I am looking into getting a macbook pro to run FCP. I already have a Mac Pro for our main editing jobs, but I want to be able to do some work on the road as well. What are some system requirements I need to look at? I will be working in HDV for now and using an external drive. TIA

- 7200rpm system drive, preferably 500GB
- minimum 256MB video RAM, more is better for Color, Motion, and super-hi-res files
- minimum 4GB RAM, max out if possible
- PC Express Card port if you want to use external eSATA drives - available only on 17" MBP

other nice options
- eSata swappable drive enclosure
- mini-display port adapters for external monitors
- extra 9-pin to 4-pin firewire cables (they're very hard to find when traveling)

The above post pretty much sums up your requirements with the MacBook Pro workflow but I have had problems with eSata cards on a previous gen 2.53 MacBook Pro causing kernel panics. It's important to find a model which has very recent drivers available.

A 7200 system drive is not 'essential' but a nice luxury. The applications don't require 7200rpm, and I've had more trouble with a faster, hotter drives than there is gain of the extra rpms.

You can edit from a FireWire 800 drive very happily, it is more than fast enough. Just be sure you choose a trusted brand. I have had many years of good service from LaCie D2 Quadra drives.

I have a stock 2009 13" Mac Book Pro with 4gigs of Ram and can edit just fine with FCP. Mostly shoot weddings with 2 cameras (NX5U AVCHD) and 4-8 tracks on the timeline. I use an external FW800 HD as my scratch drive. Rendering can take a while but I just let if run overnight when needed.

Thanks for the input. We ended up buying a 15" 2.8 ghz, 4gb ram, and 500gb drive(5400) with a 512mb graphic card.