Thinkpad for video editing

Have you considered NAS (network attached storage)? Any laptop/computer on the network would have access to it and at LAN speed instead of USB or Firewire. I use a Buffalo lan station and it has 400 gig of extra hard disk space. They come in larger sizes, if needed. Since they have a network card built in, all you have to do is plug them in to your router or switch and they are available to all users.

USB and firewire storage is so yesterday!

Firewire is a standard input device for most digital video cameras. If you dont need that you should be fine, but Id get a model with firewire just to have the option open.

The z61p has firewire.

Do you really need the slim form factor of the Thinkpad for pro video editing? If you do, you do.... but

If it just needs to be "portable" (you move it ocassionally, but carrying it around is not part of the daily routine, I'd look at the big Sager/Clevo's...... Power, features, upgradable.... stronger graphic cards, more air space in the case so the cooling is probably superior..... But they aren't sexy, mobile, "do professional video editing, rendering or animation on the beach" type machines.... unless you brought an electric generator. They use nVidia cards as I recall....

But they are "portable" machines that target the pro video market... If you haven't looked at them, you might.

For slim form, battery life and Firewire, you could also look at the HP mobile workstations, like the nw8440... I don't know what the "build quality, and "feel" of those machines is like, (I'm typing this on a Consumer HP.... and I'd assume their high end boxes are better than this --and this isn't bad... not a thinkpad, but not bad

Anyway they just got a very nice review in Cadalyst magazine for being a good a CAD Station, running the same ATI v5200 card that's in the T60p --and they praised the battery life.

Someone else in the thread already mentioned a x series Thinkpad with a 1394a port....

After that... it's a Dell M series....

Or actually get a Mac

In all honesty... I'm surprised there STILL isn't firewire on the T series machines... it's crazy not to have it.... I'm sure it's coming

Until then, if you are 100% sure you want a Thinkpad, you could get a PCMCIA card supporting firewire for the laptop, and I think the the minidock has a PCMCIA slot as well

honestly video editing and macs are almost synonimous, i mean come on they made the whole shrek2 movie on a mac. But I agree with whomung's post. Unless you're set on a thinkpad, there are many other options that wont leave you with buyer's remorse wishing you had bought a laptop with firewire or the most powerful gpu.

at the end of the day,,,,, the hardware and even the OS is just an extension cord..... the application software is what you want to run. that's the actual power tool

IMO The purpose of your machine, and what hardware the preferred software vendors recommend for use should decide your extrension cord" Then get the best you can that gives you a balanced system

Looking at Video specifically.... there's a few options.... depending on your needs,.... I'd bet you'd like a full on Mac (I'm going for a dual boot on the T60p) ..... I'm sure the Sagers scream...... the HP's aren't THAT different than the thinkpads in features, but have fire wire....

but the video card, and setting up the drives is a deal, so do your homework