Friday, Feb 10, 2006 at 14:52
Yes, you should be able to do this without a problem.
You may need some editing software though.
I think
Pinnacle Studio software is fairly intuitive. Do some research on video editing software prior to purchasing it.
I'd suggest that you make sure when you select a laptop that it has a built in DVD burner. Preferrably a dual layer burner; you may not "need" it now, but if you keep the laptop for a few year, it will no doubt be required eventually.
Also ensure that you buy an S-video out cable (if not supplied with the notebook), so that you can play from the laptop direct to the TV.
I bought a 12V handycam battery charger that charges the video camcorder batteries from the car's socket whilst driving, this way you can take a fair bit of footage; you can also run the handycam direct from the vehicle's power supply if need be, good for some in-car 4WD footage without draining batteries.
if you create mpeg/avi files, you can embed these into a powerpoint presentation fairly seemlessly and produce a very impressive little presentation.
Laptop choice?
depending on budget, Look at a Panasonic Toughbook, moving around witha laptop, you're likely to drop it, and these things are tough.
Second choice would be a Toshiba.
My Fujitsu Lifebook P7010 is great, but I travel a lot for work, and wanted a 10.1" laptop that weighes in at about 1kg, plays DVDs, takes all formats of photo cards (with some adaptors), has an excellent display and the battery life is also very good (about 4hours, without the extended battery). Oh yeah - this functionality is not cheap - $3800, but I need it for work, so it's an expense :))
I also like small laptops; the new Fujitsu P1510 looks like a great travelling laptp/tablet hydbrid. Don't let the small text put you off if you're looking at one in the
shop - you can increase this easily.
For unburstabilitiy, go for the Toughbook
For a great all-rounder go for the Toshiba, or the Fujitsu, sorry if all the options I have mentioend are expensive, but I firmly believe you get what you pay for with laptops, and buy an extended warranty if you can, along with at least 1GB of RAM for video editing
Cheers,
Dave
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