I currently use Mac equipment, but most of what I do is Windows-based. Although Macs can run Windows under Boot Camp, but there are some shortcomings in practice, the main ones being poor Boot Camp support for FireWire and ExpressCard:
- On a Mac Pro bought in 2008:
- FW800 port works OK with an external FW800 hard disk unit, but is unable to drive specialist audio/video equipment.
- On a MacBook bought at the beginning of 2010:
- The FW port is unusable, even for an external hard disk unit. If I try to use it, it works initially then (e.g. after a GB or two) the FW driver crashes and remains offline.
- The ExpressCard port does not function.
- Interestingly, placing a Sony SxS video-recording card in the ExpressCard slot causes the operating system (Windows) to search for a matching driver. However the card never appears in Windows Explorer. Frustratingly “almost there but not quite”…
So Boot Camp is really limitated as regards Windows-based video editing!
As an alternative to Boot Camp, I tried running windows as a virtual machine under the Mac OS application Parallels. Rendering is surprisingly efficient under this regime, almost 100% of Boot Camp speed, but I found that:
- FireWire is not supported (at least not in the version I tried)
- Crashes were not too frequent, but they were more frequent, than under Boot Camp.
So maybe I should try it the other way round! It is possible to run Mac OS on a Windows PC via an “umbrella scheme” called Hackintosh, whereby various softwares (not called Hackintosh) make the PC look sufficiently like a Mac to allow Mac OS to be installed and booted.
So what kind of PC?
- Ideally I’d like a “luggable”, say with 24 inch screen and 8 cores.
- But it can be a fraught business choosing equipment that is compatible with the major NLEs etc.
- So I took a look at a renowned expert-seller of such equipment, namely DVC. They offer the HP EliteBook 17″ HP8760W with Quadro 3000 graphic card (suitable for Avid & Adobe Premiere Pro):
Examining the potential of that laptop:
- CPU: It is an i7 with 4 cores, 2.3GHz with turbo up to 3.4 GHz
- GPU: The Quadro 3000, which has 240 pipelines, 2GB memory, and consumes 75W.
- It can run Hackintosh > Mac OS
- Hackintosh: How-To: http://nofilmschool.com/build-a-hackintosh/
- Google: [HP 8760w hackintosh]
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf7rCFCzsPs
- Hp Elitebook 8740w with Mac OSX Lion 10.7.1 installed
- Very smooth performance, no display glitches
- With Lion, unlike Snow Leopard, the USB ports work.
- Also the FireWire, Webcam, BlueTooth work.
- {Though from experience I’d want to test that FireWire}
- However the following do not work: Track-pad, Fingerprint-reader, Card reader, WiFi.
- WiFi is partially fixable by using a USB adaptor, but its bandwidth would then be constrained (?)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf7rCFCzsPs
So that laptop is a definite contender…
Googling further on that model, it becomes apparent that it is available in a variety of customizations:
- GPU as DVC mention
- Display – “ordinaire” or DreamColor (highly accurate, broad range)
- Ports
- http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02838571/c02838571.pdf
- Networking, Webcam, ExpressCard, SmartCards, 1394 (FireWire) Devices, eSATA, Serial, GPS, ?.
- http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02838571/c02838571.pdf
If I do go for that model, I shall most likely purchase it from DVC, even if I can find it cheaper elsewhere. I’d rather not take the risk of some subtle error and want to help keep them in business for the future!