Does anyone know where the apple stores are around Taipei ( no smartarsed comments please, I’ve checked the fruit and vege stands). Also does anyone know how much the imacs are going for in Taiwan. Looking into something that can handle a bit of editing, and apple seems to be the word. Cheers Amos.
Video editing, I assume? There’s a whole thread on this somewhere else on segue I’m sure.
Here is a list of dealers. There used to be another dealer on Dingzhou Rd. on the second floor of the building across the street from the Dongnanya theater. The shop was calle Pingguo Youshi and the owner’s name is Randall. He usually offered cheaper prices than the ones available at the bigger dealers. I have no idea if he is still in business though. Maikewu on Xinsheng S. Rd. across from Taida has been in business for many years.
I love macs–especailly now that they run a BSD-based operating system. However, owning a Mac in Taiwan is expensive and a hassle.
WHERE?
- There’s a small vendor on one of the upper floors in Nova across from the Taipei Main Station.
- There’s a very small vendor on Bade Road at Guang Hua Guang Chang (in the middle of all the laptop vendors).
- There’s a healthy shop a few streets behind Shitda MTC, parallel to Hoping Road (Sorry, I forget the name of the street. Probably your best bet for window shopping.).
- There’s a reputable distributor called “MacServe Technologies” at http://www.macserve.com.tw (A lot of companies, like my former one, purchase from them).
EDITING?
What kind of editing are you talking about? Image editing? Video editing? In any case, I’m familiar with the consumer and professional applications with Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X.
PRICES
Expect to pay a couple hundred more for hardware in Taiwan. I usually buy my Mac hardware in the States and bring it over. I don’t declare it as it is my personal computer. Mac laptops (PowerBook, iBook) have international warranties, so the warranty is honored here in Taiwan. The same is not true (as I remember) for desktop systems. I’ve also had a systetm shipped UPS to Taiwan. However, Taiwan collects duty on it. Although, even with shipping costs, it still came out slightly cheaper.
You’re thinking of the Apple Center on Jinhua St a few doors west of the intersection of Lishui St. This is a good place for window shopping, and they have classes on video editing and the like.
Costco is also selling an imac. not sure on the specs tho.
I bought my current Powerbook from http://www.blueapple.com.tw/ while at a tradeshow. When you include the extras, the price was fine; the service so so. I believe their store is in the Dunhua Eslite building. I bought my Cube from a fly by night operation for a ridiculously low price. I haven’t heard of them since. I have no idea where we buy our Macintoshs at work - probably whoever bids the lowest price.
Otherwise I do all my shopping at Smalldog. They have good prices on refurbished products and the service level, for an online store, is quite high.
May I suggest that the Mac presents the best platform for video editing, not necessarily because it is an Apple, but that the software for it is great. My brother is a professional television commercial editor. He uses the Avid, but that is kind of expensive for ameatuers. He claims that Final Cut Pro is around 1K and has all the professional features with the ease of a Mac. In the industry, only these two programs are really used on a Mac. A PC is not widely used in professional video editing. However, I used to work for Ulead and have some exposure to Media Studio Pro for the PC … if you do decide to go with a PC.
A Taiwanese mate of mine bought a Mac notebook 2ndhand off the internet (b.b.s) here in Taiwan. I’m not sure which model it was, but I’d have to guess it was a G3 or G4. He checked the net for about a month before the one he wanted popped up. I think it was about 2 months old, and he paid about $36,000 for it. The retail price was about $75,000.
He bought it off a Taiwanese woman who thought the Mac was too troublesome due to the unavailability of certain software…
Anyway, he’s had the computer for nearly a year now. No probs…
Let me know if you want any info about it and I’ll try to ask.
Cheers,
The Big Babou,
So Jeremy and others, would a notebook like the one Babsy suggested be able to handle all the room required for video editing? I’m quite happy to go the way of a pc, but I’ve also got two mates who want to do some work of their own. Their problem is that they want a notebook, not a desktop, which would enable them to edit and produce etc whilst travelling. I know some lappies can handle editing, but are very time consuming. What do you think about the Apple notebooks? Thanks, Amos.
I had a co-worker that had an I-mac, what a hassle to get software for the thing.
There are dozens of Mac vendors around Taiwan where you can get software – just like you would for a PC.
If you’re looking for one in Taibei, try MacCare: 8931-2013. They’re friendly and speak English very well and won’t be offended if you speak (your crappy) Chinese.
Their shop is convenient from both the Gong Guan and Wanlung stations.
They also make a decent latt
All of Apple’s computers are ready to do video editing. They all come with FireWire (IEEE 1394) ports. This includes the desktop Power Mac, iBook, iMac and PowerBook. If your Sony camcorder model comes with an iLINK port, Sony’s version of IEEE 1394, then you are set to do DV editing. If you have an older non-DV camcorder, then that is really a different story, kind of complicated then … It doesn’t really make sense then to do editing on a laptop for sure.
