Ok, i could really use some real advice on this area. i have two systems, one desktop and the other a fujitsu N3000 laptop.
they both have the same specifications which i have included, and i use an external 80gig firewire drive. i just edited on the desktop and everything came out fairly smooth. but now that i have an even faster laptop w/ a 64m video card and the same amount of ram (512). the system continually hangs and even crashes on my laptop. i couldn't even capture properly without getting dropped frames. i had to use microsoft's movie maker to capture my footage and import everything into adobe. after importing, i found it difficult for premiere to even scroll up and down on my bin without hanging for quite some time. the playback also hangs when i try to scrub it. i can't even put two simple cuts without it crashing. furthermore, even, though no effects have been put in the timeline, adobe re-renders everything everytime i just try to play back my timeline.
what is going on? this laptop is faster than my desktop. is this a memeory problem or an issue with the "import" capability w/ adobe or what? anyone know?
here are the specs on my laptop (my desktop is identical except that it is 2.6 gig mhz and a little lower virtual memory.) any help would be great. is there a way i can contact adobe???
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 1 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name LION
System Manufacturer FUJITSU
System Model FPC06005AK
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ?2788 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix/FUJITSU 1.04, 6/26/2003
SMBIOS Version 2.31
Windows Directory C:WINDOWS
System Directory C:WINDOWSSystem32
Boot Device DeviceHarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)"
User Name LIONOwner
Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 315.11 MB
Total Virtual Memory 1.72 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.36 GB
Page File Space 1.22 GB
Page File C:pagefile.sys
The problem most likely is with the fact that your laptop isn't actually faster than your desktop, rather it's considerably slower. Even though the CPU speed may be higher, it is quite likely that it uses Intel's mobile Pentium chip. These chips perform significantly slower than the equivilent desktop version (saves power etc).
The other cause for concern will be your drives. Again, for reasons of power/weight saving, manufacturers of drives for laptops may make some sacrifices in the speed department in order to meet the necessities of plugging the drive into the laptop. It is quite likely that your laptop's OS drive is also considerably slower than a comparable desktop drive.
As for your external drive... it may be firewire but has it been designated as suitable for digital video editing by the manufacturer? If not, then this too is probably a major constibuting factor to the problem. Unfortunately not all firewire drives are suitable for editing work.
All in all, it's best to steer away from laptops for editing unless the manufacturer specifically says that the system has been designed for it. Your average laptop just isn't up to the task due to the hardware compromises that are required to deliver portability.
Ben C.
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filmmaking.net
(Incorporating the Internet Filmmaker's FAQ)
Please note the opinions expressed here are those of the author only and do not constitute legal advice. The author cannot accept and liability whatsoever for inaccurate or outdated information contained within.
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Benjamin Craig
Editor-in-Chief, filmmaking.net
