Is this laptop fast enough for HV20?

[Kurt8]

I'm close to purchasing the Canon HV20. I use Vegas 7 on the following laptop:

IBM Thinpad R51
Centrino 1.6 GHz
1 GB RAM
160 GB 5400 HD
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB Graphics
Windows XP Pro SP2

This laptop has served me well with normal DV footage shot on a Canon GL1. It has run rock solid for the past two years. Should I even attempt to edit footage from the HV20 on this machine? I just want to know what I'm getting myself into by purchasing this camera.

Thanks in advance.

Kurt

[peljack]

Oh lordy, editing HDV on a machine with only 1G of mem and a 5400 rpm hard drive to boot?

Since you already have the machine and the NLE, try to find some raw HV20 HDV footage and then do some edits. I tried that with my Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop (specs quite similar to yours), and it was stutter city. I bought a desktop and I'm doing much better now.

[hvheinz]

Hi Kurt,
I would not recommend this.
You will need power on your machine......
otherwise your coffee consumption will be indefinite..

[Kurt8]

I should have been more specific about the HD. The 160GB 5400 is the internal drive and I don't have to use it for the video files. Would the following upgrades to my machine make a difference or am I still trying the impossible here:

1. run a much faster video drive externally via USB 2 or firewire

2. upgrade the RAM to 2 GB

I was actually most worried about the processor speed and the graphics card since these are more difficult to upgrade, but so far no one has mentioned those as being a problem.

Kurt