If you are a serious ameatuer, I would not suggest getting the iBook. It can do the job, but it is a bit underpowered with a G3 processor. I would suggest the other Power Mac, PowerBook or iMac (new flat panel 17 inch version). They all have G4 processors of varying clock speeds.
My favorite recommendation is the PowerBook. This is the most serious machine on the market for any kind of ameatuer video editing on the go. It doesn’t limit you by being a laptop. It supports dual monitors out of the box (meaning the LCD and another external monitor). On top of that it can output a S-Video signal to a TV/NTSC monitor. The new 1GHz PowerBook now comes with a SuperDrive (like the Power Mac and iMac), allowing it to burn DVDs on the go … I believe the first laptop on the market to have a DVD burner. The PowerBook is a beautiful machine. Makes me want to cry. However, it costs a pretty penny (around USD 3K). In that case, you are good to go with the above mentioned iMac. The iMac will give you the best deal in an all-in-one package without having to buy a separate monitor for the Power Mac or foot the heafty bill for the PowerBook.
There’s also the eMac with a G4 processor and SuperDrive, but I’m not too keen on the 17 inch, space-hogging CRT design. However, their tagline for the eMac now is “The most affordable way to burn your own DVDs.” It’s worth looking at.
You want to do DVDs? Just make sure your model of Mac comes with the “SuperDrive” to burn CD-R/CD-RW/DVD-R.
All systems come with iMove and iDVD to make the simple stuff you want to right off the bat without having to learn anything. You’d upgrade (a serious learning curve upgrade too) to Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio respectively. There’s also Adobe Premiere, but I’m not too up on whether or not there is a Mac OS X native version for it yet.
Oh yea, don’t bother with applications in classic mode (Mac OS 9). Just get Mac OS X versions.
I hope this answers your questions and more.
If it was G4 laptop with lots of RAM and hard disk space, yes. But I doubt it was a G4. In any case, video editing on a laptop is bound to generate large amounts of profanity unless you attach a real mouse and have enough RAM and hard disk.
My take on this is that you’ll be spending upwards of NT 45,000 in order to get a basic desktop to do your editing. A large(40GB) hard disk is a must and 512MB+ ram is preferrable. If you want to do true editing, you’ll also plunk down a chunk for whatever software you choose. For a editing laptop, you’ll be looking at the PowerBook G4…about NT 75,000
You still need to consider how you’re going to get your footage onto the computer. If you don’t have a DV camera, you’re going to be spending more on video capture stuff.
I reviewed a analog to DV convertor (composite, S-video inputs, Firewire out) about a week ago – it’s retail price is NT$6,700.
There were dropped frames about every 90 seconds to two minutes likely because their DAC isn’t particularly robust.
Nevertheless, unless you’re batch importing or converting your VHS collection, this solution is cheap and adequate for the hobbyist.
Detailed info can be found here: datavideo.com.tw/dac-100/dac-100.htm.
Formac makes several higher end solutions that won’t drop frames and their prices are commensurately higher. You can get their stuff off the web
formac.com/p_bin/?cid=solutions_converters
Of Formac’s stuff, the Studio DV/TV does conversion and handle cable TV/PVR duties as well. A very nice unit.
I have to agree with the positive comments regarding the G4 Powerbook. It may have cost alot but it is quite fine for mobile video capture and editing. I just finished shooting a short “film” using a stock Powerbook, external firewire HD, and a Sony DV camera. The results were only limited by our obvious lack of talent. The freedom gained by having a work station onsite is amazing.
Of course you’ll find that external storage will be an absolute necessity when you start filling your stock HD with gigs and gigs of raw footage. But you won’t be able to use them for capture, only for storage,so ensure you keep your main HD relatively free.
I thought I might plug a product here. You won’t find these sold in Taiwan and I doubt you’ll find anything here of comparable quality.
When I bought my G4 laptop I had to do some searching for a quality bag that would fit it’s slightly odd size. There numerous quality bags out there, few of which I found here in Taiwan, but what settled on was the Brain Bag with a Brain Cell insert both made by Tom Bihn. The quality of his bags are absolutely fantastic. The Brain Bag will fit two full size laptops and gear or like I use, one laptop, cameras, gear, cables etc etc. So potentially if you are doing mobile video editing this could carry most if not all of your equipment. It’s huge. The only downside is that the bag is a back pack and perhaps might not look suitable for business meetings. He has some that would.
Well I finally did it. My twinhead lappy finally died forcing my to fix it and sell it for less than the actual repairs, or buy a newby. So a Powerbook 12inch with Superdrive and some extra RAM. I know the G5’s are hot on my trail, but no time to be without a laptop.
Does anyone know where you can buy cases for the apple laptops in Taipei?
I bought a Gravis branded bag here in Hsinchu which fits my 15" G4 laptop quite nicely – might work for yours. Gravis products I should be widely available in Taipei. The padding is a bit lite but I use the “brain cell insert” that I mentioned in the previous post as extra protection.
Can anybody recommend an Apple REPAIR SHOP in Taipei?