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DIT Laptops Mac and PC

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David Baumber

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This has probably been covered elsewhere but I'm unable to find the answer.
I'm looking to set up a NEW DIT laptop (having completed a DIT course and looking to buy RED ONE and EPIC).

In our Post studio we are 95% PC based with one shiny MAC in the corner. Is there a major difference between the MACBOOK Pro and PC based laptop? Is anyone out there reliably using for instance a HP notebook?

With USB 3.0 now starting to roll out - it doesn't look like MAC will be supporting this for some time in their laptop range whereas PC based laptops will have this option very soon.

Any comments and opinions greatly appreciated.
 
i heard someone's using hp's dreamcolor laptop with success. pricey, but you get probably THE best display in a laptop for the money.
 
though there is support for windows for redcini, the fact that there is such a varity of different brands components and drivers involved means that it may not work perfectly or at all on every device.

Mac is better supported by red and there are alot of people using that system and the hardware is more or less a fixed factor, so if there are any issues it would be easier to find a solution. there is also alot of other third party programs supported on mac only that help with data management.

you have to find a laptop that has enough bus power, and data throughput, plenty of ram and a good CPU to play back the rushes, good monitor. good support if it goes wrong and needs fixing

as far as i'm aware you don't get fire wire 800 on PC laptops or there uncommon, which is needed if you got to keep up with more than one camera.

I know you could find a windows solution to do the job, but i think the lack of support might bite you in the ass later, and a Mac book pro is a proven system that works.

though i always considered this setup as a lightweight option for low budget deals. and a MAC pro with Riad array, UPS, and large monitor etc as a proper station.

you can download some software for you windows machines so they can read mac formatted drives. and mac can read NTFS dives. (you can also run windows on mac should you want or need to)

I'm a hybrid user of mac and PC's so I'm not saying this with any fan boy point of view, and objective to all the factors to think about.
 
Thanks Tom. With that in mind, is anyone out there successfully using a PC laptop and if so I'd love to know the model and configuration.
 
David Baumber said:
Thanks Tom. With that in mind, is anyone out there successfully using a PC laptop and if so I'd love to know the model and configuration.
Click to expand...

Id just go with Macbook pro and if you really think you need windows then use Parallels or Boot camp. The apple kit is well supported in terms of IO but not sure about USB 3.

If you really do want a PC then check out 1 Beyond's offerings for location workstations.
 
I highly doubt you'll see USB 3 on a mac anytime soon... If you go for a PC laptop, you'll be limited to windows.. If you go for the MacBook Pro, you could always install Windows on Boot Camp or Parallels/VMWare Fusion (like the post says above).. You'll get the full range of RED Software on a mac. You might as well get the Mac so you can have the best of both worlds!
 
What's this business, though, where the Red drive doesn't mount on a Mac and I've been told that formatting on a PC is the best solution. What's that all about?
 
Of course the RED Drive mounts on a mac... It's best to format the drive on the camera... But there are some utilities that assist in formatting on a Mac such as R3D Data Manager...
 
Nah man, drive not viewable in terminal. mounts on camera, can shoot but no love on the mac. Apparently, cos this is what I've been told by a fella at Red Europe and a DIT, If one formats it on a pc - FAT32 or whatever- then format on camera then it can mount on mac.
 
Thomas Wright said:
Nah man, drive not viewable in terminal. mounts on camera, can shoot but no love on the mac. Apparently, cos this is what I've been told by a fella at Red Europe and a DIT, If one formats it on a pc - FAT32 or whatever- then format on camera then it can mount on mac.
Click to expand...

I mount red drives on mac almost every day. We have lots of them and not a single one of our DITs runs a windows system. If fact we did one shoot with 24 different red drives all running through 4 mac laptops. So I say, "nah man... red drives are totally fine on mac."
 
Ditto that, Eric.
Never a problem with my Macbook Pro.
I wouldn't even know what to do with a Windows computer...
Cheers,
Harry
 
Thanks everyone. I just purchased a refurbished 17 inch 2.8ghz duo core from the Apple store saving mucho $dollars. I've also gone for 8GB RAM for extra zing. I appreciate all your comments and look forward to DIT'ing soon!
 
We have recently had problems with our drives mounting to a Mac. They mount fine on a PCm but not a Mac. Very strange. Happens intermittently also.
 
Was one 320GB drive, other drives were fine. I wouldn't know what to do with a PC either and haven't had a problem with my mac, this is just something that happened to a fella I know and wanted to know if anyone had experienced a similar problem, like Alex, and if red might know why that was.
 
Alex Upegui said:
We have recently had problems with our drives mounting to a Mac. They mount fine on a PCm but not a Mac. Very strange. Happens intermittently also.
Click to expand...

This usually comes up when the Hard drives are not eject from the PC's. Mount them on a PC and eject them properly , and then connect the to a MAC. It has worked for me
 
Thomas Wright said:
Nah man, drive not viewable in terminal. mounts on camera, can shoot but no love on the mac. Apparently, cos this is what I've been told by a fella at Red Europe and a DIT, If one formats it on a pc - FAT32 or whatever- then format on camera then it can mount on mac.
Click to expand...

Both windows and macs, can through up problems mounting from time to time. but this is not a mac or pc issue, but a general one and can be solved if you know how.

Fat32 is fully supported by both Windows and mac, and you can format a drive on a mac to Fat32 as you can on a PC.


Fat32 is limited to having files no grater in size then 4gb, hence why the r3d are broken up on long takes, but is a widely supported format.

Though I know of a issue that causes the mac/PC to not mount the drive and what they could have been asking you to do was a low level format of the drive. but you can do that on a mac too. I think you been miss informed some where.


J. Eric Camp said:
I mount red drives on mac almost every day. We have lots of them and not a single one of our DITs runs a windows system. If fact we did one shoot with 24 different red drives all running through 4 mac laptops. So I say, "nah man... red drives are totally fine on mac."
Click to expand...

I agree as i said in my post above, Mac are the best platform once you weigh up all your options and consider all the parameters involved. this comes as I said before from the stand point of right tool, right job. Not a false sense of loyalty to a brand.
 
I just finished a feature and had one issue with a red drive. It wouldn't mount on Snow Leopard, Leopard or Win Vista.

But it mounted on a Win XP machine fine. Everything was saved. I reluctantly put the drive back in rotation with the A Camera and no problems after that.

After that issue, it's a must to carry both OS's on set if you're a Digi Loader.
 
Monty did you try resetting the drive permissions? some times when a drive is unplugged incorrectly theses can be messed up. but you can run windows on a mac, ie VM ware, no need to go to the extra cost of another machine.
 
Hey Tom, I installed boot camp after the fact. I hadn't thought of running VM. Also, did not reset the permissions. Just plugged it in 400 and came right up. Great idea nonetheless!
 
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