Dear reader,

I apologize beforehand for bringing up a subject that I'm sure has been and still is being discussed to death. I've just gotten myself into the whole editing aspect of video making and I'm quite confused over a few matters. I realize there is plenty of guides and tutorials out there which can help my cause, but I ask you humbly for some guidance in the right direction.

I've understand that you can help me better if you know the exact specs of things, so here it goes

Camera: Canon 7D (Shooting in full res)
Computer: A crappy old Dell Laptop with 4gb ram, Intel core duo 2.40 ghz with Windows 7. (Dell studio 15)
Program: Premiere CS5.

I've heard CS5 is only for cutting edge computers, so already there is an error.

Basically, the problem is quite simple. A 10 second clip directly from my camera into the program is barely workable (Very choppy). Rendering the work-area for just 10 seconds takes around three to five minutes. So in a nutshell, what can I do for it to be at least doable?

Can I convert the footage to something less crazy, and maybe do an "offline-cut"?
I'm only looking to upload the footage to Vimeo, so it might not need to be the craziest quality. Although the crispier the better of course.

Bare in mind that I'm very new to this, so I'm not good with the lingo so to speak. Any help is highly appreciated.

Ps.

I realize the simple answer is: Get a better computer. I suspect however that a good enough laptop will cost me heaps.

Thanks a lot for your time.

Well, There are many more people more qualified than I am but I wanted to respond because I also have a Dell Studio, which has been an outstanding laptop for me. I have Premiere on my Desktop, after reading through some forums I installed the trial version of Sony Vegas on my laptop just out of curiosity, I was surprised by how stable it was. I expected a complete freeze but it performed very well. I didnt spend alot of time on it because I dont need to edit on my laptop but if I did I would start with Sony Vegas. I have read good things about Edius also, but I have no experience with it.
Good luck.

Buy cineform neo. It is a great codec with an utility to convert almost everything.
since the price goes down to $299 it is very affordable.
the advantages are:
You will work with only one codec, whatever the video comes from (mpeg2, mpeg4, quicktime)
It is fast even on slow PC.
other people would be able to read it (mac and PC) by installing the free read-only codec.
it is pretty well adapted to premiere (from Cs3 to Cs5)
it comes with an utility called Firstlight allowing to work with LUT (nice for the technicolor profile in canon DSLR)
It is able to handle 3D
It allows you to convert 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 or better for enhanced color correction.

Drawback is the file are considerably bigger (about 4 times bigger than usual ) , but since diskspace is cheap this is not really a problem.

Try lowering the playback resolution to 1/2 or less. Right click on the Program panel and choose>Playback Resolution>1/2

Buy cineform neo. It is a great codec with an utility to convert almost everything.
since the price goes down to $299 it is very affordable.
the advantages are:
You will work with only one codec, whatever the video comes from (mpeg2, mpeg4, quicktime)
It is fast even on slow PC.
other people would be able to read it (mac and PC) by installing the free read-only codec.
it is pretty well adapted to premiere (from Cs3 to Cs5)
it comes with an utility called Firstlight allowing to work with LUT (nice for the technicolor profile in canon DSLR)
It is able to handle 3D
It allows you to convert 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 or better for enhanced color correction.

Drawback is the file are considerably bigger (about 4 times bigger than usual ) , but since diskspace is cheap this is not really a problem.

Dude, cineform was kick-ass. Thank you a lot for the suggestion, I can edit flawlessly now (even with an outdated laptop)