Thoughts on computer dilema

[Aku]

So i'm heading into first year of uni and starting 2nd year i'll be studying film produciton. i'll need to spend about 3 grand and buy a brand new macbook next year beacuse the school only teaches in final cut studio so i was wondering if i should just buy a $700 laptop now and just use that (not sure how good it will be for editing my portfolio short flicks) and then once i get into that major get the new awesome macbook.

[HBlack]

You're best off going to dvxuser.com or a similar forum for something like this.

If it helps at all, I'm using a pentium D with 2GB ram. Editing standard def I can run premiere, after effects and audition comfortably at the same time with little lag, but with HD it's one graphics program at a time, and even then I'd like it to be substantially more powerful.

I'd lean towards getting the nicest laptop possible which has potential for upgrading without buying anything else first, because you're going to get shit resale on the $700 if you buy that. Again though, your requirements depend on what kind of footage you're putting through it.

Screen size is something else to consider. If it were me I'd get something small so it could be used as an on-site capture deck/monitor, then hook it up to a substantially sized monitor for editing. Something to consider.

[dismalfuture]

I'd lean towards getting the nicest laptop possible which has potential for upgrading without buying anything else first, because you're going to get shit resale on the $700 if you buy that.

If he takes care of it, the shitty $700 laptop, if a mac, would depreciate less than a brand new high-end laptop... buying in at $700 on a used MacBook or something now would mean little to no loss if you go and try to sell it in a year...

[HBlack]

Ha, didn't know that. Was just assuming from general computer resale rates I've seen.

Getting the cheaper one first might not be such a bad idea actually. That would let you leave the more powerful one as a dedicated editing computer, meaning you'd get more performance from it when it's not bogged down with shit.

But yeah, I know shit about macs.