Thread: Laptop Editing: Remotely?

Hi,

My first topic so hi everyone...

I'm returning from my honeymoon in about 2 months and want to sort out my underpowered and aging computer situation at home.

I'm definitely having a server for general storage (to feed to wife's laptop, HTPC, etc...) and I would ideally like the portability of my own laptop (probably a MacBook Pro) however I realise the limitations that laptops have for space/power/resources/upgradability.

I'm loathed to have to buy myself a laptop AND a desktop on as my budget isn't infinite so I was wondering if there was any way to utilise the storage on my server for the raw captures but then do the actual edit on the laptop across the network giving me the flexibility I need.

I hope that makes sense. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Andy

Yes, there's theoretically no reason you couldn't do this over a fast wired network (I have no trouble streaming DV files over my ethernet connection and you could also link by means of a firewire cable). However the bandwidth required for realtime editing of DV files would perhaps be too great for a wireless connection.

If it's a space issue, the most pratical solution would be to get a standard harddrive and fit this to a firewire external enclosure.

Hi Marc,

Thanks for the reply. I've been thinking about these issues further and popped into the local AppleCenter here in Melbourne for a bit of a chin-wag with the reps there.

Upon reflection of the problems, I think I'm going to change my approach slightly and invest in an iMAC desktop as my primary "work" machine (for editing, photo editing, music production etc...) and utilise the 500GB storage for the realtime edits and then keep my captures etc... on external firewire hard disks as you suggest.

Then I'll just try and pick up a cheap laptop (probably Windows) for remote internet surfing, screenwriting and messing around on. It's not the ideal situation for my wallet but I figure that if your going to spend out money, its better to make sure you get it right even if you have to spend a bit more.

Thanks
Andy