On Jan 29, 2005, at 8:10 AM, Larry le Mac wrote:
I use a PowerBook G4 Alu 15" for everything, incl. Photoshop and the funny thing is that more and more people do, so I personally doubt the 2.5" disk is a problem...
For the most part the 4200 RPM drive in my PowerBook G4 1.5 GHz is a perfectly adequate, but that is not entirely the case. I primarily notice it in iMovie. iMovie on my PowerBook is pretty much unbearable to use. For small projects it's fine, but once you start getting into the 10 minute or more range of video, my PowerMac G4 Dual-533 with 7200 RPM drive is dramatically faster. Way faster. Not for rendering effects - that is a bit faster on the PowerBook. Where it is slow is if you have a clip or two selected and then unselect. What happens is then the video pane "displays" the entire project instead of just a clip or two (of course it's only showing a still frame - I'm not really sure how to describe what I'm talking about - it's that it has to display the slider below the video pane, which now encompasses the whole project). Switching from a single clip or two to the whole 10 minutes of a project can take something on the order of 10 to 15 seconds on my Powerbook and it feels even longer. You can't do anything until it completes. What makes this over the top unbearable is that it is quite easy to accidentally unselect. Talk about frustrating! In contrast my PowerMac G4 Dual-533 with 7200 RPM drive switches to the whole view in about a second. Everything else about the Powerbook is faster, so it is clearly the hard drive that is the problem.
So if you're wanting to work with iMovie on a Mac mini and don't plan on working exclusively on 2 or 3 minute projects, you'll definitely want to replace the hard drive with a 7200 RPM or at least 5400 RPM drive.
Steve
-- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! |
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com
