Womble
• 

  Bigred

  June 2, 2010 at 3:18 pm

  Joe,

  Thanks for your input. I am upgrading all of my software as well, so whichever computer I purchase, I will purchase the software for either PC or Mac. All of my software is from when I purchased my first editing machine back in 2004 so I have Photoshop 7 and Encore 1.5. It is time to become current again. Does this give you any more of an idea on which way I should lean?

  Thanks,
  Steve
• 

  Joe Womble

  June 2, 2010 at 4:11 pm

  Steve,

  You are going to be good either way. If you are currently Mac-based, and rarely get on a PC, stay Mac. And vice versa. I am a long time PC user, never worked on any modern Macs until recently. I’m now comfortable on both platforms, and learning Mac has opened me up to loads more options and capabilities, including FCP.

  If final output quality differences worry you, don’t let it. Both hardware manufacturers are good to deal with on warranty issues. Third party HD monitoring support on both platforms now supported. Avid keyboards, Wacom tablets and external monitors take away many of the hardware variables. Pick the OS you are the most comfortable with for when you need to peak under the hood, and edit some great programs!

  Joe

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