Processor quiery

I'm thinking of getting Premiere Elements on my Advent laptop. But, the specs say you need a 1.8GHZ processor, and I've only got 1.6GHZ. Can I get away with this?



Cheers,



Andrew.
Processor quiery
What are you editing? If your source material is DV-AVI captured over firewire then it should be fine but a little slow. Companies always understate the minimum computer spec. However if you are using any other format the editing experience will be frustrating.



How old is the laptop??? If it is recent I should have thought it would be a dual-core 1.6GHz processor (T1600) in which case it would be fine.
Processor quiery
thanks Paul,



it's a 2005 Advent laptop. with AMD Sempron. I bumped up the RAM recently to 1.2GB.



Any joy?

...and yes, just DV-AVI with firewire.

The only issue is if the Sempron supports SSE2 which is required for PE7. I guess you would need to know the specific processor type to confirm this.

My two cents: I think that computer is marginal at best for video editing. Particularly being a laptop, which tend to be built more for portability than speed, my prediction would be that you would find editing with Premiere Elements on that machine nothing but frustrating. (And that's assuming the unlikelihood that it's good the hundreds of gigabytes of free space on the hard drive necessary for work files.)



Also, Paul's point is important. The program won't likely run on that processor because it lacks the basic instruction set.

Yeah cool. Thanks Steve and Paul.



I'll probably ditch this idea. I couldn't even get it doing Sony Vegas editing very well, so I guess it's time to get a new laptop! (I need a laptop rather than desktop because I need to be portable and quickly access and upload with my job.)



If it's not too much to ask, what are the things to look for in laptops that'll be good for video editing? It'll be for web TV, so I don't necessarily need HD capability.



Cheers,



Andrew.

If you're not going to edit HDV, you can probably use our recommended specs, which should definitely be available in any off-the-shelf desktop. (Go with our recommendations, not Adobe's minimums.)

http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b699a8/8



With laptops, you may want to study the specs. Since hardware in laptops tends to cost as much as 50% more than a similar set-up on desktop, there are a lot of lower-tech laptops out there that really aren't good for much more than basic office work and internet browsing.



With Vista, get a good dual-core 2.5 ghz or better with 3 or 4 gigs of RAM. And you'll need lots of hard drive space, so either get one with a big (500 gig?) hard drive or buy a USB-connected drive for your video files.



And, finally, don't forget that your video source is a key element in this equation. MiniDV camcorders are the best for interfacing with PC-based video editors. (Ironically, they're also the least expensive!) Other formats, like hard drive and DVD camcorders, may be more convenient to shoot with -- but, when it comes time to editing, they don't interface nearly as neatly with programs like Vegas, Premiere Elements or even iMovie and Final Cut.



And, if you need a great book to guide you through all this and tell you everything you could want to know about the software, be sure to check out ''The Muvipix.com Guide to Premiere Elements 7'', available at Amazon.com and through the Muvipix store at http://astore.amazon.com/chuckengelsco-20/detail/0615248993/104-3709942-5611121



That author, Steve Grisetti, really knows his stuff!

Andrew,



Take a look at:

http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=29175%26amp;action=customize (watch for line breaks)



I use this laptop and it flys. Use this as an upper benchmark and work down from there to spec. yours. Though Sager sells more to the high-end gaming market, their units are great for NLE work (except for a 17'' screen, when one is used to dual 21'' monitors!).



The multiple hard drives are a real bonus. Sager cases hold up to three. Mine is 3x 200GB SATA II, but I'll bet that they offer 3x 500GB SATA II's by now.



Good luck,



Hunt